In this guest post, Sally McAteer shares some advice for choosing a faith-based teacher training. Sally is a registered teacher with the Christian Yoga Association and Yoga Alliance, Master Certified and Lead Trainer with Yogafaith. Sally runs her local classes in Monroe, North Carolina through her studio, Sallysmat Yoga, a community of people from all walks of life. Her mission for every class she teaches is “to help the lost get found, and the found get lost in Christ.” To find out more about Sally's offerings you can visit her website at www.sallysmat.com.

Additional information on finding a teacher training is available here.

If there is one topic that I could talk all day about it is faith based yoga teacher training. I spend many days in my week talking to people about this very subject, and what a blessing that I am given the opportunity to do so! Many people have found me because it is known that I have trained with two of the larger faith based schools available. Through all of this training I have become very passionate about encouraging people to ask good questions before committing time and money to a training. When I first began my journey into teacher training, I signed up based on an emotional decision during a very emotional time of my life. The Lord has used ALL of my training for His good so I am grateful, but looking back I realize I could have cut out a big expense if I would have just taken a few steps before signing up. 

Realizing the big need for this information, (along with taking numerous calls and answering many emails), I decided to have a zoom call to go over and few things, and also see what other questions were out there that I might not have thought about. I am going to group together a lot of the questions to keep it simple.  

The first and most asked question I get is how did you find your training schools? For me I did not do research on what was available. I thought at the time there was only one that was faith based. That is not true at all. There are many options of faith based training available. You can learn more about the many training options here.

My advice to those I speak to is first, and before anything begins, to pray for the Holy spirit to lead you where you need to be. Scripture tells us that the Lord knows our path. Proverbs 3: 5-6. He knows where we need to be in order for us to do His work. Therefore being sensitive to His guidance is key in this decision.

Once you have found a few training options that you are interested in, do some homework on the training itself and the people training you. Speak to teachers that have gone through the actual schools program. In this industry what you see a lot is that many are getting certified, but few are actually teaching afterwards. If you ask them why, often you will see the answer is that they do not feel equipped to teach. That speaks to their training. 

Ask to have a conversation with the one of the lead trainers of the school. Ask them all the questions. Where did they train? How long have they been practicing? How long have they been teaching?

Ask about payment options.

My first training was very structured in how you had to pay. My second was much more flexible with a pay-as-you-go training. Some budgets allow for a one time payment, other budgets do not.

 Ask about the training curriculum. How much is taught on actual teaching techniques? How many in-person hours do you have? How many Online hours do you have? Are you able to keep your access to training content after you complete the program?

Ask about support after training. Are there any training resources that are available after training is complete?  Continuing education requirements you might need?

Be willing to wait on the Lord's timing, not your own! That is a hard one. We want what we want when we want it, but sometimes the Lord says it is not time. Be open to that prompting and be patient. It took me over a year of praying to retrain. Looking back, the Lord knew exactly why I needed to wait. The day I left for my second immersion, I received the very heartbreaking news that the company I worked for for 10 years was being sold. The Lord knew what I was going to be facing. His timing was perfect!

Finally, if you are entering into teacher training with a job waiting for you, make sure you ask if the studio or gym requires any type of additional registry. Example ACE, Christian Yoga Association, or Yoga Alliance. If that is what they need for you to have before they will hire you onto their staff make sure you find out if the program you are signing up for is registered with those places. I personally have not ever been asked this question but I have heard that some have. 

I want to close with this: I felt the Lord calling me out of the boat for a while and entering into this teaching role full time. I kept ignoring it. I thought I could work and just teach part-time and have the best of both worlds. I did just that for several years. Something was holding me back. Fear, maybe?  Lack of confidence, maybe?  What I know now, looking back, is the Lord was going to use my second training to give me what I was missing to step out of the boat. I got to my second training and spent 8 days immersed in some of the best training I had ever received! The Lord equipped me at that training with a confidence I never had before. My boat back home literally sank right in front of me, but God, in His perfect timing and gentle kindness, reached His hand down and taught me a new way to sail.   

The light inside of me is the Light of Jesus Christ; That light honors and prays blessings over each of you!