My experience: CorePower Yoga’s 200-hour Power Yoga Teacher Training program

Oh hey, guys.

This is a post I’ve been meaning to write for a while. I had originally planned on writing it in December when I first finished my 200-hour Power Yoga Teacher Training (PYTT) program, but then I decided to hold off until after my 50-hour extensions (XP) program.

Then, the New York Times ran a piece that was super critical of CorePower Yoga and its teacher training program, so I decided to keep holding off so I could sit on my thoughts a little bit more.

However, at this point, it’s been almost half a year (!!!) since I received my 200-hour yoga teacher certification, so I figured I should just suck it up and get the words (and photos) out in a blog post.

I’ve been an avid yogi for the better part of the past decade. I’d been interested in taking a teacher training program for quite some time, but could never find one that worked with my schedule. I spent my first few years in Chicago practicing at an independent studio in Rogers Park called Chi-Town Shakti — and while I was initially interested in undergoing my 200-hour yoga teacher training there, the teacher training program required me to attend class every Sunday for about eight months. I just couldn’t make that work with my Tribune schedule, since I work in the newsroom every Sunday.

In early 2018, one of my coworkers finally got me into the door of a CorePower Yoga studio. I’d initially avoided it for years because 1. Classes were expensive, and 2. The whole “yoga studio chain” concept seemed to be the very antithesis of yoga to me.

However, my coworker ended up changing my mind. First, she got my interest by informing me that CorePower often offers teacher training programs on weeknights and Saturdays — something that would work with my schedule. Then, she convinced me to take a free community class at the Lakeview studio.

I ended up loving the class, and totally drank the Kool-Aid. Shortly afterward, I signed up to work as part of the “Studio Experience Team” (ie: glorified janitorial work, “SET” for short) at my local studio (Uptown) for a discounted membership. (Tip: This is actually an incredibly affordable way to get an unlimited yoga membership at CorePower. I highly recommend it.) I quickly became close with the managers, teachers and students at the Uptown studio, and I started exploring the options for taking a yoga teacher training program.

Honestly, my CorePower studio has provided me with some genuine friendships and a sense of community I haven’t received from any other studio I’ve practiced at — even before teacher training.

When I’d joined SET in January of 2018, I’d expressed my interest in teacher training, but mentioned to the studio manager that my work schedule made it impossible for me to attend anything scheduled on a Sunday, since CorePower’s typical teacher training schedule required participants to attend thrice-weekly three-hour sessions — two on weeknights, and one on a Sunday.

That studio manager heard my dilemma, and ended up moving the Uptown studio’s October 2018 teacher training program to Tuesday nights, Wednesday nights and Saturday afternoons.

That meant… it worked with my weirdass newsroom work schedule!

Ken, if you’re reading this, you’re amazing.

I immediately signed up without any hesitation, and as soon as I got back from my birthday trip to Germany, I basically locked myself inside that yoga studio with these people for eight straight weeks.

The specific program I took was Power Yoga Teacher Training (PYTT), which taught us an unheated vinyasa-style sequence with the goal of preparing us to teach C1, C1.5, C2 and C3 classes at CorePower Yoga studios.

CorePower Yoga also offers both Hot Power Fusion (HPF) and Yoga Sculpt training, with the HPF being the only other YA-recognized 200-hour training program. I really wanted to do the PYTT program specifically, so I lucked out.

CorePower’s training program is really unique in that it’s super intense. Most studios offer a training program that lasts for a school year, with about a six-to-10-hour weekly time commitment — and, like I mentioned, usually on Sundays.

CorePower gets everything done in eight weeks. Yep. The 200 in-person hours you need for your certification — a combination of yoga classes, interactive lectures, hands-on seminars, etc. — plus all the homework, practice and studying? All done in eight weeks. When it was all said and done, I spent about 30 hours a week for eight weeks (in addition to my full-time job, freelancing, English teaching, etc.) finishing my 200-hour certification program.

