MyVinyasaPractice: A Student Review

If you've been following along, you know that I took every online yoga teacher training over the last few years, most during the pandemic.  I'm writing my own yoga teacher training for my studio and I wanted to experience the trainings of different teachers.  I took Michelle Young's MyVinyasa Practice 200 Hour Onine Yoga Teacher Training.

There is a lot to be said about MyVinyasaPractice.  Let's start with 2 things1 thing know for sure:

1)  MyVinyasaPractice has one hell of a marketing team
2)  MyVinyasaPractice is not compromising thier value in favor of gimmicky competitors.

Overview

For the above two reasons, we used to respect MyVinyasaPractice but this doesn't mean we recommend the training.  It may be appropriate for you.  Read on for pros and cons, my experience, and to find out if this would work for your needs.

Since we originally started our review of MyVinyasaPractice, Michelle Young has dramatically changed her site, her program and her offerings.  While she originally came across as mostly genuine, she has since revealed her true colors, and has caved in to the temptation of turning her teacher training into a total money chase and matching her competitors (Yoga Renew and Aura Wellness) marketing ploys with pop-up coupons on her website like this:

This online yoga teacher training may be perfect for you if you are not very interested in asana practice.  This training is especially suitable for those interested in moving towards yoga therapy, although if you intend to take a yoga therapist training in the future, you will definitely want to check and make sure they accept the online MyVinyasaPractice training as a prerequisite.  The International Association of Yoga Therapists is the only board that "certifies" yoga therapists, which is a bit of a joke and another blog.  But, I would check their site to make sure MyVinyasaPractice will work for you.

The Pros of MyVinyasa Practice: Review of a Student Who Has Taken the Training

Price

The pricing is not outlandish.  MyVinyasaPractice has dropped their  tuition rates tremendously since we began reviewing online yoga teacher training a year ago.  Currently, it is $650 $375 with a required $150 down payment.  (She has lowered the price since we initially wrote this blog).  It seems she keeps lowering the price to match her competitors or beat them by $10-20.   In other words, she would be happy to gauge us all for over $750 per person, because she used to do that, and then she lowered it to $650.  She isn't interested in making yoga affordable, although she says she is interested in that.

Software, Accessibility

MyVinyasaPractice uses teachable.  You can access the course from anywhere and the software is easy to use.

The Cons

Not Much Content

There really isn't a lot of content here.  Depending on your needs, this could be a pro or a con.   There is standard and expected material, the yoga sutras and history of yoga.  The anatomy is light.  The sequencing was okay.  Subtle bodies was helpful for me.  It looks like MyVinyasaPractice has lumped all of their continuing education courses into the 200 hour in an effort to patch together a 200 hour course.  They have yin and restorative are lumped together.   They have a prenatal section. They have an ayurveda section.  These aren't usually part of the 200 hours.  Online Yoga School offers a separate restorative training and a separate ayurveda certification, neither of which are part of the 200 hours.  The business of yoga with MyVinyasaPractice was somewhat helpful. 

Lead Trainer and Director of Online Program is Stretched Too Thin

We have a few reservations about this yoga teacher training online program.  The owner seems to be stretched too thin, and we question the level of support she can offer you as an online student.  She has a 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training in person and a 300 Hour Yoga Teacher Training in person in session.  She has more scheduled, and is no doubt busting her hiney to get those filled.

In addition to the two in person trainings that she has rolling almost year round, she also has international trainings and retreats that she is working to book.  Currently, there are retreats available in Ireland, Israel and Paris for yogis to join Michelle:

And, if you don't want to take her in person training in Austin or one of her many online yoga teacher trainings, Michelle Young will meet you internationally to offer a 16 day intensive.  In 16 short days, you can become a yoga teacher and you get to choose from three international destinations, Ireland, Thailand or Greece:

Organizing and marketing all of these events is a full-time job in itself.  Setting these up requires research in each of these countries to find the most suitable area to hold the event, and then local resorts have to be contacted and packages must be compared to find the most financially sound but still enjoyable option for overnight accommodations.  A travel agent must be contacted to discuss airfare and packages for group rates when the group is not necessarily coming from the same airport.  Chefs must be interviewed and chosen, and menus must be discussed and budgeted. Then, the agenda has to be designed for each day of each international retreat and/or international training.  And once she successfully markets these events, she has to honor her teaching obligations.  There is time spent preparing for the trip and then jetlag considerations upon return on top of the length of time she is away.

We are not sure how much time that leaves for her to provide attention and support to students currently enrolled in her online 200 Hour, 300 Hour, 300 Hour Clinical or 500 Hour programs.  Perhaps this is why she has hired "mentors," which is another concern. 

Jack of All Trades, Master of None

On top of both of her in person trainings (200 and 300 hours) and her three international retreats and three international yoga teacher training intensives, Ms. Young has 13 online continuing education offerings.  It almost looks as if she has broken down her 200 hour online yoga teacher training into small modules and turned some of them into a continuing education course.  Additionally, we believe she wanted to offer the same courses as some of her competitors and has such thrown in Chair Yoga, Ayurveda and Restorative Yoga.  You can get all of this included in the 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training with Online Yoga School, another online teacher training that we reviewed. 

It seems Ms. Young is a jack of all trades, specializing in Yoga Nidra, Restorative Yoga, Yin Yoga, Prenatal Yoga, Beginners Yoga, Adaptive Yoga, Business of Yoga, Yoga, Chair Yoga, Ayurveda and much, much more! 

Overall Review

I can't say that I didn't enjoy the training at all.  It was ok, but just ok.  On a scale of 1-10, I'd give it a 6.5.  Overall, I'm not overly impressed with MyVinyasaPractice.   It isn't the best in any category. Not the best information in the content, not the best value for your money, not the best customer service, not the most professional, not the quickest route to certification, not a community feel, not the best support.... you get it.  It was ok.