Local Community Gathering in Essex for teachers & potential future teachers!
Name of contributor: Susan Long
Sections: All - general
On Saturday 13 June 2026 the Iyengar Yoga Centre for Essex (IYCE), as part of its Teachers Support Group activities, held an open meeting for Iyengar Yoga practitioners to consider what is involved in training to become an Iyengar Yoga Teacher. The meeting was attended by existing teachers, a few students who had expressed an interest in becoming a teacher and other students who had not expressed any such interest.
We briefly considered how teachers were trained in the past and the change to the system of mentoring as the method of initial training, mainly through shadowing in the Mentor’s class. We considered:
- Eligibility to start training
- Method of training
- Scope of training (the Learning Modules)
- Mentoring Activities
- How to Register as a Trainee
- The costs involved in training
- Questions and Answers
We were fortunate to have a teacher present who had qualified under this system and she was able to give answers to questions from her first hand experience. We also had three mentors who answered questions from the floor.
It was emphasised that continuous mentoring is also the main tool for qualified teachers who want to work towards Levels 2, 3 and 4.
Following the meeting the three Assessors taught a Free General Level class based on Level 1. We just asked that anyone who was interested in training to become a teacher either now or some time in the future be at the front of the class so that the Mentors knew who they were. We were pleasantly surprised when several people stepped forward, some we knew of their interest and others we did not.
The class was followed by a cup of tea and a chance for an informal chat. We were impressed when the air force provided an impressive fly by (on their way to trooping of the colours) while we were having tea!
In the afternoon teachers stayed on and we explored the topic of Individual Presentations at Level 2 and 3 assessments as this component of assessment had not been included in any of the assessments that our current teachers had taken.
We considered the guidance in the Mentoring Manual and then divided into pairs to choose and prepare a presentation. Though not done individually it generated some helpful discussions and presentations.
Conclusions
- It was good to get together in a class that was made up of students and teachers who do not normally all work together.
- The information about training was helpful and we were able to answer students’ questions.
- Teachers appreciated working together on an aspect of assessment that was outside our combined experience.
- Thank you to IYCE for funding the hall hire and the Mentors for giving their time.
Susan Long
Trustee
IYCE
