Taking a Yoga Teacher Training course approved through the Yoga Alliance is an important step to becoming a teacher. Many studios will not hire you without this certification as it demonstrates that you understand the fundamentals of yoga, specifically as they relate to teaching students. However, due to its expense (often in excess of $1,500) and time commitment (200-hours), you may be wondering if there are free or less intensive alternatives to developing instructor skills without enrolling in these courses. Perhaps you want to test the waters first to see if teaching is a good fit for your, or perhaps you want to learn how to expand your own practice and rely less on instructors going forward.

The teacher training courses can vary, but most involve looking into the spiritual, physiological, and practical components of yoga. So, you could start with reading the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the Bhagavad Gita texts. Then, you might look into yoga anatomy and Chinese medicine theory (helpful instructional videos can often be found free online). These would cover things like chakras, meridians, nadis, and chi. After this, you might research articles on how to craft your own personalized yoga routines and adjust and adapt your practice as you progress and learn more. Online resources, like Yoga Journal have a lot of poses and anatomy information, which are generally free (although there are limitations).

If you are interested in some instruction, you might want to consider a primer course. For example, MindBodyGreen has a 100-hour online course that helps you prepare for yoga training if you feel that you are not quite ready for it.

So, while there really is no substitute for a YTT course for those interested in teaching, you can still learn a great deal about the topics taught in those classes through online resources and print publications. This can allow you to move forward in your Yoga practice and develop your instructor skills without much in the way of upfront costs and mandatory time commitments.