In this new version of VK Teacher Training, also an honour system, you can get my approval to teach any of the foundation VK sequences by coming to courses, live in Bali, or Online via the VKM Facebook page and the passion.do app. This is to say: show me consistency and competence with the relevant Sequence or Pranayama via self-practice courses, and for a nominal fee, gain my blessing to teach Vinyasa Krama.

One reason I am not utilising the traditional method of YTTC is because I never observed that the latter consistently produced better teachers. This is across the board in all teacher trainings world wide. Essentially it is impossible to gauge whether attending a teacher training really improves the overall quality of teaching. In some cases it may actually lower the internationally expected standard. This is because few trainings have pre-requisites (just pay and you’ll get a certificate at the end of it), and so an unfortunately large percentage of such trainees tend to make poor teachers.  

In particular, from my professional point of view, I can say the type of trainee that would become a good teacher was in-built in their character – they will become a better teacher because they wish to become so. Trainees who don’t easily learn, embrace new material, and actually commit to a system and to a teacher, do not. They more or less stay as they are, and their teaching style does not, overall, evolve and improve.

So, I prefer this re-envisaging of an old (traditional) yoga training system. Just practice the sequence, commit to it, and then start teaching it. Learn on the job so-to-speak. All will be well. Not to say you should not do a regular TTC, such courses are good for learning basic yoga. But they won’t fundamentally train you to teach. Only teaching will do that. So I say – be confident, be kind, and just start teaching. Be open to learning and you will.

VK Teaching Prerequisites

Generally it is preferable that you already have a Yoga Teacher Training certificate prior to commencing this teacher training with me. This is for quality control; so I can avoid managing the things that give me a headache, and you can learn some of the basic yoga systems, and get professional indemnity insurance in your country.

Come to a minimum of 2-3 courses in Bali (one of those must be 4 weeks) OR minimum 4-5 courses online. The number of courses will be dependent  on your consistency and ability with each relevant sequence. A combination of both of those is also ok – for example, 3 online courses and 1 live course. For each course after the first few, you can gain approval to teach one extra sequence per course, if you show suitable consistency and competency. Minimum time frame of 1 year from the date of your first class with Matthew before the first TT can be awarded. If there is a significant gap between your first course and second (more than two years) the start time will reset!

You must have the ability to do 80% of the postures within a sequence to gain approval to teach that sequence. This usually includes the ability to do some key postures. For example; to get approval to teach the Sunshine Sequence – Salute A and B with sufficient 123 Pause ability, a basic flowing jump through, Chaturanga, Ekapada Supta Virasana, Bakasana, Urdhva Dhanurasana, and Sirsasana. You must clearly demonstrate accurate memory of every posture and vinyasa, a flowing practice, all via self practice. You must also know the names of all the postures and what they mean.

You must show me a commitment, a sign of your interest and consistency with practicing Vinyasa Krama on all levels – Asana, Pranayama, and Philosophy. For example, if you do not come to the Online Pranayama classes consistently (or write me emails indicating that you have been attending the VK pranayama via recordings every week) you cannot get approval to teach the above sequences.

Approval to teach the Moon Sequence, Lion Cub, or the Sunshine Sequence is then finalised by asking if you can get my approval (via email), and as long as you have clearly demonstrated points 1-3, and then paid $500 USD for the certification to teach the relevant sequence, then you can simply start to teach that sequence to your friends and students. Generally there will be a minimum 6 month gap between approval to teach each sequence – you cannot get approval to teach all three sequences at once.

I expect trainees to send me an email from time to time indicating, for example, how teaching the Moon Sequence is going with your students.

Approval to teach any of the intermediate level sequences (including the Lion Sequence) is a little steeper in terms of requirements and ability, but involves no further fees. That is, initially there is a total combined fee of $1500 USD (paid over a period of 2 years or so) to gain approval to teach the first three sequences, after that no further TT payment required.

Please keep in mind this is an honour system. You could start teaching the Moon Sequence without my approval. But if you do so, and I find out, you will no longer be welcome on courses with me. If you are doing so already with any of the VK sequences (for example, teaching Sunshine Seq to your Primary Series students) and you do not have approval, please write me an email to explain. Just because Sunshine is a little similar to Primary does not mean you have the right to teach it.

Having said that, I want to make teacher training as accessible as possible without the need for micromanagement.

Once you have completed the first phase of getting accepted, I will open the VKM Online Teacher Training “Class” to such trainees. At the moment this is one class every month – on all things related to VK teaching. In this class you can ask me teacher-style questions about each sequence, and we will generally discuss VKM sequencing and scaling. This class is ongoing, but only once per month. These type of TT classes will also occur during live courses in Bali, once per week, as well as one-on-one sequence teaching to your fellow students every Friday.

Online Teacher Training classes like this will not be recorded, so it’s up to you to make the effort to attend.

At the moment the class for Online Teacher Training is Saturday 630pm (Bali Time).

Best wishes
Matthew Sweeney