200 Hour vs 300 Hour Yoga Teacher Training

What is the difference between 200-hour, 300-hour, and 500-hour yoga teacher training?

200 + 300 = 500 hr RYT

200 hour yoga teacher training is your bachelor’s degree.

300 hour yoga teacher training is your master’s degree.

Together, they form a 500-hour Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance.

You have to take your 200 hour before your 300 hour.

You CAN take a full 500-hour all at once but it’s somewhat rare.

I suggest taking your 200-hour RYT, teaching for at least a year, then taking your 300-hour.

This will give you teaching experience and allow you to niche down and figure out who you like to teach and who you don’t like to teach before investing more time and money into a 300-hour program.

What can I do with a 200-Hour vs a 300- Hour training?

Your 200-hour yoga training is the basic level of yoga training that is recognized by the Yoga Alliance, and allows you to teach yoga professionally. The 200-hour training will give you the foundation in which you build your yoga practice, which is why I recommend building that foundation for a year before the master’s degree comes. A 300-hour teaching certificate indicates that you are prepared to teach yoga with the deeper knowledge and skills.

What will I learn?

It honestly varies according to the school. According to Yoga Alliance, a 200-hour yoga school should meet the following guidelines:

75 hours of Techniques, Teaching and Practice (TTP)
30 hours of Anatomy and Physiology
30 hours of Yoga Humanities
50 hours of Professional Essentials

Source: https://www.yogaalliance.org/Our_Standards/Elevated_RYS_200_Standards

In general, your 200-hour yoga teacher training should teach you the basics of teaching yoga – how to cue, teaching practice, how to do the postures correctly, how to sequence, lots of anatomy, very basic business skills, introduction to subtle body anatomy and philosophy like kosha’s, chakras, pranavayu’s, the 8 Limbs of Yoga, etc. There should be plenty of practice like mudras, mantra, etc.

You may think – wow! I’ll be an expert after a 200-hour yoga teacher training. That’s a lot of hours!!

But really, a 200-hour yoga teacher training gives you just a small taste into the depth of yoga.

In Shri School of Yoga’s 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training, we go deep into your teaching skills so you feel confident leading yoga classes but it’s really just the beginning of your yoga teaching journey.

I’ve taken over 2,000 hours of formal yoga training and I still feel like I’m scratching the surface!

Once you feel like you’re ready to go deeper as a yoga teacher, then you take an advanced yoga teacher training with a 300-hour RYS. You may be pursuing a side career as a yoga teacher, so a 200-hour training may be as far as you need to go.

According to Yoga Alliance, a 300-hour yoga school should meet the following guidelines:

50 hours Techniques, Training and Practice (TTP)
5 hours of Teaching Methodology
15 hours of Anatomy & Physiology
30 hours of Yoga Philosophy, Lifestyle and Ethics (YPLE)
30 hours of Practicum
Remaining hours are electives

Source: https://www.yogaalliance.org/Credentialing/Standards/300-HourStandards

In my opinion, a 300-hour RYS should help you dive deeper into topics that you want to explore.

They should touch deeper on topics like Cultural Appropriation, Living Your Yoga, Yoga Sutras, Bhagavad Gita, classical texts, deeper anatomy discussions, business building, Ayurveda, and more specific trainings that you’re interested in.

At Shri School of Yoga, we help our teachers niche down into their areas of speciality and then develop workshops so they can teach their specialty to other teachers and students via workshops or teacher trainings.

View our upcoming workshops and advanced yoga teacher trainings here: https://www.shristudios.com/300-hour-yoga-teacher-training

Why do I need to get a Yoga Alliance certification?

When you complete a certified course in either 200 RYT, 300 RYT, or 500 RYT, you can register with Yoga Alliance. It is not mandatory to register as RYT-200 with Yoga Alliance (or any other yoga teacher organization) in order for you to teach. You can teach just with a 200 hour certification. Registering with Yoga Alliance can be that extra boost to your resume if you are looking to start teaching at your dream studio!

How do I choose a 300-hour training program near me?

Some programs will be focused on a specific area of yoga. Depending on which niche you are inclined to choosing, you may prefer to go deeper into that subject. Also, make sure the program is following Yoga Alliance guidelines in order to receive your certification.

I would also recommend finding an instructor who is passionate about teaching and yoga!