Archive for January 2025

New and Improved - Becoming a Registered Yoga School 2025

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The first time I wrote about becoming a registered yoga school with Yoga Alliance, it was me writing the content and creating the curriculum, but I was not in charge of filling out the online application with Yoga Alliance. I am now going through the process of becoming my own registered yoga school and as a result, I have new information on how the process works and how I can make the process easier for you in your journey towards becoming a registered yoga school.

The first step is to ensure that your total number of hours is 200. The Yoga Alliance outline omits 15 hours from its calculations (as you can see below from its guidelines). I assume they're leaving this block of time for you to put toward your Elective subject? I can't say for sure.

Yoga Alliance Core Curriculum Competencies

TECHNIQUES, TRAINING, PRACTICE – 75 HOURS  

  • Asana: Historical context
  • Asana: Poses specific to RYS's lineage—must include sukhasana and savasana
  • Asana: Complete sequencing (asana, pranayama, meditation) to achieve particular effect safely
  • Asana: Shared anatomical and alignment principles plus contraindications
  • Pranayama & Subtle Body: Historical Context
  • Pranayama & Subtle Body: Effects of pranayama on anatomy and subtle body
  • Pranayama & Subtle Body: Complete sequencing of pranayama safely, including alternatives and adaptations
  • Pranayama & Subtle Body: Ujjayi, Nadi Shodhana, Kapalabhati, among others
  • Pranayama & Subtle Body: Koshas, kleshas, chakras, nadis and prana vayus
  • Meditation: Key Meditation terms
  • Meditation: Meditation methods by lineage
  • Meditation: Ability to practice school's chosen meditation practice
  • Meditation: Chanting, mantras, and mudras
  • Elective

ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY – 30 HOURS (20 of which can be online)

  • Anatomy: Major Bones
  • Anatomy: Types of Joints
  • Anatomy: Major muscles involved in asana
  • Anatomy: Types of contraction
  • Physiology: Nervous system, incl. ‘fight, flight, freeze’ stress response, vagal theory, overall mind-body connection
  • Physiology: Cardiovascular/circulatory, endocrine, digestive systems as they relate to yoga practice
  • Physiology: Respiratory system, incl. muscles that affect breathing, involuntary vs voluntary breath, how air enters and leaves body
  • Biomechanics: Types of joint movement
  • Biomechanics: Joint stabilization
  • Biomechanics: Safe movement as it pertains to balancing, stretching, awareness, and physical limitations
  • Biomechanics: Contraindications, misalignment, adaptations
  • Elective

YOGA HUMANITIES – 30 HOURS (20 of which can be online)

  • History: Term 'yoga'
  • History: School's lineage, style and methodology
  • History: Dates and key ideas such as the Vedas, Vedanta, Hatha, Colonial, Modern
  • Philosophy: Definition of yoga and key terms
  • Philosophy: Relationship between asana, pranayama, meditation per school’s approach
  • Philosophy: Familiarity w/ major yogic texts (i.e., Yoga Sutras, Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Hatha Yoga Pradipika)
  • Philosophy: Self-reflection on how philosophy relates to practice
  • Ethics: Awareness of Yoga Sutras or similar yogic ethical precepts
  • Ethics: Relationship to Yoga Alliance’s Ethical Commitment
  • Ethics: Comprehension of and responsibility to increase equity in yoga
  • Ethics: Accountability measures
  • Ethics: Self-reflection on how yoga ethics relate to practice and teaching
  • Elective

PROFESSIONAL ESSENTIALS – 50 HOURS

  • Professional Essentials
  • Teaching Methodology: Sequencing
  • Teaching Methodology: Pace
  • Teaching Methodology: Environment
  • Teaching Methodology: Cueing (verbal, visual, physical)
  • Teaching Methodology: Class management
  • Professional Development: Yoga-related professional organizations, including the Yoga Alliance Credentialing Process
  • Professional Development: Ethical Commitment, including Scope of Practice, Code of Conduct, and Equity Position Statement
  • Professional Development: Lifetime of learning and continuing education
  • Professional Development: General professionalism, including timeliness, consistency, cleanliness
  • Professional Development: Marketing and promotion
  • Professional Development: Liability insurance, waivers, invoicing
  • Practicum (Practice Teaching): Knowledge, skills, experience across 12 key competencies
  • Practicum (Practice Teaching): Mentorship component, incl. apprenticeship, feedback
  • Elective

I added 10 hours to TECHNIQUES, TRAINING, PRACTICE and 5 hours to PROFESSIONAL ESSENTIALS to get a total of 200 hours.

TECHNIQUES, TRAINING, PRACTICE – 85 HOURS  
ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY – 30 HOURS (20 of which can be online)
YOGA HUMANITIES – 30 HOURS (20 of which can be online)
PROFESSIONAL ESSENTIALS – 55 HOURS 

Then I took the content Yoga Alliance indicates can be done online (remotely) and used that block of time to create a video conferencing schedule during the week, totaling 40 hours over the course of the YTT, and then worked out the Saturday & Sunday start/end times to get to a total of 200 hours of training.

