The route depends on whether you're a teacher being recognised, or a training provider whose course is being assessed. The standard underneath is the same.
A 200-hour training certificate is the floor. 180 of those hours must be contact hours — live, real-time teacher-student interaction. Pre-recorded courses do not meet the standard. You don't need to have trained on a YogaPros-accredited course to apply. We verify against the standard, in writing, by name. Read the deep-dive below.
Read the standard Live · ATPs For training providersGet your training course accredited. Featured in directory search. Lead teacher named. Graduates qualify for Professional Membership at point of graduation.
See the application Live · Criteria The published criteriaThe full criteria for accreditation: contact-hour minimums, lead-teacher experience floor, trainee entry standard, specialty topic rules. Public, consistent, written down.
See the criteria Live · Outcomes For trainees comparing coursesPublished, comparable graduate outcomes. Built so a trainee can tell — before paying — whether a course actually produces working teachers.
See the score Live · Development For CPD & specialtyYin · prenatal · trauma-informed · restorative · others. 40+ focused hours. Once accredited, graduates list the specialty on their Live CV.
See specialty detail Live · Directory For trainees choosing a courseSearch the directory of accredited training programmes. Filtered by region, format, lead teacher. Every course on this list has been read, line by line, against the standard.
Search courses Live · Distinction Accredited vs VerifiedAccredited means the course was assessed against published criteria. Verified means we've seen the certificate but not assessed the course. Both appear on a member's Live CV. Honestly labelled.
See the distinctionA studio asks for proof your training was real. A student wants to know what "qualified" means before booking the first class. A graduate of a 21-day online course teaches alongside someone who trained for two years. None of these is hypothetical. All of them happen, in this profession, every year.
Many bodies talk about professionalism. None have built the system behind it.
Click any card. The headline is "200 hours minimum." The detail underneath is what makes the headline mean anything.
The standard is held by people, not algorithms. The chain runs in one direction.
Send the syllabus, lead-teacher credentials, contact-hour schedule, and trainee entry standard.
Claire's team reads every page against the published criteria. Named officers, in writing.
Course appears on the directory. Graduates qualify for Professional Membership at point of graduation.
Manual review typically takes 1–3 working days. Our team may contact you if additional clarity is needed. We assess against the standard, not against the calendar. On graduation, the trainee enters the chartered journey: Trainee → Newly Graduated → Yoga Teacher → EYT → SYT.
Click any card. The front is the situation. The back is what actually happens: which criterion applies, what the route looks like, what to expect.
She's six weeks into your 200-hour Foundation course and three studios in her area only book Professional Members. She wants a straight answer about what happens when she finishes.
Tap to see the route →They have a list. They use it. The teachers they hire are the ones with verified credentials and an accreditation badge on their Live CV.
Tap to see the route →She bought a 200-hour training package a year ago. The course was entirely pre-recorded video. She finished it on her phone in evenings and weekends. She has the certificate. She wants Professional Membership.
Tap to see the route →Her 250-hour course ran for four weeks in a residential setting on Lombok. Lead teacher had 12 years experience. She holds the certificate. She's now teaching in Manchester and a studio has asked about her credentials.
Tap to see the route →She qualified two years ago, has been teaching weekly since, and now has students asking about prenatal classes. She doesn't want to do another full Foundation course. She does want to be able to teach prenatal credibly and have it on her record.
Tap to see the route →She's run her own 200-hour course for three years. Twelve cohorts. Solid graduate outcomes. She wants the accreditation but doesn't want to invest the application time without understanding what we'll actually look at.
Tap to see the route →Different stages of the profession take different routes. The criteria don't change. Click a pathway to see what it actually requires.
A Foundation course produces a qualified yoga teacher from a dedicated practitioner. The criteria: minimum 200 total course hours, minimum 180 contact hours (live, not pre-recorded), at least 70% of teaching delivered by a Senior Yoga Teacher (8+ years experience, 4,000+ teaching hours), and a trainee entry standard of 2+ years regular self-practice. On graduation, the trainee qualifies for Professional Membership and can teach in their own name.
Minimum 28 contact hours (live, not pre-recorded). Taught by a Senior or Experienced Yoga Teacher — Experienced means 4+ years teaching and 2,000+ teaching hours. Designed for already-qualified teachers expanding their teaching focus, not for first-time training. Graduates list the development course on their Live CV alongside their Foundation qualification.
