Why It’s Important to Know Your Yoga Teacher’s Qualifications And Experience

Yoga teaching qualifications and the question of whether yoga should be regulated has been making the news in the last couple of weeks. The British Wheel of Yoga, the official governing body for England, appointed by Sport England is of the opinion that yoga teaching courses and qualifications should be regulated.

They are concerned that with the growth of yoga there has also been a surge of teacher training courses that aren’t particularly fit for purpose. The problem is that many of us, myself included until a few years ago wouldn’t know what type of qualification the teacher taking our class has and let’s be honest most of us probably wouldn’t even ask, we’d naturally assume that they are qualified to teach yoga or they wouldn’t be given the job.

When I first started going to yoga classes I wasn’t aware that ‘yoga centres’ existed and I used to go to classes at the local gym. I never once thought about what qualifications the teacher had until I sustained an injury in one of the classes. I’d been going to this particular class for a while and had been perfectly fine until one day I felt a slight twinge in my shoulder whilst carrying out a pose and my posture wasn’t corrected by the teacher so I thought nothing of it. When I woke up the following morning the pain in my shoulder and my neck was almost unbearable.

So what did I do? I thought oh it’s just one of those things and took some painkillers and rubbed on some heat gel and thought the pain would go away in a couple of days, but the pain didn’t go in a couple of days, it lasted eighteen months!

Needless to say I didn’t do any yoga in those eighteen months and when I did eventually go back I had to build myself up slowly and almost from scratch. Because of my previous experience I didn’t want to take any chances by going back to yoga classes in a gym so I joined Triyoga and The Life Centre, dedicated yoga centres where the teacher’s qualifications and experience can be found on their teacher profiles and I’m pleased to say that I haven’t had any issues since 

What happened to me could have been just a freak accident but it did make me question the qualifications and experience of yoga teachers. Now when I try out a new class or go somewhere new I always ask the following questions:

1. Does the teacher have a recognized yoga teaching certificate and accredited status from a yoga association?
2. Do they have insurance? (You can’t get insurance without a certificate)
3. What experience do they have in terms of yoga, biomechanics and human anatomy?

As the saying goes, it’s better to be safe than sorry …