Updated November 2026
Continuing education for yoga teachers is any training you take after your first certification so your teaching keeps growing: a weekend workshop, an online course, a specialty training, or a full 300-hour program. The courses worth your time are the ones you can feel in your own body first and then teach with confidence. Before you buy, check that the description matches what’s taught, that it’s about the craft of teaching, and that nobody is rushing you; afterward, give yourself time to absorb what you learned before you bring it to your students.
I take a lot of continuing education myself. Right now I’m partway through two trainings with Brett Larkin that I’m very much enjoying. Here’s how I’d choose a course, and where I’d look.
What counts as continuing education for yoga teachers?
Nearly any structured learning that feeds your teaching counts: trainings, workshops, online courses, specialty certifications, and advanced programs like a 300-hour training. In The Professional Yoga Teacher’s Handbook I put it this way: “I encourage lots of continuing education, over and above the YA standards and whether you are inside the YA universe or not, because learning is a lifelong process and yoga is a living, changing system.” That’s still where I stand.
Continuing education isn’t the whole picture, though. Taking other yoga teachers’ regular classes, as a student with nothing to prove, keeps you in touch with what it feels like to be on the other side of your cues, and I make the case for that in why studenthood is the bedrock of your yoga teaching. You need both: the courses that add skills, and the classes that keep you a student.
How many continuing education hours does Yoga Alliance require?
If you’re registered with Yoga Alliance, your current continuing-education requirement is shown in your member account, and it stays in place for now. Yoga Alliance is reworking its credentials starting in January 2027, and it has said new continuing-education requirements will begin in 2030, but as of November 2026 it hasn’t published what they’ll be. So there may not be a good answer yet, and anyone quoting you a firm 2030 number is guessing. I’ll update this post when Yoga Alliance publishes the details, and my post on Yoga Alliance’s 2027 changes covers everything else that’s shifting.
Registration is optional, too. If you aren’t registered with Yoga Alliance, nobody is counting your hours, and continuing education is simply how you get better at your job.
What makes a continuing education course worth your time?
The trainings that changed my teaching most were Leslie Kaminoff’s yoga anatomy courses. They were pivotal for me because they were immediately practicable: the material was concrete enough that I could embody it, so I could use it right away. That’s the standard I’d hold any course to. When you finish a module, can you feel it in your own practice, and can you picture saying it to the students in front of you?
As I wrote in the Handbook, the right time for advanced training is “when you’re eager to learn more, not simply because it exists!”
Three red flags in continuing education
The description doesn’t match what’s taught. I once signed up for a training billed as restorative that turned out to be mostly vinyasa, which was confusing (and not the productive kind of confusing). Before you buy, read the syllabus or schedule, watch any sample lesson, and ask the provider what a typical session looks like.
It’s about doing poses rather than teaching them. A good course for yoga teachers focuses on the craft: how to sequence, cue, plan, and adapt for the students who actually show up. If the outline is mostly a list of shapes to master in your own body, it may be a fine practice intensive, but it won’t do much for your teaching.
Somebody is rushing you. Countdown timers, “only three spots left,” and prices that jump at midnight are signs that a sale matters more than your learning. You’re allowed to take a day to decide.
Give it time before you teach it
Too often, yoga teachers take a workshop on the weekend and try to inject it into their classes on Monday, before they’ve had a chance to process what they learned. Think of a new technique the way a chef treats a new ingredient: you cook with it at home a few times, learn how it behaves, and only then put it on the menu. Practice what you learned in your own body until it feels like yours, then bring your students one piece of it, and let the rest follow.
Where I’d look for continuing education
These are the places I go myself, or would send you without hesitating.
- Jenni Rawlings. Her continuing education membership is where I’d send anyone who wants anatomy and movement science that keeps up with current research, and her courses count toward Yoga Alliance continuing education. (She’s also a dear friend.) Email me, and I’ll share a discount code for her CEU courses!
- Leslie Kaminoff. His online membership at lesliekaminoff.yoga brings together his online training materials, including the anatomy teaching that was so pivotal for me.
- Kripalu. Yes, Kripalu’s great. (I’ve been on its faculty for more than fifteen years, so I’m biased.)
- Brett Larkin. I’m in two of her trainings right now, Kundalini Demystified (Teacher’s Edition) and her Somatic Yoga Intensive, and I’m enjoying both.
Continuing education with me
If you’d like to keep learning with me, the Fundamentals courses are the smallest step. Each one is 20 hours of Yoga Alliance continuing education on a single specialty (yin, restorative, balance, trauma-informed yoga, yoga nidra, or core), built around how to teach it, and each one also counts toward my 300-hour training.
Teaching Yoga to Athletes carries 30 Yoga Alliance continuing-education hours and 120 hours toward the 300, for yoga teachers who want to teach athletes.
The Comfort Zone Yoga® 300-Hour Online Yoga Teacher Training brings it together: Mastering the Art of Yoga Sequencing plus the specialty path that fits your teaching. Every module is registered with Yoga Alliance for continuing-education credit, so you can take one piece at a time or finish the whole 300.
Frequently asked questions
Do yoga teachers need continuing education?
If you’re registered with Yoga Alliance, yes: completing continuing education is part of keeping your credential. If you aren’t registered, nothing requires it.
Who can offer continuing education that Yoga Alliance accepts?
Yoga Alliance accepts continuing education from its registered continuing-education providers (YACEPs) and from registered E-RYTs, among others. Check the current rules in your Yoga Alliance account before you log hours, since the requirements are changing.
What are Yoga Alliance’s continuing education requirements after 2030?
Yoga Alliance has said new continuing-education requirements begin in 2030, but as of November 2026 it hasn’t published the details. Until then, the current requirement in your member account still applies.
Is continuing education tax-deductible for yoga teachers?
Often, yes. In the Handbook I note that continuing education classes and out-of-town travel for continuing education can be deducted when you teach as an independent contractor. Rules vary, so ask an accountant who works with small-business owners.