For the coursework to be done online via video conferencing, Yoga Alliance requires this content to be led by the trainer. This means giving your students a YouTube video playlist does not meet this requirement. I plan to use the time as an open discussion to cover these topics:

ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY – 20 hours online

  • Physiology: Nervous system, incl. ‘fight, flight, freeze’ stress response, vagal theory, overall mind-body connection
  • Physiology: Cardiovascular/circulatory, endocrine, digestive systems as they relate to yoga practice
  • Physiology: Respiratory system, incl. muscles that affect breathing, involuntary vs voluntary breath, how air enters and leaves body
  • Biomechanics: Types of joint movement
  • Biomechanics: Joint stabilization
  • Biomechanics: Safe movement as it pertains to balancing, stretching, awareness, and physical limitations
  • Biomechanics: Contraindications, misalignment, adaptations

YOGA HUMANITIES – 20 hours online

  • History: Term 'yoga'
  • History: School's lineage, style and methodology
  • History: Dates and key ideas such as the Vedas, Vedanta, Hatha, Colonial, Modern
  • Philosophy: Definition of yoga and key terms
  • Philosophy: Relationship between asana, pranayama, meditation per school’s approach
  • Philosophy: Familiarity w/ major yogic texts (i.e., Yoga Sutras, Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Hatha Yoga Pradipika)
  • Philosophy: Self-reflection on how philosophy relates to practice
I will be structuring the training around the Pilgrimage To Power asana sequence and as such, I will be focusing on the sequence in sections, building the training layer by layer of the sequence.  Practice teaching, feedback and mentorship is a large portion of the training I'm outlining. The students will have ample practice leading Pilgrimage To Power, learning how to offer hands-on assists and how to lead specialized classes like the "Block Class", "The Blindfold Class" and how to lead a physical focused class like "The Drishti Class."

The most challenging part of filling out the online Yoga Alliance form is having all your data in one place so that you can copy/paste it in quickly and easily and know that your hours add up before you begin the application process.

Make a copy of this Google sheet and begin filling out the explanation for your RYS. How will you deliver the core competency information to your students? What is the content you're covering? 


For example: Core Competency Poses specific to RYS’s lineage—must include sukhasana and savasana. What poses specific to your lineage (in addition to sukhasana and savasana) will you cover? How will you cover these poses?

I took the list of all the poses in Pilgrimage To Power, removed the redundant ones, and created a comma-separated list of the poses that will be taught as part of my YTT.

We will cover the following poses by practicing the shape of the poses, discussing the anatomical alignment of the poses and training the students on how to offer hands-on assists during the yoga practice. List of poses: Child’s Pose, Ragdoll, Extended Mountain, Forward fold, Half Lift, High Plank, Low Plank, Upward Facing Dog, Downward Facing Dog, Chair, Warrior 1, Flip Dog/Side Plank, Eagle, Standing Leg Raise, Airplane, Standing Splits, Half moon, Dancer, Tree, Triangle, Side Facing Wide Leg Forward Fold, Goddess Squat, Skandasana, Tripod Headstand, Pyramid, Twisting Triangle, Revolved Half Moon, Locust, Floor Bow, Half Bow, Upward Facing Dog, Camel, Half Camel, Bridge, Wheel, Reclined Butterfly, Happy Baby, Scissor Legs, 60/30 Lift, Abdominal Twists, Boat, Half Pigeon, Lizard, King Pigeon, Mermaid, Double Pigeon, Easy Seat, Seated Figure Four, Frog, Half Frog, Seated Single Leg Extension, Seated Forward Fold, Reverse Table Top, Reverse Plank, Fish, Waterfall, Headstand, Shoulder Stand, Plow, Ear Pinning Pose, Supine Twist, Reclined Butterfly, Savasana.

For each of the files in the YA RYS Application Template 2023, fill it out with an explanation for your RYS. You can copy this information and paste it into your online application as you fill it out.

When you create your online application, you will need to upload the following documentation: Save yourself time by creating it ahead of time and having it ready to upload. The Guidebook to RYS Application PDF has samples to pull from.

Anti-Harassment Policy.pdf

Anti Retaliation Policy.pdf

Attendance Policy.pdf

Code of Conduct.pdf

Grievance Policy.pdf

Sample YTT CERTIFICATE.png

Required Reading List YTT.pdf

Tuition and Refunds.pdf

Yoga Alliance Letter of Intent.pdf


As you build your RYS online, you add Training Areas for each of the four major Core Curriculum Competencies. I recommend titling each Training Area with the Title of the Core Curriculum Competency. I see no reason to name it anything other than the competency being conveyed. I think the Training Area Title is redundant, and the YA should just have you select which core competency you're inputting the "how and why" instead.


Fun fact: The formatting for the amount of time you're submitting for each Core Competency is in HOURS DECIMAL. There is a minimum requirement of .50 hours for any/all Core Competency subcategories. 

You will also need to write up an explanation of how you intend to verify that your trainees have learned what you've taught:

Please select the assessment method(s) used to test trainees’ competency in this Educational Category. Check all that apply. 
Written Assessment
Oral Assessment
Final Project
Other (Please Explain Below)

Describe how you assess trainees' competency in this Educational Category.

I created a plain text document (Notepad [Windows] / TextEdit [Mac]) and had it populated with all of the written content (the explanation of my RYS, how I will verify the information has been learned) and simply copied and pasted this content into the online Yoga Alliance form. 

I pulled the HOURS DECIMAL time from my spreadsheet, uploaded my pre-made policies, letters, and sample certificates, and was able to complete the Yoga Alliance online RYS application in about 40 minutes from start to finish.




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