How Much Does Yoga Teacher Training Cost?

If you’re wondering ‘how much does yoga teacher training cost?’, then you’re in the right place!

We’ve broken down the average price of yoga teacher training, how to find a good value course, and exactly what you’ll get for your money.

Contents:

• What is the Average Cost of Yoga Teacher Training?
• Yoga Instructor Course Price: Your Guide to Free Courses
• Yoga Teacher Training Course Cost - What Am I Paying For?
• How Much is Yoga Teacher Training? Looking Out For Hidden Fees

Before we start, check out OriGym’s Level 3 Yoga Teacher Training Diploma for the perfect base line qualification to kickstart your career!

Alternatively, download and browse our course prospectus to look at all of your options.

What is the Average Cost of Yoga Teacher Training?

If you’ve already looked into how to become a yoga instructor, you’ll know that there is no fixed yoga instructor course cost.

In fact, if you do a quick Google search you’ll see that there are actually some pretty significant price differences.

We carried out some research into the most popular yoga courses out there, and found some courses costing upwards of £2100, as well as others advertised as completely free! 

So, if you’re still wondering ‘how much does it cost to become a yoga teacher?’ the answer is that it depends on where you’re getting your qualification!

You may also have seen free yoga teacher training courses and wondered what the difference is between these, and the average course, which prices at around £1500.

Fortunately for you, we’ve done all of the hard work for you!

We’ll guide you through what to look for in a course and exactly what you need to start your exciting career, without paying over the odds, or skimping on quality!

Yoga Instructor Course Cost: Your guide to Free Courses

Price and quality doesn’t always go hand in hand so you need to be aware of finding the right balance between the two. 

For now, let’s talk about free courses: are they a complete waste of time?

Obviously, after completing the qualification, you want to get practising and assure your clients of your quality and expertise as a yoga teacher.

So, yes, with these free or very cheap courses that you can find online, they’re a waste of time as you’ll be severely limited in, if not prevented from, any potential as a yoga teacher.

When we talk about really cheap courses, we’re referring to the likes of the course below, which you can find on Gumtree or reed.com for around £20-£30.

These courses aren’t to be confused with the reasonably priced alternative that you can study with a provider like ourselves.

Aside from cost, the most significant difference between these free and cheap courses, and one like our own Level 3 Yoga Diploma, is accreditation and regulation.

As you can see in the image above, the description of the £19 course actually states that ‘no formal qualification’ is awarded.

This means that when it comes to finding a job or getting yoga teacher insurance, completing this course won’t get you any closer to your dream career than you are right now.

There’s no doubt you might learn something from courses like these if you’re a yogi and only interested in expanding your knowledge or your own practice, then by all means give it a try.

But if you want to study a course with the aim of becoming a successful yoga instructor, then save your money by giving this course a miss.

Instead, you should be looking for a course that is Ofqual regulated.

Ofqual is a government body that essentially ensure curriculum and quality assurance. This means everybody doing the same level course, when regulated in this way, will learn the same things at the same standard.

Ensuring you choose a course that is CIMSPA regulated (The Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity), awards credibility and reliability to your qualification, helping to put potential clients and class members at ease. 

We'll look a little more at why this is so important, and why it affects a yoga instructor course and its cost. 

Course Regulation & Accreditation Explained

Want to kick-start a career as a yoga instructor? Having a Level 3 yoga instructor qualification is the perfect foundation on which to build your career.

There are tons of different career options as a yoga teacher from:

• Working freelance
• Owning your own yoga studio
• Becoming a yoga studio manager

Regardless of where and how you want to work, the best way to give yourself an edge when job searching is to ensure your qualification is regulated. 

Having your qualification regulated by an Ofqual approved body, for example, Focus Awards, Active IQ, or YMCA Awards, will guarantee your expertise to potential employers and clients.

Ofqual is a Government-run organisation that is responsible for ensuring that all vocational qualifications meet a nationally agreed standard.

