200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training Certification Program
The ESSF Program has partnered with Yoga Alliance to offer an accredited 200-Hour Yoga Certification. The program is broken down into three courses that can be taken for credit or non-credit and is available to students, staff, faculty, and members of the community.
The University of Utah's Yoga Teacher Training Program "Need to Know" outline provides detailed information on what to expect from the 200-Hour certification program.
All three courses MUST be completed in order to complete the 200-hour program and the program is the same regardless of which course series is used to enroll.
Credit vs Non-Credit Options
Credit | ESSF 1800/1801/1802
These courses are for students wanting to take the program for academic credit in addition to receiving a Yoga Teacher Training Certificate, earning a total of 7.5 credit hours for completing participation requirements. Students can enroll for these courses through the CIS portal.
Non-Credit | ESSFC 800/801/802
These courses are designed for students looking to enhance their professional development. Enrollment is managed by Continuing Education. An application may be required for this option depending on a potential candidate's personal yoga experience. Students will be provided with a digital badge for their online profile post-completion. Visit the Continuing Education Yoga Teacher Training page for more information regarding the certificate.
Yoga Teacher Training 1: Foundations of Asanas
The main focus of Yoga Teacher Training 1 is the Foundation of Asanas. This course will also include the learning of Asana names in Sanskrit and English, a history of yoga and its varying styles, the importance that the Bhagavad Gita text plays in yoga’s underlying philosophies, basics of metaphysical value applied to yoga practice, and an introduction to chakras.
3 months or more of a personal yoga practice is strongly encouraged for those seeking the YTT certificate, but not required; there are no pre-req ESSF courses needed to enroll in ESSF 1800/800 at this time. Class is HYBRID; 1st session on Zoom, 2nd session in-person.
Held on Tuesdays - HYBRID
- Fall Semester: 6:00pm-8:30pm
- Spring Semester: 12:55pm-3:15pm
- Summer Semester: 9:00am-11:30am
- Body Alignment
- Use of props
- Physical adjustments
- Appropriate cueing
- Variation of poses
- Partner Work
- Bhagavad Gita (required reading)
- Light on Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar (required reading for YTT Course 1)
- Various Styles of breathing exercises
Yoga Teacher Training 2: Anatomy, Sequence, and Philosophy
The main focus of Yoga Teacher Training 2 is to build on Yoga Teacher Training 1. In this course, students will learn how to construct and teach their own sequences. Students will also learn the U’s signature YTT sequence, the Chakra Flow. This course will also include discussions around the Business of Yoga, Anatomy Clinics, and the Yoga Sutras Eight Limbs of Yoga and how they can be incorporated into a deeper yogic practice and is mainly held in-person on Thursdays over Fall & Summer, and Saturdays (accelerated format) for Spring semesters.
Held on Thursdays for:
- Fall Semester: 6:00pm-8:30pm
- Summer Semester: 9:00am-11:30am
Held on Saturdays for:
- Spring Semester: (various dates) between 9:00am-4:00pm
- Creating a themed practice
- Knowing Your Audience
- Teaching For Body Types
- Use of Music, Voice, Sounds, etc.
- Small group teaching
- Teaching methodology
- Yamas
- Niyamas
- Pranayam
- Asana
- Dharana
- Dhyana
- Pratyahara
- Samadhi
- Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras (required reading for Course 2)
- The Vedas (suggested reading for Course 2)
- Key Muscles of Yoga (suggested reading for Course 2)
- Yoga Teacher Toolbox (required reading for Course 2; can be located at the U's Bookstore)
- Know Your Doshas
- Understanding Vayus
Yoga Teacher Training 3: Yoga Styles Workshop
This course is required for the 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training certification but is also open for anyone interested in learning more about a variety of yoga styles to enhance and grow their own personal practice.
This course provides a unique experience to students by providing a wide array of guest lecturers who are experts in their respective style of Yoga. Students will be introduced to a variety of yoga disciplines in order to increase awareness of yoga lineages, both ancient and modern.
This class will be held exclusively online, with a few exceptions regarding the yoga style being taught.
