How to Choose Between In-Person and Online Yoga Teacher Training

This will look different for different people and my hope is by the end of this article you heave a little bit more clarity for yourself.

I’ll share the insights and benefits from both In-Person Yoga Teacher Trainings and Online Yoga Teacher Trainings and offer my advice.

What you won’t find is me discouraging one choice over the other because I’ve seen that in the past and it’s baffling to me because choice exists and there’s more than one way to lay the foundation for your education in yoga, yoga practice and yoga teaching.

The first thing I’ll say is that whatever yoga teacher training you choose, whether it is at a local yoga studio in your neighborhood, a yoga training in Rishikesh India, or an established well reviewed virtual platform, that you go into it with an intention of laying a foundation and that whatever you accomplish is not the end all be all.

Hopefully, in time you will see that Yoga is not something that takes several weeks or even a half a year (the time frame for many 200HR Yoga Teacher Trainings ) .

The lineages, schools of thought, philosophy and practices envelope many life times and because of this its worth exploring for your lifetime as well if, (and its a big if) its something you feel led to.

Yoga isn’t for everyone and I’ll be the first to tell you that it’s not necessary. I’ve written about why I don’t believe Yoga is necessary in my book, Yoga and Healing for Black Embodiment but in short, the wellness industrial complex and capitalism as a whole wants improvement, optimization, transformation. Yoga is not necessary because there is no caveat to being. There is nothing to do or become in being.

Yoga is a beautiful science and tool and ironically it took Yoga to show me the simplicity of life and my enoughness and your enoughness in all moments that exist.

In Person Training

In ancient times Yoga was passed from Guru to student and the student would usually spend many seasons of their life receiving from their Guru. Today thats rare and most Yoga teachers aren’t Gurus. Most yoga teachers are sharing one aspect of Yoga’s ineffably vast system for forty five minutes to an hour a week; doing so for many people at once, not one on one.

It’s the reality of our modern context.

In person trainings provide the benefit of being in the presence of one or more instructors and learning with others who are also seeking to go deeper into Yoga education, practice and laying the foundation for teaching.

You have the benefit of physical presence, co-regulation, group practice, learning and asking questions in real time.

Online Training

Online Yoga Teacher Trainings became really popular during the pandemic. For folks who have full and or busy schedules online yoga teacher trainings can provide a Yoga education access point that is more conducive.

Study can be done at varying times which is helpful for full or non traditional schedules. Videos can be accessed, paused and played multiple times. Follow up with yoga schools and yoga teachers can be requested, through email. For folks who travel, and or who may be unable to meet at a central location for multiple weekends/weeks at a time, they can do so from the comfort of their own home. Online trainings tend to be more cost effective than in-person trainings as well.

Global access, on-demand format, and flexibility tend to be the more appealing draw for online yoga teacher trainings.

Hybrid Training

YTTs that combine both In-Person and Virtual components provide another layer of accessibility. When I made the decision to create a Yoga School within my non-profit, Black Boys OM, I saw the benefit of my own experience (I’ve done nearly a dozen YTTs most In-Person) but also some online especially during the Panasonic. )

I made a point to give students the freedom to practice at a yoga studio or with a yoga teacher of their choice and even incorporated an option to take Vipassana which is about 100 hours of meditation over the course of 10 days. I combined this with video instruction from 10 phenomenal teachers across the Black wellness ecosystem.

Hybrid trainings are also more cost effective and can provide the best of both worlds.

Invitation : Self Assessment to support YTT Decision

How is my discipline in completing things on my own?

Considering my introversion /extroversion which type of training will be most supportive for me?

Can I devote time to an in person training (taking off for several weeks/weekends at a time to complete a certification?

After reading the descriptions above which format resonated most with me and why?