Ofqual sets the ‘Levels’ of qualifications and puts the frameworks in place to ensure that everyone with a regulated level 3 yoga qualification has the same level of knowledge and understanding, regardless of what course provider they studied with.

Though this isn’t a strict requirement, it will be a good indicator to prospective employers and clients that you’ve got all of the expertise you need to teach them effectively and accurately! 

Why yoga course accreditation really matters

Though this isn’t as essential in terms of what’s stipulated by potential employers, it’s certainly an added bonus that will give you an edge over competitors. 

The majority of regulated course providers will have CIMSPA endorsement, as any reputable company should be willing to pay the extra to have a stamp of quality from an external accreditor. 

As we’ve said, course accreditation is a really good way of assuring quality. Plus, having the CIMSPA stamp of approval on your training certificate is a brilliant way to prove that you are qualified to the highest standard.  

Getting a CIMSPA membership has benefits post-qualification, too. Membership has a host of benefits both for your career and in the form of brand discounts and loyalty rewards.

Still not sure about why you unregulated courses don’t make the cut? Check out our article where we explain the ins and outs of free yoga teacher training.

How Much Does Regulated Yoga Teacher Training Cost? 

So, by now you know that how much it is for a yoga instructor course can depend on whether it’s regulated or not.

However, you might be wondering:

• How much are these regulated courses? 
• Why are they more expensive compared to unregulated courses? 
• What exactly are you paying for?

The average cost of yoga teacher training for a reputable provider can be anywhere between £1100 - £2100.

There’s no doubt that this is significantly higher than the unregulated courses you might have seen online, but there’s a reason for that!

Fortunately, providers like ourselves offer payment plans to allow you to spread the cost and pay in manageable instalments.

Later in the article we’ll cover a couple of ways to keep costs to a minimum so that you know how to avoid overspending on your studies.

For now though, the main thing to remember is that the money you’re spending on a regulated qualification, you’re investing in your future career.

The rewards of having a qualification like this include:

• Increased employability prospects
• You’ll qualify for yoga teacher insurance
• Allow you to make a credible yoga business plan if you want to start your own yoga studio

Now we’ll look in more detail at what you’re paying for and what makes up that cost.

How Much Does Yoga Teacher Training Cost the Course Provider?

The cost to the provider, with a regulated course, is one of the main things that will affect how much it is for you. 

Why does it cost more to be a yoga instructor with a regulated course? Mainly because the course will cost the provider a lot more to run it!

Whilst it costs next to nothing for an unregulated provider to give you access to a 6-hour online course, reputable course providers like OriGym have a number of expenses to cover.

Unfortunately these expenses do end up making up the cost of yoga teacher training courses and increasing the price.

If you want to know exactly what you’re paying for, we’ve explained all of those expenses below.

Yoga Teacher Training Course Cost - What Am I Paying For?

If you want to find a good value qualification, you’ll have to consider the difference between cost and quality.

Whilst, price isn’t always a true indicator of quality, there are certain things you should ensure are included in your course.

Direct comparisons between course providers aren’t really possible because each course will have slight differences in many different areas.

But don’t worry, we’re here to make the process of comparing courses as easy as possible for you. 

Below, we’ve broken down all of the remaining factors that affect course prices so that you can determine what you think is worth paying more for.

#1 Tutor Time

One of the biggest expenses for reputable course providers is the cost of paying staff.

Unregulated online courses rarely have access to tutor support. On the off chance that they do, this is usually an automated email system that is typically pretty frustrating for anyone with questions.

When it comes to regulated courses, there are still differences in staffing costs.

Some providers will save money by hiring inexperienced staff, whilst others will spend the money to ensure their students receive high-quality teaching and support. 

Our own courses are taught by fully qualified yoga teachers, with the same regulated and accredited qualifications that you’ll be receiving yourself.

You should also do your research into the amount of time that the tutors will be available to you.

OriGym’s course, as we said earlier, includes full access to tutor support once you’ve signed up, 7 days a week.

Some course providers will advertise full access to tutor support, but once you’re signed up, you might find out that actually, that support is only available during standard office hours.

