How To Find The Best Yoga Teacher Training:

As an inspiring yogi or yoga teacher, it is natural to want to train with the best yoga teachers. How do you determine and decide on the best yoga teacher training program for you in this stage of your yogic journey? First thing first, let’s define “best yoga teacher training” so we’re both on the same path.

• Best is defined as the most excellent, effective, or desirable type or quality, to the highest degree; that which is the most excellent, outstanding, or desirable.
• Yoga is defined as a group of physical, mental, spiritual and ascetic practices which includes breath control, meditation, and asanas or specific bodily postures with the aim of stilling the mind to achieve higher dimensions of awareness.
• Teacher is defined as a yoga instructor who has studied the art & science of yoga, practiced and taught yoga at a high level for many years, ideally decades.
• Training is defined as teaching students and teacher trainees the practice of yoga, including pranayama, postures, asanas, spiritual, physiological and meditation.

Second, we will define the seven attributes to qualify for best yoga teacher training school:

1. Depth of yoga teacher experience. Soul of Yoga’s teachers have been practicing and teaching yoga at the highest level for many decades. Many of whom are considered leaders in their respective areas of focus, from practitioners to authors. We guarantee you will not find a more experienced collection of yoga teachers this side of the moon.
2. Depth of yoga knowledge. Soul of Yoga’s teachers have multiple accreditations with Yoga Alliance, registered with International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) and academic Phd’s.
3. Lineage of yogic tradition. Soul of Yoga believes deeply in continuing the Vedic traditions of yoga while incorporating the evolutions that have transformed yoga since ancient time to create a modern practice that is both true to it’s roots and applicable in our modern world.
4. Track record of success. Soul of Yoga has graduated over 570 students since we opened our doors. Many of our graduates continue to acquire more certifications, becoming teachers and successful yoga studio owners.
5. Longevity. Soul of Yoga has been in business for over 23 year, standing the test of time. Our commitment to our students and teacher training continues to evolve to bring the alive the yogic traditions in today’s fast-paced world.
6. In person, online, or both yoga teacher training. Soul of Yoga believes there are multiple ways to attain your yoga teacher training requirements and achieve certification. We offer in person, online and a video catalog of classes that can be accessed at your convenience.
7. Positive reviews. With almost 300 verified 5 Star reviews on Yoga Alliance, Soul of Yoga has proven we deliver the finest yoga teacher training.

Yoga Teacher Training Checklist:

Compare Soul to Competitors:	Soul of Yoga	Competitors
1.   Most experienced, world renowned teachers, authors, practitioners	✅	❓
2. Depth and breadth of yoga knowledge incorporated in the curriculum	✅	❓
3. Multiple disciplines and authentic lineages of yogic tradition represented	✅	❓
4. Balance of science and spirituality	✅	❓
5. Longevity of yoga training facility, faculty	✅	❓
6. In person yoga teacher training	✅	❓
7. Live online yoga teacher training option	✅	❓
8. Ability to flex between in-person, live online, and recordings for absences	✅	❓
9. International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) Certified	✅	❓
10. Registered Yoga School with Yoga Alliance Registry	✅	❓
11. Payments plans and pay-in-full discounts	✅	❓
12. Military financial assistance from MYCAA and senior discounts through MYCAA	✅	❓
13. Alumni discounts for future training and workshops	✅	❓
14. Location, beautiful training facility, and amenities	✅	❓
15. Continuous enrollment (start at any time)	✅	❓
16. Track record of success	✅	❓
17. 300+ 5 Star Reviews on Yoga Alliance	✅	❓

Having defined best yoga teacher training, the next question is how do you go about choosing the ideal teacher training program for you? It is a very important decision! Yoga teacher training can be life changing. It prepares you for a new and fulfilling career, it deepens your own yoga practice and understanding of yogic philosophy, it can introduce you to a community of people who will become life-long friends, and it can be an important support for your own spiritual growth.

How do you find the best yoga teacher training for you? Whether you are looking for the best 200 Hour Hatha Yoga Teacher Training, 200 Hour Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training, 300 Hour Advanced Yoga Teacher Training, 500 Hour Yoga Teacher Training orIAYT Accredited Yoga Therapy Training…There are many things to consider. Read on for the best questions to ask and contemplations to make before you choose the best yoga teacher training for you.

How do you want to study? Online, in person or both?

Both online and in person study are great options that are now readily available to those looking for the most flexible yoga teacher training program. How and where you attend your program is an important aspect of your overall experience in yoga teacher training. Read on for considerations on both In person and Online study options.

In Person Yoga Teacher Training:

Traditionally yoga teacher training has been done in person. There is something special that happens when a Yogi can be in the same room as their teacher. It is said that there is an energetic exchange and a very deep transmission of wisdom.

Also, we all have our unique learning styles that work best for us.

If you know you learn best in person, this is a very important consideration for you when considering where to train. And if you’re going to attend in person you’ll want to know a lot about where you are going. You’ll be spending a lot of time there!

For in person study, it’s important to explore the following questions:

• What town is the yoga teacher training studio located in?
• What is the closest airport to the yoga teacher training studio?
• What’s the weather like in the location of the yoga teacher training host studio?
• Do you want to be in a city or in nature or a bit of both for your training?
• Will there food in that place that is good for you? Are there vegan/gluten free/vegetarian options?
• Is lodging easily available?

Also since you will be spending many hours at the studio, you’ll want to note if the studio has the energy you want to immerse in. Look at photos and videos of the studio. Take a class from the studio. Determine for yourself if this a place you want to spend a lot of your time. See if it supports you energetically and materially.

Make sure that wherever you are going supports your energy, learning and wellness needs. Yoga teacher training is a significant endeavor and all these supporting factors will make your experience all the better.

Online Yoga Teacher Training:

A gift of our modern age is that many of the teacher trainings now offer the very convenient option of studying yoga online through Zoom, or through recordings. This new option does have many great benefits including being the comfort and privacy of your home, with your family and pets. Online yoga teacher training can also offer opportunity for schedule flexibility and it helps to eliminate prohibitive travel expenses. Online opportunities make yoga teacher training accessible in a way that it has never been before.

When deciding on an online yoga teacher training program be sure to include these inquires to the hosting studio:

• Can I watch the whole training synchronously?
• What platform is it hosted on?
• What if I experience technical difficulties, will someone help me?
• Can I watch recordings of classes asynchronously if I need to miss in case of work or personal time conflicts?
• How long will I have access to the video recordings?
• How good is the training platform technology? Is it a simple lap top or is it a professional audio/video set up?
• Will the other students and teacher in the room be able to see and hear me?
• Will I be able to ask questions of the teachers?
• Will I be able to hear the questions asked by the students in the room?
• Can I come in person to the studio at all if I decide to visit?

It is especially important for an online training that the technology that is delivering your training is fairly sophisticated and high end. Yoga Teacher Trainings can be 200 Hour Teacher Trainings, 300 Hour Teacher Trainings, 500 Hour Teacher Trainings or even 1000 Hour Yoga Therapy Training Programs. Since you’re going to be spending a significant amount of time online, it will be worth it for you to inquire about the technology the training program is using. Dropped signals, slow streaming, poor sound, visual quality, or no ability to hear and see the students in the room can make an online program isolating and frustrating from the remote student’s perspective.

At Soul of Yoga we offer the total freedom of every option: in person, online via Zoom and recordings. And you can mix and match your accessibility style.

Our peaceful and beautiful studio is located in the beautiful, sunny, beach town of Encinitas, CA, a few miles from the beach and 25 miles from the city of San Diego and San Diego International Airport. Encinitas has a rich yogic history and boasts historic seaside meditation gardens and some of the best and varied health food in the country.

Our hybrid technology is cutting edge. No dropped signals or slow streaming, excellent sound and video quality and our online students and in person students can seamlessly hear and see each other. We are truly together in training, even from all around the world.

When considering your training these are all very important things that can make or break your life-changing training experience.  

The Experience of the Trainers:

Of all the aspects to explore in teacher training, this is one of the most important because all yoga trainers and training faculty are not the same.

Since this training can be one of the most important things you do in your life, we strongly encourage you to look for the yogic equivalent of Ivy League vs. Community College.

Yoga Alliance requires that all Trainers who run or teach in Yoga Teacher Training programs be at least 500 Hour trained and registered. This is a bare minimum and checking to make sure your prospective school meets this minimum requirement is very important.

Moreover, because you are investing a lot of time – 200 Hours, 300 Hours, 500 Hours or 1000 Hours – and a lot of money into your yoga teacher training experience – you will probably want to choose beyond the bare minimum to the most experienced faculty you can find.

Yoga is a lifelong study, it takes many years, if not decades to truly be a Master Teacher. Therefor,e look for a faculty that includes teachers who have least 10 years of experience and a lot more if possible. Investigate by watching their videos, read any articles, blogs and books they have written and see if those teachers have the depth of experience to offer you really meaningful guidance in your yoga teacher training and yoga teacher certification.

Soul of Yoga has the most experienced faculty of trainers for our 200 Hour Training, 300 Hour Training, 500 Hour and Yoga Therapy Training programs. Our Yoga Training faculty have immersed themselves in the Yogic teachings for many decades, lifetimes in fact. Our faculty members have written some of the most respected and best selling yoga books as the experts on each subject they teach. From Leslie Kaminoff teaching Yoga Anatomy, to Nischala Joy Devi teaching Yoga Sutras, to Mas Vidal and Indu Arora teaching Ayurveda, there is no more experienced faculty in the world. Gabrielle Halpern, Richard Miller, PhD, Amy Weintraub, Joe Barnett, Durga Leela, Mark Whitwell and so many other yogic luminaries, authors and world renown teachers guide our students deeply and broadly into the science and spirituality that is Yoga. This incredible faculty is what makes us the Best Yoga Teacher Training Program there is.

