Finding the right yoga teacher for you

This is a very important question. Unfortunately, at the moment there is no regulating body for the yoga industry so it is down to individuals to find out whether the yoga teacher is suitably qualified and experienced. Things to look out for follow:

• Does the teacher have a relevant qualification?

• How long did that qualification take to complete? The longer the qualification the more the teacher will have been able to really anchor their training and thereby gain a great depth and skill to their teaching.

• Does the teacher undertake continuous professional development? Like any profession the yoga world is continuously developing and changing so keeping up to date is very important for any serious yoga teacher.

• Is the teacher registered with an appropriate yoga school? You may wish to contact the yoga school to check on the teacher.

• How much experience does the teacher have? Again, the longer a teacher has been practicing yoga the more likely you are to recieve a better quality of knowledge and experience.

Do not be afraid to ask these questions if it is not obvious from the website or flyer you are looking at. All the yoga teachers I know are proud of their qualifications and are more than happy to talk about their training and experience and also to provide you with copies of their certificates etc. Once you have checked all of the above it is then important to try out a class to see if you connect with the yoga teacher, their style of teaching and also the yoga style or styles being taught in the class. If this connection is made and all of the above criteria have been met then you are in for the most wonderful yogic journey.

The points made above also apply but I would add the following:

• Check that the teacher has a relevant qualification to teach yoga to children.
• Check that the teacher has an up-to-date Enhanced CRB Check.
• Check that the teacher has First Aid Training.
• Check that the teacher has had experience of teaching yoga to children.
• Check with the schools the yoga teacher already works in. (optional)