If you work full-time yourself, or you just prefer to study in the evening or on the weekend, this can be a real problem. 

So whilst the course might seem like a real bargain, it can end up being pretty stressful to get through your work with next to no help from tutors.

As well as having availability on the weekend, for us it's really important that our tutors are available until 8pm Monday to Thursday (and 7pm on Friday) as we want to make our courses as accessible as possible.

This ensures complete flexibility for students, no matter their circumstances, and as many potential barriers to education are removed.

With that in mind, we strongly recommend that you ask when tutor support is available and how you can get in contact with these professionals, before signing up for a course!

#2 Level of Service

Level of service is probably the most obvious indication of quality, and therefore, it’s one thing that you should want to pay for.

When you’re looking for a provider you don’t just need to know how much it is, but what you're actually getting for that money.

Of course, you’re getting a Yoga qualification out of it, but what is the provider doing to go above and beyond to ensure that they’re offering a top quality service?

Value of service is one of the factors that affects a yoga instructor course and its cost. 

Remember that the company providing your yoga teacher training will have a range of expenses, such as staffing costs. 

If they choose to skimp on these expenses, perhaps by not hiring enough staff to answer your questions, you could find yourself waiting around for much needed support or feedback on your work!

This can seriously add to the amount of time it takes you to get qualified as a yoga teacher and contribute to a lower quality course overall.

The best way that you can check out the levels of service from different service providers, is to look at what previous graduates have said!

Check out their reviews on sites like Trustpilot and have a look at what other students have to say about the company.

For instance, we have our own testimonials on our website to show what people thought of the courses.

This means that potential students don’t need to just take our word for it! They can see what people actually think of the quality of our courses and the level of service we provide.

#3 Post-Course Support 

One thing that really adds to the value of a yoga teacher qualification is the availability of post-course support services.

This varies greatly between providers and it can mean paying a little extra for a course, but the benefits of having help when it comes to writing your CV and preparing for interviews definitely make it worth it.

Whilst some providers won’t offer any career support and will essentially leave you to your own devices once you complete their course, others, like ourselves, offer an extensive range of services.

It’s no use just asking ‘how much does it cost to become a yoga teacher in the UK?’ because getting your qualification is only the start of your career!

You need to be thinking about what you’re going to do once you’re qualified, how are you going to find a job and what are you going to do to make sure you stand out as a candidate?

Having access to post-course support is an invaluable tool that certainly adds to the value of a qualification.

Here are just some of the post-course support services that we offer to our students here at OriGym:

• CV analysis & distribution
• Interview preparation
• Guaranteed job interviews 

Additionally you’ll get an hour’s free business consultation and access to a business and marketing course, setting your career off with the best possible start.

It’s all well and good having the right level qualification, but you won’t be the only Level 3 yoga instructor applying for jobs in your area. 

If you really want to make a success out of this career choice, quality post-course support services are definitely worth paying for.

#4 Amount of Content Covered

If you’re wondering how much it is for a yoga instructor course, it will depend on the extent of the content covered and how long it takes to complete.

As we’ve already mentioned, most jobs will want you to have at least 200 hours of yoga teacher training as part of your qualification.

Compared to ourselves, the cost of a 200 hour yoga teacher training may be less and therefore seem like the best option. However, level 3 qualifications like ours that include double the amount of yoga training hours, and rarely cost double the price!

Our course consists of 400 hours worth of content, giving you an extra edge when it comes to applying for jobs and providing you with as much training as possible.

Though a course with 400 guided learning hours may cost slightly more, you’ll have more extensive knowledge and expertise that you can transfer to clients! 

In terms of “how much does 200 hour yoga teacher training cost”, this is often the same question as generally how much it is to become a yoga instructor.

So when we looked at the average cost and explained that it’s somewhere between £1100 and £2100, that goes for 200 hour yoga courses, too.

#5 Resources Provided

It’s not just important to bear in mind the breadth of content covered by the course but also the resources and extent of information available from different sources!

