What if I don’t have enough “contact hours” in my training?

Generally, at least 65% (two-thirds) of the hours spent training to become a yoga teacher should be “contact hours”, meaning face-to-face contact with your teacher (eg: about 230 hours of 350 hours). The remaining hours can be completed as home study if compliance can be assessed. For example, if the teacher training course you attended required you to complete certain activities at home and to maintain a diary of those activities, and if the diary is checked and compliance is assessed as part of the course, then the home study component of the course may be counted towards your training hours. You must be able to provide documentation to demonstrate your eligibility for the home study (non-contact) component of the training.

If you have less than two-thirds contact hours (such as through undertaking a distance learning or correspondence course), and home study compliance was not assessed, please discuss this with the membership secretary to determine eligibility for membership You may be able to enter into a mentoring agreement as described above to achieve the required contact hours. (Some ‘distance learning’ courses have been registered by Yoga New Zealand, and graduates of these courses will automatically be admitted to Yoga New Zealand membership. In cases of non Yoga New Zealand registered courses, however, special consideration of your membership application will be required).