Yoga is hardly a novelty. It is taught in gyms and yoga-specific studios all over the world. As more people look for these classes, more teachers are needed. In perfect harmony, the more students there, the larger the pool from which yoga teacher training programs can pull for new teachers. Yoga makes such an impact on its students, that many consider becoming teachers.
The first question you should consider is whether you'll enjoy teaching anything. Teaching is not an easy task. It requires extreme patience. You'll also have to have effective communication skills.
If you decide you're interesting in teaching generally, you then need to consider the specific challenges of teaching a physical activity. You'll have students with all sorts of body types and levels of physical activity with whom you'll have to work. You also will only get paid for classes actually taught. So you don't get paid for canceled or missed classes. Even if you don't feel quite like your best teaching self, you'll still have to produce for your students.
Once you decide that you do have the temperament to teach, you then need to consider whether your personal practice is at a sufficiently high level. The various schools and organizations that accredit them each set their own practice standards. As they are all steeped in the culture of the ancient discipline, they won't expect your practice to be perfect. Even so, you will be expected to have achieved certain standards. You can learn from each specific program what their standards are.
In most cases, if you're meeting the practice standards of a specific style, then you've likely already decided that's the type of the yoga you want to teach. The number of yoga styles, from Ashtanga to Zen, seems to grow every year and each has its own teacher training program. You want to make sure you're selecting a school that works in a style whose priorities and principles match your own.
On a practical level, you also want to think about how teaching will fit into your life. Some people just use the teacher training program as a means to advance their own practice. In other cases, some people want to teach as an enjoyable side job to their main career. Others transition into teaching as full time career.
If you are one who wants to make a career shift into teaching, you'll want to consider what your plan is. Even if you know you want to make this a full time career, you want to think about if teaching if where you want to stay or if you might want to open a studio. Some programs offer career assistance or even business assistance, so these types of programs might be valuable additions.
There are innumerable yoga teacher training programs in every style. You can find just the one that meets all your personal and career needs. The larger question is whether you're ready to become a teacher and if you know what you want from that career.
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