Are you so confused and swamp with the massive number of yoga studios and private instructors offering yoga classes? There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to choosing a private yoga instructor. Here are some tips for choosing a suitable instructor.

Get to know the Qualifications of your Private Yoga Instructor

The basic training that all yoga instructors have to go through is a 200 Hours Yoga Teacher Training course. There are various trainings from many different schools locally as well as, overseas. It is best that the teacher has undergone a training that is recognised by Yoga Alliance.

You can simply ask your personal yoga instructor where he or she took the training or if possible, ask to see the certification. This is one of the most direct methods to check if your yoga instructor has gone through legitimate training. Read about our private yoga instructors at Classic Yoga here.

Responsiveness of Enquiries

If you do not know the teacher personally, try to send all your enquiries and concerns via email before purchasing a private class. During the private yoga class, it will be a one on one session that is conducted at the comfort of your own home, gym, park or wherever convenient.

You will likely be facing the teacher alone for an hour or 70 minutes. It is imperative that the personal yoga instructor answers your questions and concerns before you jump into an actual class.

Take a moment to see if you feel comfortable and assured with the teacher’s response to your questions. If you do not feel comfortable with initial communication, this might be a red flag for purchasing a private yoga class.

In addition, look out for timeliness of response, generic courtesy the teacher possess and knowledgeable answers.

Yoga Instructor’s Passion for Yoga

Not only is professional certification an important criteria for a choosing to engage a Yoga instructor. Finding out if the instructor possesses deep passion for Yoga is just as important.

Yoga is a never ending learning journey, it requires effort, time and passion to continuously deepen into the practice. In general, you should be able to feel if your personal yoga instructor is truly passionate and genuine about serving through yoga over time.

Developing Safe Yoga Practices

While it may look fancy to be in advanced poses, these are also the most injury causing poses for many beginners. It may take a long time or even years for some to advance into yoga asanas.

A good personal yoga instructor design practices according to your body’s strengths and weaknesses. Over consistent yoga practice, your instructor will be able to help you deepen your practice. The main objective should be to improve or maintain health and mental wellness.

An instructor should also have in-depth knowledge on proper alignments on the different yoga poses and how it affects the body. It is always very crucial to get the alignments correct as practicing yoga with wrong alignments often, causes more harm than good.

Personality and Style of the Yoga Instructor

The best way to know if a yoga instructor is right for you is to explore taking classes from different instructors.

This should be applied for all types of classes such as group workshops , private yoga classes , corporate yoga classes , private group classes , yoga retreats. Pay attention to their vocal instructions, the focus on alignments for yoga poses and lots more.

There will also be some personal contact (hands-on assist) going on but should always be kept professional. If you do not wish to be physically assisted during yoga sessions, please inform your instructor before the class.

Most importantly, take note of how you feel during and after the classes. Identify what sort of teacher-student relationship you will like to have as you embark on your yoga journey.

At the end of the day, the choice that you make of is a deeply personal one. Choosing someone who is competent and that you are most comfortable with will be most ideal.