As part of a course like ours you’ll have access to a whole range of learning materials to help with your modules in a variety of ways.

This is where free or cheaper courses can really scimp and sell you short when you’re learning!

Not only do you want to make sure that you’re learning the right things but that a course provider understands that everybody learns differently, utilising different methods to help them learn and revise for exams!

To give you an idea of what you should expect from a good course provider, these are some of the resources available to OriGym’s students:

• E-Books & Electronic Manuals
• Access to an Award Nominated Interactive Learning Platform
• Interactive Quizzes
• Online Lectures
• Videos Tutorials for Guidance and Demonstration

All of these are included on the e-learning platform and can be used at your leisure as support whichever method of study you choose!

#6 Registration Fees

When you sign up for any regulated yoga qualification, your course provider has to pay a registration fee directly to the awarding body.

Whether the awarding body is YMCA awards, Focus Awards, or Active IQ, that registration fee costs the provider anywhere between £50 and £70 for each level of qualification.

That means if you sign up for both a Level 3 and a Level 4 yoga instructor qualification, the provider will have to pay up to £140 just to get you registered. 

This cost is already higher than the price of some of the courses we talked about earlier, so it should be pretty easy to see that those are not regulated qualifications.

#7 Accreditation Costs

Just as course providers have to pay a registration fee to awarding bodies, if the provider wants their courses to be accredited by CIMSPA, this requires an additional annual fee.

This usually costs the course provider around £2000 each year, so the cost of yoga teacher training for accredited courses is usually a little higher to compensate for this.

#8 Venue Costs 

The short answer to ‘how much does it cost to become a yoga teacher online?’ is that it will be cheaper if you study a course that is 100% online, since course providers won't have to pay for things such as renting a space to teach students.

There are plenty of pros and cons of each study method. However, since blended learning courses, like ours, include in-person workshops and assessments, you will be able to get physical experience with this component, giving you the confidence to go straight into your teaching career!

The theoretical side of this course is still taught online, which means that this study method is still affordable and usually cheaper than courses without any online element.

Nevertheless, whichever method you choose, each course provider will have slightly different prices for similar study methodsm due to this.

How Much Do Blended Learning Yoga Courses Cost?

On a course like ours, blended learning includes access to an online learning platform as well as frequent face-to-face workshops.

You progress through the learning modules through our interactive e-learning platform and you’ll learn via:

• Videos
• Online lectures
• eBooks

But that doesn’t mean that you’re left to your own devices, as we also offer 7 days a week dedicated tutor support.

This means you can contact our assessors and yoga practitioners via email, chatbox, or by booking a call, 7 days a week so that you’re fully supported, even when you’re outside of the practical sessions.

The practical workshops last for an entire weekend all together and are entirely practically focused, providing an opportunity to interact with other students and really put your theoretical learning into focus.

The combination of online teaching, and in-person workshops, mean that the course is adaptable to a variety of schedules.

Whatever your full-time commitments are, the blended learning style means you can work at your own pace and fit things in around your specific schedule.

If you’re the type that can’t be completely motivated to study online but you also don’t want to take 4 weeks off work to carry out a course, blended learning is a completely flexible and affordable solution.

The reason these courses tend to be slightly higher is because of the cost of the practical part to employers.

This is because there’s added costs such as:

• Paying for a venue for the workshops
• Paying professionals to offer support
• Paying tutors for the workshop hours

All of these contribute to the cost of becoming a yoga instructor as you’re getting a more indepth and valuable experience as a student!

The Influence of Marketing

Even after accounting for the differences between online and blended learning, there’s still massively varying prices for courses, depending on provider. 

It would be easy to assume that the most expensive option is the best one, but that would be wrong!

We tend to believe that if we want the best quality product or service, we need to choose the most expensive, without considering which course has the highest value for money.

Course providers will still set their prices higher than their competition without necessarily offering a higher standard, or increased expertise and training. 

So, 9 times out of 10, a yoga instructor course price has nothing to do with quality and everything to do with marketing!

