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Is Teaching Yoga Your Path? 8 Qualities of Excellent Teachers

Considering yoga teacher training? 90 Monkeys co-founder Amy Ippoliti suggests you start by asking yourself some tough questions.

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Amy Ippoliti YJLive 2011

Considering yoga teacher training? 90 Monkeys co-founder Amy Ippoliti suggests you start by asking yourself some tough questions.

Google “yoga teacher training” and pages upon pages of results will leave you not only scrolling for hours but likely overwhelmed and confused. It seems every studio and experienced teacher out there is offering a YTT now. In this weekly series, YJ LIVE! presenters answer your questions.

Passionate about the professional development of yoga teachers, Amy Ippoliti, co-founder of 90 Monkeys, an online school and resource center for teachers, believes you should begin exploring YTT opportunities by asking yourself two questions:

  1. Am I ready to learn to teach yoga?
  2. Will I be a natural at teaching well?

Tough questions. To help you answer them, Amy compiled the following list of qualities she believes are key to teaching yoga well.

Do You Have These 8 Qualities of Excellent Yoga Teachers?

Be honest with yourself as you ask whether these are qualities you possess. Then go back to carefully consider the questions above.

Do you____

  1. Identify as a student of yoga in all areas of your life—not just on the mat?
  2. Embrace an attitude of being continually open to learning and being able to admit when you don’t know something?
  3. Possess a fundamental understanding of your own energy and a sensitivity to other people’s boundaries?
  4. Have a daily practice?
  5. Work to cultivate a vibrant body, sharp mind, and soft heart?
  6. Consider yourself psychologically minded with a certain level of emotional stability?
  7. Have a spiritual practice, even if that’s simply an appreciation of nature, art, or anything beautiful?
  8. Not worry about being too physically adept at the practice?

Check YogaJournal.com weekly for more tips on how to find the YTT program best suited to you. Next up:Kathryn Budig explains how to know when the time is right for YTT.

See also Is Yoga Teacher Training for You?

ABOUT AMY IPPOLITI
Amy Ippoliti is known for bringing yoga to modern-day life in a genuine way through her intelligent sequencing, clear instruction, and engaging sense of humor. She is a pioneer of advanced yoga education, co-founding 90 Monkeys, an online school that has enhanced the skills of yoga teachers and studios in 44 countries. Learn more at amyippoliti.com.

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