Today, Health and fitness
is offering almost any setting where people gather. For example, Yoga
Across America®, a nonprofit organization based in Sacramento, California,
declares that its mission includes bringing yoga to “schools, military bases,
parks, low-income communities, homeless shelters, children's hospitals and many
other locations where people don't have access to the practice, or can't afford
it.”
Multiple factors are
contributing to this exponential increase. Is the expansion good, bad or
neutral? A number of industry veterans weigh in.
What
Is Fueling the Boom in Yoga Teacher Training?
Growth in yoga teacher
trainings (YTTs) reflects the yoga studio business model, increased
practitioner interest in yogic studies, and growth in branded programs that
offer YTTs.
Studio
Business Model
Experts interviewed for this
article note that most yoga studios offer a YTT program as an important revenue
stream, to supplement income from classes, private trainings and workshops.
"Even with popular studios, without a YTT, it would be difficult to make [the
business] work," says Michele Hébert, E-RYT®, master yoga and meditation guide, speaker and author based in La
Jolla, California. And with more studios opening in communities, competition
limits the ability to increase class fees.
McCarthy observes, “Many ‘mom
and pop’ studios are founded by teachers who love yoga, but who don't have
business skills. Teacher training is one way they are keeping the doors open.
But what happens after everyone takes a YTT? What will those studio owners do
to continue to generate revenues?" Many experts we spoke to agree that a
better business model is needed to help boutique studio owners stay in business.
Increased
Practitioner Interest in Yogic Studies
Further fueling YTT enrollment
are the many yoga enthusiasts who take teacher training to deepen their
practice. Zachary Armstrong, RYT®, CPT, program manager for Yoga Six, in San
Diego, says, “I've taken three separate 200-hour YTTs, and they were each
completely different. What was similar—and what surprised me—was that only
about 10% of the people who were in those trainings with me ever actually
teach."
There is no hard data
documenting how many people who complete a 200-hour YTT actually become
instructors, but anecdotally most experts agree that not more than 50% of
trainees actually want to teach and even fewer are successful at becoming
professional instructors.
Growth
in Branded Programs That Offer YTT
A third stimulus for YTT
program growth is the emergence of branded yoga programs. Numerous providers
now offer trainings nationwide, and some extend their reach internationally.
Benefits
and Challenges :
The widespread availability has
both pros and cons, say our experts. On the positive side, it reflects the
growing interest in yoga and the strength of the yoga education market. Some
experts think the “glut” of graduates is in major urban centers and is not geographically distributed nationwide.
Shaw, however, notes that YogaFit students come from cities nationwide,
including many small communities, and that, in 2016, trainings will be offered
in more than 350 locations.
Challenges related to the
proliferation of YTTs include lack of clarity regarding their purpose (e.g.,
vocational training aspects may be diluted when students without teaching
aspirations are in the mix); difficulty for YTT grads trying to enter the job market; potential depression of
teacher wages; and lack of consistency among trainings.
[source=
https://www.ideafit.com/fitness-library/are-there-too-many-yoga-teachers]
