Tuesday, May 10, 2016



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]

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