What do you learn on a 200-hour yoga teacher training?

By yum · Updated 3 November 2026

On a 200-hour yoga teacher training you learn to understand yoga and to teach it. You study anatomy, poses and alignment, sequencing, breathwork and meditation, yoga history and philosophy, and you practise standing in front of a group again and again. At the end, you teach a class yourself for your exam. At yum in Sydhavnen, Copenhagen, it’s a 200-hour Vinyasa yoga teacher training taught in English, with around 150 hours with the teachers and 50 hours of self-practice.

It sounds like a lot. It is. Here’s what actually happens.

In short

• 200 hours is the foundation training. It’s where most yoga teachers start.
• The subjects are roughly the same everywhere: anatomy, asana, sequencing, pranayama, meditation, philosophy and teaching skills.
• At yum it’s around 150 hours with the teachers plus 50 hours of self-practice, with homework between sessions.
• The exam is a class you teach: up to 30 minutes, including pranayama and/or meditation and a sequence.
• You graduate with a certificate from an RYS 200 school, and you can then apply to become an RYT 200 with Yoga Alliance yourself.

What is a 200-hour yoga teacher training?

It’s the first, foundational training for yoga teachers. The name comes from the number of hours. Many schools are registered with Yoga Alliance, which sets standards for what a 200-hour training should cover.

Some people do it to teach. Others do it to understand their own practice better. Both are perfectly good reasons. We wrote about that in 5 reasons to take a YTT, even if you don’t want to teach.

For the bigger picture, start with how to become a yoga teacher in Denmark. This article zooms in on the content itself.

What subjects does a 200-hour yoga teacher training cover?

Most trainings cover the same big areas:

• Anatomy and physiology. How the body moves, and what that means for how you teach.
• Asana and alignment. The poses, how they’re built, and how to adapt them to different bodies.
• Sequencing. How you put poses together into a whole class that makes sense from start to finish.
• Pranayama and meditation. Breathing practices and meditation, both as theory and as something you practise yourself.
• History and philosophy. Where yoga comes from, and the texts and ideas that still shape practice today.
• Teaching. Your voice, cueing (your instructions), how you watch students, and how you act as a professional.

At yum the style is Vinyasa. That means movement and breath go together, and sequencing gets a lot of attention. Read more in why choose a Vinyasa yoga teacher training.

How are the 200 hours split?

This is worth asking wherever you end up. 200 hours can be put together in different ways. How much is teaching with the trainers? How much is homework and your own practice?

At yum it looks like this:

• Around 150 hours are with the teachers, for theory and practical teaching.
• 50 hours are self-practice.
• There’s homework between sessions.
• You can miss a maximum of 16 hours across the whole training.

This structure is approved by Yoga Alliance. If you want to know more about Yoga Alliance and what RYS 200 and RYT 200 mean, read Yoga Alliance teacher training in Denmark: what RYT 200 means.

What does the teaching look like day to day?

Expect a mix. You sit and listen. You get on the mat and try things out. And you teach each other, over and over.

That last part matters most. You don’t learn to teach by reading about it. You learn by doing it, getting feedback and doing it a bit better next time. The first few times feel awkward. They do for most people. Then it becomes your voice.

Between sessions you practise, read and prepare, so think about how much time you really have before you start.

What happens at the exam?

At the end, you show that you can teach. At yum you prepare a class of up to 30 minutes. It includes a pranayama and/or a meditation, and a sequence. Along the way you also get smaller assignments, so you and your teachers can follow your progress.

If you’re not ready at the exam, it isn’t over. You get up to two re-exams later on.

Yes, it’s nerve-racking. No, you don’t need to be perfect. You need to guide a group safely and clearly. That’s exactly what the training prepares you for.

What do you get when you finish?

You get a certificate from the school. If the school is registered with Yoga Alliance as an RYS 200, you can then apply to register as an RYT 200. It doesn’t happen automatically. You apply and pay Yoga Alliance directly.

Then the real work starts: teaching, again and again.

Do I need a lot of yoga experience to start?

You don’t need to stand on your hands or touch your toes. But you should have practised yoga before, so you know what happens in a regular class. At yum you also need to understand and speak English, because the training is taught in English. Not sure you’re ready? Read Can a beginner do a yoga teacher training?.

If you’re not quite there yet, take some classes first. The yum intro gives you a full month of unlimited yoga, so you can feel whether this is something you want to go deeper with.

How we do it at yum

• yum is a Registered Yoga School (RYS®200) with Yoga Alliance.
• 200-hour Vinyasa yoga teacher training in English, including the 170-page manual. Some teachers and our Studio Management speak Danish. More on yoga teacher training in English in Copenhagen.
• Subjects: functional and applied anatomy and physiology, biomechanics for safe sequencing, alignment of asanas, the arc structure of a Vinyasa class, sequencing in practice, yoga history and philosophy, pranayama and meditation (theory and practice), voice and cueing, hands-on adjustments and a business module on living fully or partly from yoga.
• Around 150 hours with the teachers and 50 hours of self-practice. Homework between weekends. A maximum of 16 hours’ absence.
• Groups of 7–15 people.
• During the training you get unlimited regular yoga classes at yum from the day you book until the last day of the training (workshops and courses not included).
• Two groups in 2027: Winter/spring 16 January–2 May (weekends only) and Summer Intensive 3 July–15 August (6.5 weeks, weekends and weekdays). Same content, same certificate.
• Price: DKK 28,995 excl. VAT where VAT applies. The DKK 4,000 booking fee is included.

See everything in one place on our teacher trainings page. Want to see what it feels like from the inside? Get our free prep-kit with a recorded intro webinar, a section of the manual and the e-book “yum’s Guide to The Essentials of Yoga Teaching”. Questions? Write to Elinor, our Studio Manager, at yoga@yum.dk. Or come by Alliancevej 22 for a coffee and a chat.

FAQ

What do you learn on a 200-hour yoga teacher training?

You learn anatomy and physiology, asana and alignment, sequencing, pranayama and meditation, yoga history and philosophy, and how to teach with your voice and cueing. At the end, you teach a class yourself for your exam.

How many of the 200 hours are with a teacher?

It varies from school to school, so always ask. At yum around 150 hours are with the teachers and 50 hours are self-practice. There’s also homework between sessions.

What is the exam like on a yoga teacher training?

At yum you prepare and teach a class of up to 30 minutes with a pranayama and/or a meditation, and a sequence. You get smaller assignments along the way, and you can take up to two re-exams.

Do you automatically become an RYT 200 when you pass?

No. You get a certificate from the school. If the school is an RYS 200, you can apply to become an RYT 200 with Yoga Alliance yourself and pay their fees directly to them.

Can you do a 200-hour yoga teacher training while working?

Yes, if the format fits. yum’s winter/spring 2027 group runs on weekends only, with homework and self-practice in between. The Summer Intensive fits the training into 6.5 weeks of weekends and weekdays.