Teach Yoga Without Certification

One of the most common questions I receive from yoga beginners is whether they can teach yoga without certification. This question is relevant because most professions require certifications to identify the level of expertise of the practitioner. However, the case with teaching yoga is different.

Legally you can teach yoga without being certified or registered, as the yoga industry does not enforce teaching requirements. However, the yoga industry has trade and professional organizations, such as the Yoga Alliance, that provide accreditations, but such certifications are optional.

In this article, I will cover your options for teaching yoga without certifications or without registering with the Yoga Alliance. I will also explore how you can get started teaching yoga without accreditation.

This post is part of a series of guides and articles providing in-depth information about how to start a yoga studio. Head to the main article to find a list of articles and guides covering the topic.

Yoga Instructor Certificate

Before we get into how you can succeed as a yoga instructor without certifications, it’s essential to understand how to become a certified yoga teacher.

Certified yoga teachers can typically have two levels of yoga instructor certificate:

RYT-200 yoga teacher certificate
RYT-500 yoga teacher certificate

The “RYT” acronym stands for “registered yoga teacher.” The RYT-200 and the RYT-500 represent the 200 hours and the 500 hours of yoga teacher training certifications.

The 200-hour yoga teacher training certificate course is for yoga beginners who wish to begin teaching yoga. As a beginner, this is the course you will need to enroll in to learn the basics of teaching yoga and get the basic yoga instructor certificate.

There is a more advanced yoga teacher certification, the 500-hour yoga teacher training. Usually, students enroll in the 200-hour teacher certification course and start their careers in yoga. Over time they undergo an additional 300-hour yoga teacher certification to complete the full 500-hour yoga teacher certification.

Once you complete the 200-hour or 500-hour yoga teacher certification from a registered yoga school, you can register with the yoga alliance and become a registered yoga teacher (RYT)

Yoga Certification Cost

The certifications to become a yoga instructor can take anywhere between 2 months to 5 months and cost anywhere between $500 for the RYT-200 certificate course to $5000 for the RYT-500 certificate course. Yoga certification cost is much lower in yoga teacher training schools in India, Costa Rica, and Indonesia as compared to similar schools in Europe and North America.

Why Teach Yoga Without Certification

The main reasons why someone would prefer to teach yoga without certifications could be:

Lack of funds to pay for yoga teacher training
Inability to spend 2-5 months studying to become a certified yoga teacher
Having sufficient experience that a yoga teacher certification does not lead to any advantages
To test if teaching yoga is the right calling for them before getting yoga teacher certified

Often you don’t have to be an expert in a field to start teaching. Some people are excellent teachers, whereas some experts are horrible teachers.

If you have the unique skill to teach others, teaching based on your experience is undoubtedly valid, especially in an industry like yoga where there are no formal certifications required. You don’t even need to be registered with the Yoga Alliance to teach yoga.

However, if you don’t have any constraints and can get certified, I recommend that you get accredited. Certifications do add significant credibility to you. They also ensure that you know the fundamentals of teaching yoga and maintain a certain level of quality in your teaching.

Disadvantages of Teaching Yoga Without Certification

We know that you can teach yoga without certification. So, why do yoga teachers get certified to teach and also register with industry bodies such as the Yoga Alliance? Having a yoga teacher certification in place does offer several advantages. Due to this yoga teacher training courses are in demand.

The main disadvantage of teaching yoga without certification is the limited demand in the job market. Top-rated yoga and fitness studios prefer to hire only certified and registered yoga teachers.

You will also find that experienced yogis who are well-versed in the industry avoid your services. A significant subset of yoga students tends to be yoga teachers themselves. Such teachers are looking to add to their skills and look for teachers with certifications and accomplishments.

Besides the above, yoga instructors without certifications do not have other significant disadvantages. Several small gyms and fitness centers employ yoga teachers without certifications.

Additionally, most yoga students are not aware of certifications, such as RYT-200 or RYT-500. For ordinary consumers, certifications play a small role when it comes to selecting a yoga instructor. Your brand has a more significant impact on attracting yoga students than certifications from industry bodies.

If you are a yoga entrepreneur looking to work for yourself, then the disadvantages of not having yoga teaching certifications are limited.

