Yoga School Registration

Welcome to the IYN online registration for Yoga Schools. As part of this application, you will be asked to upload some or all of the supporting documents listed below. Before continuing with your application, please check that you have the relevant documents. We accept the following file formats: .pdf, .doc, .docx, .jpeg, .png and .odt.

Required documents:

• CV or bio-data of its Director of Studies and any other tutors. Please note that at least one of the main tutors needs to be registered as a teacher with the IYN Yoga Register and must have at least ten years solid teaching experience
• Evidence of registration of course tutor or that this is in process
• A sample copy of your certificate(s)
• A maximum of three photos, if you'd like your school to be listed on the IYN website

Payment:

• At the end of the online application you will be asked to make a payment of £200. Payments are taken via Paypal - credit/debit cards accepted if you do not have a Paypal account

Raison d’être for the Yoga Register:

• To ensure that safe and effective teaching of Yoga is available to the public
• To provide the public with access to safe and effective Yoga teachers
• To inform aspiring Yoga teachers of safe and effective Yoga Teacher Training schools
• To provide services to Yoga Teachers, e.g. insurance, advice on setting up classes, etc
• To promote and publicise the Yoga Register standard
• To help create, maintain and promote the conditions for Yoga to thrive in freedom

Types of application for Registration:
The IYN Yoga Register registers Yoga teachers and Yoga Teacher Training Schools who meet its Registration Standard. Teacher applicants can be one of the three types outlined below.

• Graduates of Registered Schools gain automatic registration on presentation of their certificate and payment of the appropriate fee.
• Elder Teacher Applicants who can document 5000 hours of successful teaching can apply to be registered as Yoga Elders.
• Graduates of non-registered schools and Independent Teacher Applicants outside these categories can apply for registration on the basis of a combination of experience and non-certificated training and/or certification by a non-registered school. They will need to demonstrate that their teaching is to the Registration Standard.

Derivation of the Registration Standard:
The teaching of Yoga is determined by the nature of Yoga itself, rather than general principles of conventional education. The Yoga Register Standard is therefore derived from fundamental principles which all traditions can subscribe to. These are ahimsa (non-violence), satya (truthfulness) and svadhyaya (self-study).

Satya requires that:
1. the theoretical and practical accomplishments asserted by a certificate (whether issued by a registered or non-registered teacher training school), letters of recommendation, CV or any other means do actually exist, and are based on a genuine, pragmatic understanding of how the body, mind and Yoga practices work.

2. that teachers teach what they know from their own practice and experience;

Svadhyaya requires that:
1. the Registered Yoga Teacher’s training and practice are based on a commitment to ongoing self-enquiry focused through the principles of Yoga.

Ahimsa requires that:
1. a Registered Teacher to be able to teach Yoga, on the basis of their knowledge, training and experience, without inviting physical or psychological harm.

The Registration Standard thus recognises four areas of significance:
Safety - A Registered Teacher must teach safely and a Registered Teacher Training School must enable its graduates to do so. (ahimsa)

Practical Skills – A Registered Teacher must possess practical skills appropriate to the style of Yoga she teaches and a Registered Teacher Training School must enable its graduates to do so. (satya)

Knowledge – A Registered Teacher must possess the factual knowledge and the self-knowledge necessary to teach her chosen style of Yoga effectively and safely and a Registered Teacher Training School must enable its graduates to do so. (satya)

Practice – All of the above must be grounded in the Registered Teacher’s dedicated practice and it is the responsibility of a Registered Teacher Training School to ensure that its graduates are so grounded. (svadhyaya)

Assessment:
A Registered Teacher Training School must assess its students to ascertain that they have met their requirements in all of the above areas before certifying them. Independent Teacher Applicants, of both categories, must demonstrate that their training has been adequate in all four areas. (satya)

Content of teacher training courses:
Because of its profound and multifaceted nature Yoga can be systematised in many equally authentic ways. The Registration Standard therefore allows for flexibility of course curricula and does not prescribe their textual and theoretical underpinnings. The Register is equally flexible about assessment methods and does not prescribe them. Many are possible and those used are only required to be effective and honest.

Application of the standard:
Teacher Training Schools seeking registration have their courses examined by the Register to ascertain their ability to produce graduates who are competent in the four areas of concern and that they confirm this through assessment. Independent Individual Trainings are assessed by the Register to ascertain that the individual concerned is competent in the four areas of concern.