Balance of Science and Spirituality:

Yoga is a spiritual practice. It also has a great deal of modern science backing it up. The most well-rounded yoga teacher training for you also depends on how much spirituality and how scientific information you want to experience.

Some schools offer a great deal of traditional philosophy, some delve deeply into mysticism. Others focus solely on asana alignment. Others on the academic and scientific aspects. It’s good to find the training that meets you where you are and where you want to go. The complete yoga teacher training should offer a mix of experiences including asana, philosophical and spiritual exploration, anatomy, scientific inquiry and offer opportunity for deep personal growth.

Soul of Yoga offers students a well balanced curriculum to meet both the scientific and spiritual aspects of what it means to be a yoga teacher and yoga therapist.

Some have told us we are the perfect blend between Harvard and Hogwarts!

Financial Accessibility:

Investing in your career is always a smart decision, but training to be a yoga teacher should not financially debilitate you. It is a fact that financial stress does not support wellbeing in mind, body or spirit. Therefore, look for payment options such as payment plans and military and senior discounts. Are you a military spouse? MYCAA offers scholarships for you to take vocational trainings such as 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training, 300 Hour Yoga Teacher Training, 500 Hour Yoga Teacher Training and Yoga Therapy Training.

Ask if the school you choose can help you apply for MYCAA funding.

Knowing that learning yoga is a life long passion, also find out what the continuing education aspects of the school you are choosing. Does your school offer alumni discounts on their advanced training programs – such as 300 Hour Training or Yoga Therapy Training?

If you start with 200 Hour Kundalini teacher training will you receive a discount if you also want to take 200 hour Hatha Yoga Teacher Training? Can you retake courses again at no cost or low cost?

If you take 300 Hour Training will all the hours count towards your IAYT Accredited Yoga Therapy Training?

These are all important questions to ask so you can find the perfect yoga teacher training for you and be supported in the long term by your yoga school home. (Hint: Soul of Yoga offers all these things.)

The Reputation of the Studio:

There are thousands of yoga teacher training programs and it can be seriously burdensome to review each one of them. In fact it can feel quite overwhelming. One way to narrow down the number of studios you are considering is checking to see how long they have been in business and how many years they’ve been training teachers.

It is a sad fact that many yoga studios go out of business unexpectedly and the students in training never get the full training they’ve paid for and don’t get their money back. To make sure you avoid this unfortunate situation, choose a studio that has been around a long time, been training teachers for years and years, and has a great reputation in the industry.

One way to find out is to:

Read the Reviews:

One of the easiest way to find the best yoga teacher training for you is to read reviews from graduates. Check Soul’s reviews on Yoga Alliance website, IAYT website, Yelp and Google reviews. And make sure there are a significant number of reviews, which indicates longevity and stability of the business.  Also, you can ask the yoga school if you can speak directly to previous teacher training graduates to get their opinions and learn from their experiences.

Soul of Yoga has been training yoga teachers since 2008. Here’s what Soul of Yoga alumni say: The world class quality of instructors continue to impress me with each course I take.All staff (Directors and support) are inspiring and helpful in curating a comprehensive yoga training course of study. I am grateful for The Soul of Yoga. My teaching and interior world has expanded.

Wonderful community of dedicated & inspiring faculty and supportive & engaged students, and an administrative staff who “rock” it with style & passion again and again.

I appreciate the artful seamless offering of multiple options for in-person, synchronous (zoom) & asynchronous (recordings) learning.

Continuous opportunity for reflection and growth on a soul level has exceeded my expectations.

Great balance of Mysticism and Science

Soul of Yoga Institute provides an enormously rich, thorough and supportive learning environment. Everyone there from fellow students to the entire staff consisting of teachers, associated volunteers, directors and guest speakers/specialists, are all top notch in what each they do at the Soul, and in what they offer. I cherish my experience there and am so glad that I chose to do my first YTT there. I hope to be back for many more trainings, teachings & experiences for years to come! Namaste!

The Soul of Yoga is such an incredible studio that truly makes you feel like family. The instructors are incredibly wise and make you feel confident in your own abilities to teach. They truly helped me find myself and my purpose in life.
I couldn’t have asked more from my 200 hr teacher training. It was absolutely perfect and life-changing. Well balanced with Asana and the rest of the 8 Limbs. 10 out of 10.

The Best Yoga Teacher Training:

Yes, obviously we are biased and believe we have created the best yoga teacher training programs in the world. Our list of experienced teachers, longevity and flexibility are some of the attributes that makes Soul of Yoga the pinnacle yoga teacher training studio in North America.

Whether you choose to call us to ask us all these questions or investigate other options for your teacher training, doing your research will be well worth the time and energy you put into it.

In the end, the best yoga teacher training for you is the one that opens your mind and heart and changes your life for the better! Let’s train, together!