The 200-hour yoga teacher training is coursework offered by studios and approved through the Yoga Alliance. This certification is often required of instructors in order to gain employment at a yoga studio. The program involves instruction in several areas including anatomy and physiology, yoga philosophy, posing and instruction techniques. While programs are geared towards practitioners that are interested in teaching, graduates are generally not required to teach.

It is important to note that the Yoga Alliance does not have a standardized curriculum for this certification, which means there can be wide variation from studio to studio (for example: some studios require exams to pass and some do not). It also means that some studios may offer the course to novice practitioners or even those with no prior yoga experience.

However, while you may be able to enroll in and graduate from these programs with limited experience, it might not necessarily be in your best interest to do so. If your goal is to deepen your understanding of yoga, while not necessarily becoming a teacher, it may be more cost effective to take additional standard yoga classes. Further, some students at teacher trainings have complained that complete novices can hold up the sessions with questions that can be answered in introductory yoga courses. Likewise, the number of hours involved can make these programs physically and mentally taxing for someone new to practice.

So, while teacher trainings may allow for beginners to sign up, keep in mind that these programs can be expensive and are designed to train those wishing to become yoga instructors.