Duration of Training:
Although the Register rejects the idea that adequate Teacher Training can be prescribed according to a breakdown of hours spent on various arbitrarily demarcated areas of study, it does require courses to have minimum study and contact hours as follows:

• Basic Yoga Teacher Training: 200 hours,
(at least 160 hours spent in direct contact with course tutors).
• Intermediate Yoga Teacher Training: 500 hours,
(at least 360 hours spent in direct contact with course tutors).
• Advanced Yoga Teacher Training: 1000 hours,
(at least 750 hours spent in direct contact with course tutors).
• Yoga Elder: 5000 hours of successful teaching.

The Registry entry for a registered school (YRS) or registered teacher (YRT) will specify if the school or teacher meets the 200, 500, 1000 hour level. Schools may offer several levels of training and this will be indicated.

Registration:
Current registration entitles you to use the title of Yoga Register School (YRS) and the IYN logos on your publicity material. Your details will be entered on the IYN Yoga Register database which is accessible to the public on-line and by phone or post. A registered school also becomes a voting member of the IYN.

For Yoga to be effective it must be taught safely. Its teaching and practice rest upon the Yogic principle of ahimsa. The practice of asana, pranayama, mudra, bandha and meditation must be based upon an approach that doesn't invite physical and/or psychological injury. The register requires that students are observed teaching by a competent tutor from their school or an examiner appointed by their school and assessed for the safety of their teaching.

With reference to your curriculum, teaching materials and any other documentation:

Please show how the principle of ahimsa is imparted to your students and becomes central to both their teaching and practice. How is this assessed? Inicated how your school discharges its duty of care towards its students in accordance with ahimsa. Please add any further comments which you feel may clarify your training with respect to the requirement for your students to practice and teach safely.

The IYN Yoga Register requires a registered teacher to have those specific practical skills necessary for teaching Yoga. We recognise that different Yoga styles have teaching requirements peculiar to themselves. We require evidence that, in keeping with satya, a Yoga Teacher Training School ascertains that its students have gained the practical skills needed to teach its approach to Yoga and that those practical skills are rooted in the individual's Yoga practice and in the reflective practice of teaching itself.

With reference to your curriculum, teaching materials and any other documentation:

Please show how your students come to master the teaching method of your school. What is the rationale and how are the students assessed? Please add any further comments which you feel may clarify your training - with respect to the practical skills your course requires its students to have mastered. (e.g. You might offer workshops in adjusting asanas).

The IYN Yoga Register requires that the registered teacher works from a foundation of sound knowledge. Teachers must be well versed in those Yoga traditions which are relevant to the style of Yoga they teach. Relevant, pragmatic knowledge of anatomy, physiology, psychology and philosophy is required. We recognise that different Yoga styles will emphasise these according to the requirements of their particular approach. Theoretical knowledge must be grounded in the teacher's practice and experience in order to fulfil the principle of satya. Teachers need to be grounded in self-knowledge gained through self-study (svadhyaya) and to be continually reflective in both personal practice and teaching.

With reference to your curriculum, teaching materials and other documentation:

Please show how your students come to master the knowledge-base utilised by your style. How is this related to the student's practice and acquisition of self-knowledge, and how is the student assessed in this respect? Please add any further comments that you feel may clarify your training with respect to the knowledge your course requires its students to have mastered (e.g. you might offer a series of discussions on the Yoga Sutras and assess your students on the basis of an essay).

The Register takes the view that practice on the part of the teacher is at the heart of any teaching of integrity. In keeping with the Yogic principles of satya and ahimsa, teachers much teach what they honestly know through their own practice. Practice should also be the basis of the practical skills a teacher has come to possess. The teacher's knowledge should also be grounded in the experience gained through diligent practice, rather than only in theoretical studies.

With reference to your curriculum, teaching materials and any other relevant documentation:

Indicate how your students establish the safety, practical skills and knowledge-base of their teaching in their own diligent practice. Show how this is assessed. Indicate how, and to what extent, you supervise your students' practice through face-to-face instruction in the techniques of your approach to Yoga. Please add any further comments which you feel may clarify your training with respect to your requirements for personal practice on the part of your students.

Please supply what you can of the following: