What Is YTT? A 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training Explained

YTT stands for Yoga Teacher Training. It almost always means the 200-hour course, the entry-level qualification for teaching yoga, and it is often written YTT 200 or YTT200. In the Sivananda tradition the same course is called the TTC — Teacher Training Course.

This guide explains the abbreviation and the terms that travel with it, where the 200-hour standard came from, what the eight subjects of a Sivananda course cover, and what a day on one looks like.

The abbreviations, in plain terms

Four turn up constantly and mean different things:

• YTT — Yoga Teacher Training. The course itself.
• YTT 200 — the 200-hour version. There are also 300-hour courses, taken after the 200, and 500-hour, which is the two combined.
• RYS — Registered Yoga School. A school registered with Yoga Alliance to deliver a programme at a given level. RYS 200 means registered for the 200-hour.
• RYT — Registered Yoga Teacher. A graduate who has registered themselves after finishing.

The distinction worth holding on to is between the school and the person. A school is an RYS; a graduate becomes an RYT. Registration is a listing, and it happens after the course, not as part of it.

The Sivananda course at the Da Lat ashram is a 200-hour programme and is registered as an RYS 200 with Yoga Alliance. Dates, fees and requirements are on the Yoga Teacher Training Course page.

Where the 200-hour standard came from

The number looks arbitrary until you trace it. Swami Vishnudevananda held the first yoga teachers' training course in the West in 1969, in Canada, having set out the system in The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga nine years earlier. That course established the shape most later programmes took: residential, a fixed daily timetable, asana practice split between doing and teaching, and philosophy studied alongside anatomy.

So a 200-hour YTT anywhere in the world is, structurally, a descendant of that 1969 course. It is an unusual thing for a tradition to be able to say about itself, and it is the reason the Sivananda course still runs to the same pattern rather than a modernised version of it.

More on the people behind it, with dates, is in Sivananda Yoga là gì and on the Sivananda teachings page.

What a 200-hour curriculum covers

The Sivananda course is built from eight subjects. They run in parallel across the whole course, not as modules finished one at a time.

1. Asanas — the postures, including Sun Salutations, the twelve basic postures and more than 125 variations, plus alignment and how to correct it in others.
2. Pranayama — the breathing practices, Kapalabhati and Anuloma Viloma daily, with an introduction to the more advanced techniques.
3. Kriyas — the cleansing practices.
4. Nutrition — the yogic diet, vegetarianism, the effect of food on the mind, and Ayurvedic principles of nutrition.
5. Meditation & Mantra — the practical foundations of seated practice, with emphasis on repetition of mantra.
6. Anatomy & Physiology — the body's major systems and how postures and breathing act on them.
7. Yoga Philosophy — the Bhagavad Gita and the writings of the tradition. Described by the school as the central part of the training.
8. Kirtan & Chanting — the sung practice, and the Sanskrit that goes with it.

Two things stand out for anyone comparing this against a course description elsewhere. Anatomy sits beside philosophy at equal weight, so the course is neither purely physical nor purely textual. And the asana teaching covers correcting other people, not only performing the postures — which is the part that turns practice into teaching.

A day on a teacher training course

The timetable runs from 6:00am to lights out at 10:00pm.

The detail that matters most on this schedule is that asana appears twice, and the two sessions are not the same thing. The morning is personal practice; the afternoon is teaching practice, where students lead and are corrected. That split is what separates a teacher training from an intensive course of yoga.

Joining in the chanting at the two gatherings is optional, as it is in any class here.

How a YTT differs from a retreat

Both are residential and both follow a timetable, so the two get confused when people are booking.

• A retreat puts you in the daily rhythm as a participant: two practice sessions, meals, and the morning and evening gatherings. Described in full in what a meditation retreat involves.
• A YTT adds the study and the teaching. Lectures on philosophy and anatomy, a text class at midday, and an afternoon session where you teach rather than practise. The days are longer and there is coursework behind them.

Someone who wants the practice without the study is describing a retreat, and the Yoga Vacation page covers those. Someone who wants to teach afterwards, or to understand the system from the inside whether or not they teach, is describing a YTT.

What Yoga Alliance registration does and does not mean

Yoga Alliance is a registry, not a licensing body. There is no government licence to teach yoga in most countries, so registration works as a shared reference point rather than a permission.

What it tells you: the school submitted a curriculum meeting the published hour requirements for that level, and the registry lists it. What it does not tell you: how the course is taught, who teaches it, or what the standard of teaching is. Two RYS 200 schools can run very different courses.

That is worth knowing in both directions. Registration is a genuine data point, and it is also not the whole picture — which is why course descriptions, curricula and daily schedules like the one above are worth reading in full.

After the course

Graduating a 200-hour course is what makes registering as an RYT possible; the registration itself is a separate step the graduate takes. Beyond the 200 there are longer programmes: the ashram runs a 300-hour advanced teacher training, a Sadhana Intensive, and health educator training.

Not everyone who takes a YTT teaches afterwards, and the course is not structured on the assumption that they will. The benefits of the teacher training course post covers what graduates describe taking away from it.

Frequently asked questions

What does YTT stand for?

Yoga Teacher Training. Written YTT 200 or YTT200 when the hour count is specified, and called the TTC in the Sivananda tradition.

Is YTT the same as TTC?

Yes. TTC — Teacher Training Course — is the older term and the one this tradition uses; YTT is the more common abbreviation internationally. Both refer to the same 200-hour course here.

What is the difference between RYS and RYT?

RYS is the school, registered to deliver a programme at a stated level. RYT is the graduate, registered after completing one. A course at an RYS 200 school makes RYT registration possible.

Does the 200 in YTT 200 mean 200 hours of asana?

No. The 200 hours cover the whole curriculum — postures, breathing, cleansing practices, nutrition, meditation and mantra, anatomy and physiology, philosophy, and chanting. On the Sivananda timetable, asana occupies two of the day's sessions out of roughly ten scheduled items.

What comes after a 200-hour course?

The 300-hour advanced course, which together with the 200 is often referred to as a 500-hour qualification. There are also specialised courses and intensives.

Where can I see dates and requirements?

On the Yoga Teacher Training Course page, alongside the current curriculum, and on Upcoming Courses for scheduled dates.

Further reading: Yoga for beginners · Meditation retreats in Vietnam · Yoga in Vietnam · The Five Points of Yoga · The Four Paths of Yoga