Held on Wednesdays
- Fall Semester: 6:00pm-8:30pm
- Spring Semester: 6:00pm-8:30pm
- Summer Semester: 9:00am-11:30am
- Astanga
- Anusara
- Vinyasa Krama
- Iyengar
- Yin/Restore
- Nidra
- Kundalini
- Partner
- And much more!
Questions?
For questions regarding the 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training Program, please contact Rebecca Davenport or Jendar Morales.
Frequently Asked Questions
There are 3 enrollment options a potential Yoga Teacher Training candidate can choose from: college credit or non-credit, through the ESSF Department of the College of Health, or Continuing Education’s (CE) certificate only program (ESSFC; no academic credit received). When enrolling through the CE program, enrollment is handled by them.
- ESSF 1800/800, ESSFC 800: Course 1 currently held on Tuesdays and is HYBRID (1st session online; 2nd session in-person)
- ESSF 1801/801, ESSFC 801: Course 2 currently held on Thursdays Fall & Summer, & on selected Saturdays in accelerated format for Spring and is in-person
- ESSF 1802/802, ESSFC 802: Course 3 currently held on Wednesdays ONLINE
Although a basic understanding of a yoga class is helpful, being an advanced practitioner of yoga is not needed. This training is designed to give the general student all the skills he/she needs to understand the premise of yoga and how to lead a class on their own by its end, and is also a great program for personal enrichment. Should you have less than 3 months experience under your belt, you may be asked to consider prolonging full completion of your teaching final until you and the lead instructors feel you’re ready to teach.
Course 1 (1800/800) must be completed before, or enrollment alongside the course 2 (1801/801). Course 3 (1802/802) is open to all as it is a workshop style class designed to introduce a variety of yoga styles to the average student, but is required for YTTs seeking certification.
Attendance is our biggest requirement. This is a program after all, not a typical yoga class. Our syllabus goes into more specific detail about this, but 100% attendance should be your goal! If you know beforehand that you would be out of town for more than 3 class times, recognize your work schedule may consistently interfere with arriving to class on time (or at all), have extenuating circumstances such as pressing family needs or severe health issues, please consider enrolling when you know you can fully participate.
Yes, reach out to the U’s Continuing Education department. Enrollment and payment is handled by them. Space is limited. Please visit Advanced Class Search for more details about general registration.
Continuing Education professional certificate seeking department has offered an additional professional recognition for completing the program. To learn more, please visit Continuing Education or email Continuing Education for more details.
At this time, Tuesday (Course 1) is held online through the 1st session of a semester. It then goes in-person for the 2nd half of the semester. Only Wednesday (Course 3) is exclusively online, with the exception of the Partner yoga workshop, held at the end of the semester in person.
Yes and no. You can still enroll as a student for non-credit through the College of Health, Kinesiology/ESSF dept. by creating a non-academic profile in CIS when registering. For questions about this, please speak with the Registrar. Those who would like the additional recognition of receiving a professional certificate, offered through CE’s Professional Certification program, should register with them.
Yes. If you are a registered U of U student with access to Financial Aid, enrolling for any one of these courses is like signing up for any other class. This is only available to students seeking college credit. For those using the GI Bill, please reach out to the Financial Aid department for details of payment. The YTT Instructors DO NOT handle any type of tuition/fees/payment for class registration!
No, they do not! It is possible to take all the YTT courses concurrently (all together) in a semester and finish the in-class contact hours training in one semester, but you are not required to do so all at once, should your schedule not allow it. Only 1801/801 has prerequisites, being registration and completion of YTT course 1 (ESSF/ESSFC 1800/800). Completion of the program should be done within 3 semesters (one year) of when enrollment of Course 1 was taken and successfully completed. Beyond a year, a student will need to re-enroll in YTT.
As per Yoga Alliance standards of a 200 hour training, contact hours (instruction with a master teacher) and non contact hours (out-of-class on your own hours) are how you receive a yoga teaching certificate. A student has up to an additional semester after the successful completion of all 3 courses, if needed, to complete their out-of-class hours required to qualify receiving their YTT certification. We absolutely want to make sure a student feels confident and comfortable teaching a yoga class on their own, before they receive their certificate.
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