Yoga Instructor Certification?

[Catrin]

I've learned that the wife of one of my spinning class fellow students is a certified yoga instructor. She's been practicing since 1985 and received her teaching certification via a 3-year residency at the Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy and has also worked at the Center for Holistic Medicine in the Chicago area.

It sounds good, but I don't know anything about Yoga certification. She offers classes through a local area church - several 8-week programs. I just have her winter/spring schedule but assume that she will teach all summer.

What say ye Yoga mavens, is this good certification?

[indysteel]

I've learned that the wife of one of my spinning class fellow students is a certified yoga instructor. She's been practicing since 1985 and received her teaching certification via a 3-year residency at the Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy and has also worked at the Center for Holistic Medicine in the Chicago area.

It sounds good, but I don't know anything about Yoga certification. She offers classes through a local area church - several 8-week programs. I just have her winter/spring schedule but assume that she will teach all summer.

What say ye Yoga mavens, is this good certification?

Most yoga certifications start with a 200-hour a teacher training class taught by/at any number of schools and institutions. From there, they can get additional training. It appears that the Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy offers 200-hour and 500-hour teacher training.

There are good certified instructors out there and bad. Add in the fact that there are different types of yoga and different environments in which to practice it, and it becomes rather subjective. It involves some trial and error. See if you can try the class out once before signing up for a full session.

[Catrin]

That is a good idea, I think I can just take one class from her before I commit to an 8-session package. I am going to try her out after I've used my 5 free beginning yoga classes at my club just to get an idea what it is like.

Thanks!

Back to work - it is really hard to get back into the swing of things today for some reason...

[jessmarimba]

We have one lady at my gym who is this-certified and that-certified and is always going on retreats, etc...she is awful. She is far too concerned about how a pose looks, even if the student isn't physically able to make it perfect, and she is always coming around and pushing you into positions you can't do without help. It doesn't make for a relaxing class. Plus she is a creepy-toucher.

My favorite teacher is a sub who is really only qualified to teach pilates.

Certification, while it implies knowledge, does not necessarily mean they can impart that knowledge effectively to others! Good luck and I hope it's everything you expect

[Catrin]

....Good luck and I hope it's everything you expect

I don't know WHAT to expect, so that should be easy. I won't be visiting this woman until at least the summer though. All I have is a first name and an initial for the woman who teaches the beginning yoga at my club - and at my level I am sure she will be fine

[withm]

I took one yoga class for 8 weeks or so. I loved the stretching part. I hated the "help" and the yoga "mumbo-jumbo." When one instructor insisted in maniuplating my post surgical shoulder I came very close to smacking him where it really hurts.

Here are two recent NYT articles on the subject that you may want to consider when evaluating your prospective yoga classes:

The Delicate Art of Adjustments
Piotr Redlinski for The New York Times
GENTLY, PLEASE Jason Ray Brown and Frances Taylor-Brown, a married couple who teach at Zenyasa Yoga and Wellness Studio, illustrate adjustments to poses.
By EMILY S. RUEB
Published: February 11, 2011

THINGS can get awkward when a group of strangers strip down to their spandex in a steamy, sweaty room. This is especially true in yoga class, where getting into a camel pose, for instance — thrusting your hips forward while kneeling — can feel, well, a bit “porny,” as Claire Dederer put it in the prologue of her memoir, “Poser: My Life in Twenty-Three Yoga Poses.”

see link for the rest:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/ny...sq=yoga&st=cse


Rebel Yoga
James Estrin/The New York Times
Tara Stiles, who attracted a following with YouTube yoga videos, says, “My life is a bunch of people inside the computer.” At right, in her studio in NoHo.
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ
Published: January 21, 2011

TARA Stiles does not talk about sacred Hindu texts, personal intentions or chakras. She does not ask her yoga classes to chant. Her language is plainly Main Street: chaturangas are push-ups, the “sacrum” the lower back. She dismisses the ubiquitous yoga teacher-training certificates as rubber stamps, preferring to observe job candidates in action.

