Learning Yoga is often a life-changing experience. Discovering that there is a wonderful alternative to the “no pain, no gain” fitness mentality, and realizing that you can achieve balance in both mind and body are tremendous “aha moments”. For some practitioners, this leads to a desire to share yoga with others through teaching. Sometimes this passion develops early on in one’s practice, in some cases even as early as the first session. But, even with the desire to teach, you may be wondering whether there is a base level of experience that you should have before undergoing a teacher training course.

As I covered in a previous article, the Yoga Alliance does not require students to have prior yoga experience to take the 200-hour teacher training course. Although each studio can set its own enrollment criteria, you may be able to sign up and complete the certification without having taken a single class.

That said, a number of yoga instructors have commented that having a baseline of at least five years of practice under your belt can be beneficial in grasping more advanced yoga concepts (and even basic concepts with greater depth). In other words, you are likely to get the most out of the training courses if you have practiced yoga for five or more years.

Further, you are more likely to get hired on at a studio if you have experience — even if it is in your own personal practice — compared to a novice practitioner. This makes sense, you are better able to help others progress if you have encountered and overcome obstacles in your own practice.

Finally, having at least a few years of experience under your belt can help guard against teacher burnout and help you determine for sure that this is something you really want to do. There is a lot of excitement that comes with learning Yoga, which does not necessarily stay with you long-term. While this often paves the way for more contentment with the practice with time, it might be best not to rush into teaching (given the time and effort required). In addition, teacher training courses are intensive and can be even more overwhelming if you are new to the basic concepts.

So, at the end of the day, while there may not be any hard and fast rules about how much experience is needed to become a yoga instructor, having some patience here can be a good idea. Afterall, Yoga is about the journey not the goal, so why not enjoy the process and trust that one day the time will be right when you are in the best position to share your passion with the world. Namaste.