Hello & Hallo,

I love yoga! I just do! I love to go to classes – by myself or with friends (weekend yoga & brunch is the best, right?!). I bore my friends & family talking about yoga. I read about yoga. You get the gist 😄

So finally, last summer I decided to look into Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) – just out of curiosity…boy, did this send me on a mission! There are hundreds of studios & providers offering Yoga Teacher Trainings and various different formats & length – intensive for a few weeks, over a few month or even years. And YTTs are very, very, VERY expensive – again to varying from course to course . 

SO MUCH CHOICE! Where do you start?! What do you do?!

I was quite vigilant & systematic in my approach (typical me, typical German?!) doing online research & going to info events and want to share what I found.

Most of the big studios — and many small ones — now offer Yoga Teacher trainings. Why? “Money, Money, Money” – at least according to one of my teacher friends. If you can charge well north of £2,500 a person & squeeze 25-30 ppl into each training that isn’t bad! 

Still – enough cynicism. I want to do the training & am grateful that there is so much choice!

You can do your YTT in London / where you live OR can travel abroad. There are loads on offer in India, Thailand, Sri Lanka & even South America. I quickly decided I wanted to do my training in London since I can’t take / don’t want to take 4 weeks of my annual leave at once for this. Intensive YTTs tend to take at least 21days.

So, London it is! 

This limits things ever so slightly. The providers for yoga teacher trainings in London I looked at are below. I have also included a table with more detailed information 😀

• Yoga London: Mainly offer YTTs – not really a studio (https://yogalondon.net/teacher_training/teacher_training.aspx)
• triYpga: THE Yoga Studio chain in London (https://triyoga.co.uk/teacher-training-courses/triyoga-yoga-teacher-training-diploma/)
• Frame: London Fitness studio chain with 7 locations across London (https://academy.moveyourframe.com/pages/yoga-teacher-training) 
• Indaba London: Yoga Studio in West London (https://www.indabaschoolofyoga.com/200hr)
• Stretch London: Small East London studio with 2 locations (https://stretch-london.com/teacher-training)
• The Refinery: Even smaller East London studio (https://school.therefinerye9.com)
• HotPod Yoga: Hot yoga studios which operates on a franchise-model (https://hotpodyoga.com/teacher-training/)
• The Light Centre: Yoga Studio with 3 locations across London. They don’t offer their own YTT but people holding their teacher trainings rent the training space here & advertise them through the Light Centre emails newsletter. (http://www.lightcentremoorgate.co.uk/courses/hosted-courses/)

The main differences: Cost & Time commitment

Info Events 

Most studios offer info events on their Yoga Teacher Training — DEFINITELY go along! This gives you the unique chance to ask questions to the teachers directly, see who else is interested in going & in many cases you will also meet alumni / past trainees & can ask them for advice. A word of caution: Many of the alumni are still working with the studios where they trained. Therefore they are probably very much convinced of their training and wont be negative or super objective.

My number 1 advice

Check out a class by the people & studio who’s training you are interested in. An average yoga class can be very much impacted by whether or not you like the teacher or get their vibe. Yoga teacher training will be even more extreme since you will be sending a lot of time with the people. Also, by attending a class you will see the style the teacher has – how / if they adjust, use of music, class / posture flow etc. (I decided against a YTT based on the rough adjustment by one of the 2 teachers running it!)

Location 

For me location is also a crucial factor. I live in East London. I don’t want the travelling to & from the venue of the YTT be another burden on the experience. Therefore I was looking at mainly trainings in Central & East London. This might not be as important to you.

In the end the course you chose is extremely personal! I did decide to go ahead, the jump & do my yoga teacher training. I will let you know which I decided on in my next post 🙂

Have any of you done a Yoga Teacher Training or are thinking of doing it? How have you found the research process? Any thoughts let me know in the comments.

Namaste,

Marlene xxx

	Cost	Duration	Accreditation	Other	Thoughts
Yoga London	£3,796 offer instalments	1 month intensive: Mon-Fri 4 month: 3weekends/month  6month: 2 weekends/month 1 year: 1 weekend/month	200h Yoga Alliance	Ppl per training: Not sure	They train a lot of people incl. a former colleague of mine & DeliciouslyElla / Ella Mills (not the same person 😉 ). But I felt this was a bit of a cookie-cutter, mass-production kind of set-up. I want sth more personal!
triYoga	£4,900	24 month – mainly weekends (not every month)	350h British Wheel of Yoga Yoga Alliance Professionals (UK) 200h Yoga Alliance USA 200h	2 main-trainers + guest-teachers + ‘alumni-assistants’  Ppl per training: Around 30 (not intimate enough for me) They do ‘auditions’ to get on the training	2 years was too long a commitment for me.
Frame	£2,900 (10 early bird spots at £2,600)	3 months spilt into 6 weeks/weekends	200h Yoga Alliance	2 trainers  + ‘alumni-assistants’  Ppl per training: 24 Only weekends Benefit:  20 yoga classes to use across + 5 non-yoga classes at any Frame guaranteed audition for Frame	Personally I didn’t like the trainers (but they are huge on social & quite well known). Also, a yoga teacher friend & gym coordinator said she seed Frame more as a class gym not for yoga studio & would therefore be sceptical.
Indaba	£3,500 (£3,200 when paid in full pre-start)	3 month  1st week = intensive 1x Sat-Sun 2x Fri-Sun 1x Thurs-Sun	200h Yoga alliance US certified	Ppl per training: 25-ish Mainly weekends but a few days during week = must take time off is working full-time	The 2018 YTT is the first time they ran this – so I was a bit sceptical. The studio is also very far from me so I couldn’t have taken advantage of classes there.
Stretch London	£2,599 (early bird – up to 4month pre-start)	4 month	250h Yoga Alliance Professionals	2 trainers + ‘alumni-assistants’ Ppl per training: 25-30 1st week of training = intensive in Spain (flights & accommodation NOT incl. cost) Only weekend after week1  Discounted Stretch membership during trianing	This was my 2nd favourite! Really nice, small neighbourhood studio not for from me. Carl – 1of the trainers – seems very knowledgable. Call wasn’t my cup of tea (TOTALLY personal & no reflection on her!). Neither have been teaching for a long time (around 5 years) which is why I ultimately didn’t go for this.
The Refinery	£2,999 inc. VAT	5-6 month	200h Vinyasa flow	Ppl per training: Not sure	Small East London studio. I didn’t consider this really tbh. It’s a bit awkward to get to & didn’t feel right.
HotPod Yoga	£2,500 (+VAT)	1month intensive (5x 5days – 30th Sept – 2nd Nov, inclusive) & Weekends only (July – Nov 2019)	200hr Vinyasa Flow YTT (Registered Yoga School RYS 200h Yoga Alliance)	2 trainers  + guest-teachers Ppl per training: Not sure	The YTT is general vinyasa flow but within the HotPod system & therefore you do learn about hot yoga. I have never done hot yoga (I get dizzy & used to faint) which is why this wasn’t for me.
The Light Centre	Varies by course provider —from £2,500	Dependant on training	Dependant on training	Dependant on training	The YTTs at The Light Centre are run by independent teachers renting space here. I decided on one of these!