Yoga Alliance Standards
Last Updated: August 30, 2021
Yoga Alliance Standards set the ethical and educational framework for yoga teachers and schools in order to ensure high quality, safe, accessible, and equitable yoga teaching in communities around the world.
The yoga we know and experience today has been forged from generations of teachers passing down this ancient practice. As a yoga education standard-setting organization founded in 1999, Yoga Alliance has grown alongside yoga’s natural progression while rising to meet the needs of our evolving membership.
Recognizing the need for modernized standards that promote high quality, safe, accessible, and equitable yoga teaching, in 2018, we embarked on a community-led 18-month Standards Review Project designed to help us understand and distill the experiences and essentials of today’s yoga educators and students. The SRP brought together YA members and non-members, yoga teachers and practitioners, thought and field leaders, wisdom holders, and not-for-profit and for-profit business leaders from around the world in a comprehensive and inclusive process. This undertaking included a 12,000-respondent survey, listening tour, series of virtual town halls, working group sessions, and many other feedback channels.
As a result of this heartfelt community work, Yoga Alliance created and launched three major enhancements to our standards in February 2020—all of which relied on the decision-making principles of traditional yogic value, equity, accountability, integrity, and stability across the yoga community. They are:
- Elevated standards for the foundational Registered Yoga School (RYS) 200 credential;
- A strengthened application and review process; and
- A shared member-wide Ethical Commitment including an enhanced Code of Conduct, new Scope of Practice, and commitment to Equity in Yoga.
While these enhancements serve as groundwork for the continued betterment of yoga everywhere, we acknowledge this work, like yoga itself, is ongoing.
So, what comes next?
As the world continues to transition to more and more online connection and engagement, so does the teaching and practice of yoga.
We learned so much from the feedback provided by 2021 Online Teaching Exemption RYS participants, and are moving forward with a strengthened understanding and approach to online teaching, training, and learning. This includes:
- The creation of a 2022-2023 Online Teaching Application, offering RYSs the opportunity to continue hosting teacher training programs online or in a blended format through 2023. This also serves as a bridge to all RYSs being required to up-level to the Elevated RYS Standards by December 31, 2023.
- Updates to teaching in an online environment for all Elevated RYS Standards. More information will be shared by the end of 2021.
While our path serving the yoga community may continue to transform, our mission holds true: to promote and foster the high quality, safe, accessible, and equitable teaching of yoga everywhere.