See link for the rest:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/ny...sq=yoga&st=cse

[indysteel]

Since I started having problems with my hips, I specifically tell instructors that I don't want to be adjusted in class. I already understand most poses, so if I'm modifying my body in some fashion or otherwise not doing the pose "correctly," there's likely a reason. If you'd rather not be touched, just tell them that.

[jessmarimba]

Hah, Indy, I tried - she came back with "I just think you don't like to be corrected."

I've never gone back to her class, but she occasionally subs the one I do attend. I can't run away fast enough.

[indysteel]

Hah, Indy, I tried - she came back with "I just think you don't like to be corrected."

I've never gone back to her class, but she occasionally subs the one I do attend. I can't run away fast enough.

Wow; I can't imagine an instructor saying something like that in response. I'm speechless. I understand the purpose of adjustments, but the fact remains that if a student doesn't want to be touched FOR ANY REASON, it is not the teacher's place to question or challenge it, and certainly not in that manner.

[indysteel]

IRebel Yoga
James Estrin/The New York Times
Tara Stiles, who attracted a following with YouTube yoga videos, says, “My life is a bunch of people inside the computer.” At right, in her studio in NoHo.
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ
Published: January 21, 2011

TARA Stiles does not talk about sacred Hindu texts, personal intentions or chakras. She does not ask her yoga classes to chant. Her language is plainly Main Street: chaturangas are push-ups, the “sacrum” the lower back. She dismisses the ubiquitous yoga teacher-training certificates as rubber stamps, preferring to observe job candidates in action.

See link for the rest:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/ny...sq=yoga&st=cse

Have you actually watched any of Tara Stiles' videos? I ran across her a few months ago by accident was immediately put off. The video was billed as a "beginner" class, but she was moving at lightening speed and went immediately into some advanced poses without any degree of warm up. She was also barely dressed and as thin as a rail. She's just not my thing. Granted, Indianapolis's yoga scene is likely very different from New York's so perhaps the significance of her rebellion is lost on me. She just seems contrived to me.

[Becky]

Wow...maybe i've just been lucky so far. I have one instructor whom I adore and, while he will make subtle hands-on corrections, he is very good about seeking permission and watching for cues that a student is receptive to correction.

Maybe I should ask him about this sometime...now I'm curious...

[withm]

On the other hand, another class I attended, the instructor prefaced every corrective move with "may I touch you?" to the point of total distraction for the rest of the class. It's one thing to be "touched" as in gently guided into the "correct" posture, but another thing to have your arm forcefully maneuvered after being told "NO" when the range of motion was not there to support the movement.

I've not seen the other videos - I just found that article today when searching for the link for the first. I thought it presented another side of the story quite well, and it simply confirmed my own dislike for the "mumbo-jumbo" side of yoga.

Food for thought.

When I used to teach scuba diving, we stressed for each class the likelihood of being touched, held, or otherwise assisted while gearing up, entering and exiting the water, both in the pool, and in open water. Certain drills and activities require a degree of trust and the need to be touched. We strongly urged students that had a problem with this should not take the class, and in the all the years I was involved with this, only one student dropped the class and got a refund. Basically scuba diving is a contact sport and any kind of pre or post dive assistance, or in-water rescue requires touching and saves lives.

[badger]

I've always had this "beef" with yoga in that the whole idea behind yoga is to spread relaxation and peace to everyone, yet it's only accessible to those with some form of wealth.

I can understand the cost behind the Bikram and other hot yoga types as it's not free to heat the place up and maintain it in a sanitary condition, but for regular yoga where you bring your own mat, towel and there's no overhead other than having a roof over you, I just don't see how they justify charging $20/session.

I'm probably just jaded and ticked that something that should benefit everyone is made so "yuppy", and it's almost a status symbol to attend them on a regular basis wearing expensive yoga clothes.

sorry for my negativity! I hope you defy my image and become an excellent yoga instructor!

[Catrin]

....

sorry for my negativity! I hope you defy my image and become an excellent yoga instructor!

I am just looking for a good instructor - not trying to become one

[OakLeaf]

I wish it were more accessible too, but the bottom line is that good education is expensive, and real estate is expensive. Most yoga teachers are barely getting by. And yet, many studios here do offer a donation based class for seniors once a week.