Just look at these conclusions from the Academy of Marketing Science:

“The results show that [...] high advertising spending, high price, good store image, and high distribution intensity are related to high brand equity”

Brand equity is essentially the commercial value of the brand’s name itself rather than the quality of the actual product.

For instance, people’s trust in large brands, because they’re big, popular companies, will all contribute to their perception and trust of that product regardless, necessarily, of its quality.

So in the simplest terms, the findings of the study showed that consumers believe that a product or service is of a higher quality if it is advertised at a high price, regardless of the quality.

Meanwhile, the same study showed that the opposite is true for low prices. 

The participants of the study assumed that the low priced and discounted products were of poor quality! An assumption based on price, and price alone.

So this is how people can get away with charging far more for courses, without offering more services or a better course. 

How Much Is Yoga Teacher Training? How To Look Out For Hidden Fees!

The final thing to be aware of when researching the cost of yoga teacher training courses is to look out for any hidden fees that might come up once you’ve already signed up for a course.

The last thing you want to do is spend hours researching various courses and comparing prices, only to end up paying way more than the price that was advertised.

To help make sure that you don’t get caught out and hit with a hidden cost mid-way through your studies, here are a couple of additional costs to consider and hidden fees to think about.

#1 Resits 

One thing that catches a lot of aspiring yoga instructors out is when they’re charged an additional fee after failing one of their exams.

Whilst we offer unlimited resits completely free of charge, some providers will charge a fee every time you need to resit an exam.

You might be confident in your ability to pass the course for the first time, which is great, but there is on harm in having peace of mind.

If you’re going to spend all of this money on yoga teacher training, you should want to make sure that you will actually get qualified for that price!

Before you agree to anything, ask about whether you’ll have the opportunity to resit an exam, and if so, how much will it cost you?

#2 Payment Plans

It’s important to remember that how much yoga teacher training costs is based on the method of payment too!

If you have the money to pay upfront, then you have nothing to worry about. 

But if you’re like most people, and you need to spread the cost over a few monthly payments, you’ll need to be aware of interest charges.

Paying an initial deposit and then making monthly instalments is really convenient, but depending on the payment plan, you could end up paying more without even realising it.

Discuss the finance options with the course provider, and ask if they have any interest-free options. 

If they don’t offer an interest-free agreement, that will ultimately increase the cost of their yoga teacher training courses, and perhaps make it more expensive than another option!

This will usually depend on some credit checks, but most people will be able to pay back, in manageable monthly sums, without accruing interest!

How Much Does Yoga Teacher Training Cost as a Package?

Another important thing to consider is whether there’s money to be saved with a package purchase.

Lots of providers will give you the option to combine qualifications, in a variety of packages, so that you can complete several in a row.

So what are the benefits? You’ll always save money purchasing in this way than you would if you were to buy them individually.

Though this will obviously involve a little bit more thought, it’s worth considering how you could choose a package based on which different styles of yoga you’d potentially like to specialise in.

For instance, once you’ve obtained your Level 3, you can advance with a Level 4 Yoga Diploma.

As part of this course you’ll be able to choose between styles such as:

• Ashtanga
• Iyengar
• Hot yoga
• Hatha

As part of this course you’ll also deepen your knowledge of the philosophical roots of yoga practice.

This will give you an even bigger edge over competitors as you’ll have broader knowledge and a particular speciality.

Before You Go!

Hopefully we’ve now answered “how much does yoga teach training cost” for you so that you know exactly what to expect, as well as what should be included for a high value course.

Don’t forget to take a look at OriGym’s Level 3 Diploma in Teaching Yoga to kickstart your career!

Alternatively, download our course prospectus to learn about the range of yoga qualifications that we offer!

References

Butzer, B., Ebert, M., Telles, S. and Khalsa, S. (2015). School-based Yoga Programs in the United States: A Survey. Advances in Mind Body Medicine. 29 (4), pp. 18-26.

Yoo, B., Donthu, N. and Lee, S. (2000). An Examination of Selected Marketing Mix Elements and Brand Equity. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. Available online: journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177