A Specialty Topic is a Development-tier course of 40 or more total hours, taught at least 70% by a Senior or Experienced Yoga Teacher, focused on a single area of practice. Common specialties: yin, prenatal, restorative, trauma-informed, kids/teens, yoga therapy, meditation, SUP yoga. Once accredited and completed, the graduate's Live CV displays "Specialty: [topic]" — searchable by studios and students looking for that specific qualification.
An Accredited Training Professional (ATP) is the training provider entity itself, not a single course. ATP Membership covers the organisation, the lead teacher, and the running of training programmes that meet our criteria. Application includes documentation of the lead teacher's credentials, the syllabus structure, and the assessment methodology. Manual review typically takes 1–3 working days.
Professional Membership is the recognition status for individual qualified teachers. Requirement: a 200-hour training certificate that meets our criteria (180 contact hours, qualified lead teacher). You don't need to have trained on a YogaPros-accredited course to apply — we verify your existing qualification against the same standard. Once verified, your Live CV is searchable on the directory, your accreditation badge is live, and your insurance becomes available for activation.
Accredited means the course was assessed against our published criteria and met them. Verified means we've seen the certificate and confirmed it meets the minimum standard (200hr / 180 contact), but the course itself wasn't independently assessed. Both states appear on the member's Live CV, transparently labelled. Studios, employers, and students can see exactly what they're getting — and decide what they want.
The highest accreditation standards in the industry. Set by us because the law does not require them. Held by us because credibility is our only product.
Reads every accreditation file. Every Professional Membership application. The standard is held by her team, against the published criteria, in writing. If a course falls short, Claire's team writes back with what specifically and what would close the gap. The verification is documented; the route is auditable.
Works with training providers from first conversation through accredited launch. The advocate inside the building when a course wants to meet the standard. Louise leads partnership conversations, helps providers understand the criteria, and shepherds applications through assessment. Reachable directly during business hours.
Co-founded YogaPros in 2006 with Brian Cooper. 19 years setting standards in this profession. Final ruling on any borderline case. Accountable for the standard the whole structure sits on. If the criteria need to change to keep up with the profession, Bruce is the one who rules on it — and the one who answers for it when the change matters.
For applications that don't fit cleanly inside the published criteria — country-specific qualifications, hybrid course structures, lead teachers with non-traditional pathways — the Standards Council rules collectively. Composed of senior assessors, Claire, and Bruce. Decisions are documented and feed back into the criteria over time.
An accreditation application that doesn't pass is not a rejection. It's a roadmap. Most applications succeed on the second pass. The process is structured to help, not to gate.
You send the syllabus, lead-teacher credentials, contact-hour schedule, trainee entry standard, and assessment methodology. We acknowledge receipt the same day. Manual review begins within one working day.
You · Claire's teamClaire's team reads everything against the published criteria. Total hours. Contact-hour split. Lead teacher experience floor. Trainee entry standard. Specialty topic rules where relevant. Named officers, in writing.
Claire · Standards Council if neededIf something falls short, we tell you what specifically — against which criterion, with the exact wording cited, and what would close the gap. Not a generic rejection. A roadmap. You decide whether to make the change.
Claire's team · YouMake the changes, send the updated documentation, and we re-assess. Most applications succeed on the second pass. Once approved, your course appears on the directory and your graduates qualify for Professional Membership at point of graduation.
You · directoryThanks again for giving me the guidance I needed to clarify my thoughts around launching my first CPD workshop. As a self-employed yoga teacher, having come from the world of corporate sales and marketing, I have really missed having professional guidance.Victoria Butterfield · YogaPros member · Course developer
Recognition takes one application. Course accreditation takes a couple of weeks. Both run through the same standard, held by the same people.
Yoga has no global governing body. That doesn't mean standards don't matter — it means someone has to hold them. We've held the same standard for 19 years: 200 hours minimum, 180 contact hours, taught by people with deep teaching experience, verified by people who can read a certificate against the criteria. That's it. Everything else we do — visibility, credibility, recognition, safety and compliance, the chartered journey from Trainee to Senior Yoga Teacher — sits above it.
The teacher is the hero. YogaPros is the institution behind her.
— Bruce, co-founder, YogaPros
