The Alliance for Yoga Professionals
Offers Yoga Schools Teacher Certification Services
For Their Yoga Teacher Programs
(Our Teacher Certification Service is offered at no cost to the School or Teacher.)
To Qualify for the AYP Certification Service, A Yoga School Demonstrates That
Their Yoga Teacher Matriculation Assessments Reflect Either The Standard
12 Yoga Competencies or a Lineage Authorization.
(See the 12 Competencies Here)
Participating Yoga School Instructors Will Confer to Their
Matriculating Students A Professional Teacher Designation.
The Initial Professional Teacher Designation is either an Instructor or Guide.
A Yoga Mentor is a seasoned yogi who owns a Teaching School or Participates in a Teaching Program.
A fourth icon of yogic service, Adept, is bestowed on a Yoga Professional by a council of their peers.
Each Designation is Described Further On This Page.
No Concurrent Participation in Another Registry is Required.
Photos by Permission: Robert Sturman: https://www.robertsturmanstudio.com
The Professional Designations The Alliance
The following summary of the AYP Professional Designations includes recommendations as to
when the Designation should be conferred to a matriculated yoga teacher.
Yoga Instructor
A Yoga Instructor has a basic understanding of the skills required to an asana based yoga class with pranayama and guided meditation. An Instructor is still developing their own “teaching voice.”
A Yoga Instructor has made a solid commitment to the ethics of personal instruction.
To be nominated as a Yoga Instructor the teacher needs to have completed an approved curriculum that includes an overview of the 12 Yoga Competencies at a recognized Professional Yoga School.
A Yoga Instructor is a person who has completed a 200 Hr regime of study by an Accredited Yoga School
Yoga Guide
A Yoga Guide is fluent in their knowledge of the 12 Competencies of Yoga.
A Guide has the ability to design an effective yoga flow and adapt a course of study to the needs of all levels of students practicing regardless of the style of class.
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This teacher has a method that is steeped in the history and traditions of ancient yoga that is coupled to a regular meditation practice.
With their knowledge yoga anatomy, contraindications, and hands-on assists the Guide is able to lift the practice of others appropriately.
Moreover, a Guide has a general knowledge of Sanskrit, pranayama, mantra, asana, bandhas, yogic cleanses, and sacred texts.
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With a unique voice a Yoga Guide has an intrinsic motivation to share their yogic knowledge in the teaching the mind, body and spiritual knowledge of yoga as a calling.
A Yoga Guide has completed a regime of study that includes either an Authorization by a Lineage or a 300 Hr. Certificate of Accomplishment offered by an Accredited Yoga School.
Yoga Mentor
A Yoga Mentor has advanced skills in the tutoring professional yoga teachers, they are a specialist in a particular lineage in the great yoga community.
A Mentor is a conscious catalyst, a yogi who up-levels his community by holding a space of grace emanating from an awareness of yoga traditions.
A Mentor demonstrates a commitment to courageous self-inquiry on their personal path and has a dedicated sadhana, a regular spiritual practice in the art of yoga.
They are well-organized and able to train Yoga Instructors and Practitioners with the intention of improving their own knowledge and ways of teaching.
A Yoga Mentor demonstrates awareness of the need to allow for inclusiveness for those may be marginalized.
At this level, a Mentor builds curriculum, leads workshops, immersions, and trainings, as they continue to expand their quest greater wholeness in their knowledge base and skills.
A Yoga Mentor has extensive social experience in the field and is immersed in skills of engaging others in yogic studies. Furthermore, they recognize that in training and teaching others, they are a lifelong student of yoga.
Mentors have had more than 5 years of experience teaching in a defined Lineage or teaches for or owns an Accredited Yoga School.
The Adept Designation
Adept yogi is recognized by his/her peers as a Master of Yoga.
The Adept Designation indicates that the yogi has contributed a body of work to the greater yoga community within their lineage or tradition. The have a sense of Awareness about them, a sense of knowing. The are support a defined Community of practitioner yogis.
The work of the Adept usually spans a least a decade of consistent selfless contributions to the their niche and includes the creation of innovative interpretations of the classic and traditional frameworks of this ancient tradition.
Adepts are chosen by Council of Peers through a nomination process and calls from the greater field for supporting documentation and interviews. Several contributions by Adept Yogis have included contributions to the following yogic fields:
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Yoga Ethics
Safety Management
Advanced Anatomy & Physiology
Ancient Yoga History & Philosophy
Subtle Body Energies
Personal Sadhana
Contraindications in Yoga Teaching
Knowledge of Sanskrit, Gurmukhi and/or Mantras
Knowledge of Yogic Sacred Texts
Critical Thinking Skills
Yoga as Stress Management
​ Mastery of Yoga Practice in a Lineage or Tradition.
Mastery of Teaching the Art of Yoga.
Mastery of Self-Assessment
Cultural Sensitivity