It was exhausting, but so fun. I really loved all the students in my teacher training program. Because CorePower’s program is so intense, we all became really close, really fast… and it’s much, much easier to drag yourself through eight practically sleepless weeks that are both mentally and physically exhausting when you’re doing it with very pleasant, wonderful humans.

So, in December, I became an RYT 200 — a 200-hour certified registered yoga teacher. Hooray!

So, pause here. A 200-hour training certificate from a Yoga Alliance-recognized studio is usually the bare minimum needed to pursue a yoga teaching job.

However, if you want to teach at CorePower, you’re required to undergo a 50-hour continuing education program. Think of the 200-hour program as the bachelor’s degree of the yoga teaching world, and the 50-hour program as the master’s degree of the yoga teaching world.

So, three weeks after I graduated from my 200-hour yoga teacher training program, I found myself back in the Uptown studio for a 50-hour extensions program.

CorePower Yoga’s 200-hour Power Yoga Teacher Training program taught us a few specifics about CorePower’s teaching style, but also had to cover a lot of other stuff required by Yoga Alliance — including Sanskrit, yoga philosophy, history, etc.

CorePower Yoga’s 50-hour Extensions program focused entirely on teaching for CorePower specifically. We spent five weeks enhancing what we’d learned during the original training program — how to create a sequence, theme a class, offer assists, etc. — while practicing our teaching by offering free weekly classes to the public.

This was slightly less intense than the original 200-hour program. There was much less homework, no looming final exam and no class attendance requirement.

Once extensions finished, we had a few weeks to relax and practice before CorePower held mass auditions in March to decide whether students would be granted teaching jobs.

Sadly, I did not get a yoga teaching job at CorePower.

I was a bit shocked and disappointed, and to be honest, that’s going to play into my review a little bit here.

There were a lot of things I really, truly loved about CorePower Yoga’s teacher training program, but naturally, there are a few things I’m a bit critical of.

First, CorePower does totally hype you up to believe that — once you’re finished with the 200-hour YA-recognized program and the 50-hour extensions program — you will be pretty much guaranteed employment as a yoga teacher at CorePower.

However… that’s not the case. There just simply aren’t enough classes offered for alllll the graduates CorePower churns out.

Now, don’t get me wrong! I’m still so glad that I did this training program. After all, I did come out of it with a YA-recognized certification and a real, paying yoga studio job — which were my only two goals. However, I do wish CorePower would have been a bit more realistic about the odds of employment after training, and would have done a bit more to talk about how to teach outside of CorePower. We focused a lot on teaching specifically for CorePower — hell, we even had to learn how to use CorePower’s computer system! I think if CorePower would have been more realistic about how slim the chance of company employment actually is, I wouldn’t have been quite so disappointed about not getting a teaching job right out of training.

The other thing I’m a bit critical of is the intensity of it. While I did much prefer an eight-week training program to an eight-month training program, I felt like so much of what I learned just didn’t stick, because we were learning so much in such a short amount of time.

I feel like 16 weeks, or even 12 weeks would have been a good compromise, so I would have had more time to let everything sink in… and so I wouldn’t have been so damn exhausted by the end of the program.

One thing I’ve seen a lot of criticism over is the price. Honestly, I didn’t have a problem with it. I received a discount for working on the SET team, a discount for registering early and a scholarship… so my out-of-pocket cost ended up being $1,719 for the PYTT program, and $520.19 for the XP program. Considering it’s an investment — much like a college degree — and a hobby (and hobbies cost money), I didn’t find it to be problematic. I signed up for a payment plan and paid everything off by the completion of XP. (I do realize I’m fortunate enough that I could afford this investment thanks to the income from both my full-time job and my freelancing.)

I could write an entire novel about my experience with CorePower Yoga’s Yoga Teacher Training program. While there are a few things I would change, I don’t regret it one bit. It was an incredibly enriching experience that brought me closer to my own yoga practice, which is something incredibly near and dear to me.

Namaste!