3 Ways To Successfully Teach Yoga Without Certification

As a yoga instructor without certifications to add credibility, you must work smart to succeed as a yoga instructor in the highly competitive world of teaching yoga. Follow the four strategies outlined below to establish a successful yoga teaching career without formal teaching certifications.

Work For Yourself

The most significant disadvantage you have as a yoga instructor without formal certifications is that you have limited value in the job market. So, if you plan to work for yoga and fitness studios, you are doing yourself a disservice by not getting a teaching certification.

However, not having a teaching certification is irrelevant if you work for yourself. You should have the desire to build your brand and following.

You can work for yourself teaching yoga by doing the following:

Teach yoga online (Instagram, Zoom, Yoga Marketplaces)
Start your own yoga studio
Sell yoga courses

There is a growing trend among consumers to learn yoga from their favorite influencers. If you have a following on social media, it will be reasonably easy to establish a loyal student base.

Working for yourself is much more complicated than just teaching yoga. You will be responsible for attracting and retaining students, offering customer support, and doing administrative tasks such as billing, invoicing, etc. The success or the failure of your yoga business will solely rest on your shoulders.

If you wish to teach yoga without certifications, then reflect on whether you are an entrepreneur. If you are not an entrepreneur who can run a small business, your odds of success are significantly higher.

Get The Right Tools To Run Your Yoga Teaching Business

Without certifications, the ideal option for you is to run your own yoga business. To succeed, you will need to have the right tools in place to manage your yoga business.

Member Management Software

You will need a way to manage and track your students. Initially, you can run your entire business on excel. However, once you get more than a handful of students, you will need a central database to manage all activity.

The member management software should allow you to capture your student’s information and the history of their activity with your business. You should be able to see the classes they attended, the class packs they purchased, and their memberships’ status.

Most member management software solutions tend to have a monthly pricing structure and cost anywhere between $20 to $500 per month.

Online Presence

Having an online presence for your business is essential in today’s world. If you have a significant social media following, then you can get away with just using Instagram as your online presence.

However, if you do not have a big social media following, you will need a marketing page/website where students can learn more about you and your services. They should also be able to purchase memberships and class packs to attend your classes.

If you sell yoga courses (videos, books, etc.), your web tool should also have a learning management module.

There are several website builders available that you can use. You also have free options to build your web presence using WordPress.

Streaming Software

If you plan to teach virtual classes, you will need a reliable way to conduct your classes. You do have free options available such as Instagram and YouTube. However, Zoom has become a popular way to conduct online yoga classes.

If you are on a budget, then stick to Instagram and YouTube classes. However, if you want to offer a differentiated and quality experience, use Zoom to conduct your live online classes.

I highly recommend StudioGrowth as the software you use to run your yoga business. StudioGrowthis the plug-and-play option for your yoga business. It has everything you will need to start and grow your yoga business. From member management to Zoom integration to providing a branded website – it offers everything you will need.

Try out the StudioGrowth free 14-day trial. If you have not started your yoga business yet, often setting up your primary software will give you sufficient momentum to begin your journey.

Establish A Brand

One of the critical advantages yoga teaches with certifications have is that the certifications from and memberships to industry bodies give them significant credibility. All else being equal, a yoga teacher with RYT-200 or RYT-500 yoga certification will have more credibility than you.

The primary way you can establish credibility without certification is to build a winning brand.

Once you build a loyal following, and word of mouth begins to spread, not having a formal yoga teaching certification will no longer be an issue.

Alongside building and positioning your brand, work on establishing credibility. Some ways you can establish credibility:

Collaborate with other influential yoga teachers
Work on creating a professional following on social media or YouTube
Write and speak on topics that attract the attention of other yoga teachers

To summarize, if you can work for yourself, use the right tools to run and grow your business, and build a differentiated brand, you can not only teach yoga without certification but also be immensely successful in doing so.

This post is part of a series of posts providing in-depth information on everything you need to know to start a yoga studio. The other posts in this series include:

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About the author

Naz Ahm is the founder of StudioGrowth and has spent a decade growing start-ups and venture-backed companies. He writes about sales, marketing, and growth, especially in the yoga, fitness and wellness industry.

Naz has an MBA from IESE Business School and started his journey in the wellness industry when he set-up an on-demand wellness business. Naz currently resides in London, U.K.

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