CPD is short for Continuing Professional Development
How many CPD points do I need to submit?
You need to submit at least 12 CPD points every year when you renew your membership.
Any activity or program that develops your knowledge, experience, skill, understanding or professionalism of yoga or yoga teaching. In short, you must be able to answer the following question with a ‘YES’: Does this program or activity make me a better yoga teacher?
Points are allocated to actual hours of content, not including lunch or refreshment breaks, or other non-content time, according to the table below. However, different activities earn different points, depending on whether they are “core” to yoga teaching, or “related” to yoga teaching. Higher-points are also allocated for “contact programs and activities compared to “non-contact” programs and activities.
“Core” to yoga teaching means central to yoga or yoga teaching, including asana, pranayama, meditation, study of yogic philosophy, anatomy and physiology, and teaching techniques.
“Related” means related to yoga teaching by tradition, relevance or application, including related philosophies and spiritual practices (e.g: Ayurveda and Buddhism), related healthcare modalities (e.g: Physiotherapy), related exercise science (e.g: Fitness or Human Movement), and related lifestyle practices (e.g: yoga practices at an Ashram).
Contact activities are characterised by face-to-face contact in a program or activity with specific learning objectives, for example, a workshop or seminar. However Yoga Australia recognises that members living in rural and remote locations may not have access to contact programs and some yoga teachers may not find the programs available suitable to their training and experience. Therefore, a range of non-contact activities are also accepted as CPD such as participating in correspondence, on-line, video and DVD programs.
N.B: If a non-contact program offers a means of assessment, such as an exam to measure compliance, then the program may be treated as a contact program. For example, participating on an online or DVD course on yoga techniques for chronic lower back pain, qualifies as a “core” to yoga teaching activity but receives points at the the “non-contact” level. If however, the online program allows participants to complete an exam and receive a certificate of completion, the program qualifies as a “contact” activity.
You need to login to your Yoga Australia account using your email and password and go to the CPD section of the dashboard. All you have to do to submit your CPD is fill in the form and upload supporting documentation.
Training hours for the purpose of increasing your level of seniority are measured by CPD points and should be calculated the same way. For example, the hours you spend training in areas that are “core” to yoga teaching generally earn 1 CPD point per hour and are therefore all counted for advancing from one level of membership to another. However, the hours you spend training in “related” areas or in non-contact training, may only earn 1 point for every 2 hours, therefore only half the hours would be counted.
To explain further, to move from Level 1 to Level 2, you need 150 hours of training (on top of the 350 hours for Level 1). That means you need 150 CPD points. To earn 150 CPD points you may require more than 150 hours of training depending on whether the training is “core” to yoga teaching or “contact”, or not.
Therefore, it is strongly recommended that Yoga Australia members keep good records of all training undertaken, using the attached CPD guidelines and reporting form as a template, which you will be able to use as evidence of training you have done when it comes time to apply for an increase in your membership level.
Attending another yoga teacher’s regular yoga or meditation class as a participant is partly personal practice and partly professional development, therefore it receives CPD points at a lower level (4 hours = 1 point) than attending a workshop or seminar which has specific learning objectives.
The onus always remains on Yoga Australia members to honestly and carefully report their CPD activities. Each year, Yoga Australia will conduct a number of random audits of members’ CPD reporting. Members are expected to be able to easily substantiate the claims made on their CPD return.
Maintaining a current First AID certificate does not attract CPD points as this is already a basic requirement of membership.
Your own regular yoga teaching does not currently earn CPD points, however Yoga Australia recommends 48 hours over 3 years (about 16 hours a year) as being a minimum level of teaching for Full members.
Mentoring can be an important part of professional development. For this reason, Yoga Australia allows the time spent being mentored to be counted as CPD. However being a mentor does not earn CPD points as this is similar to time spent teaching. Of course, mentoring records must be kept in order to claim hours of being mentored as CPD.
Members who train other yoga teachers, or who are engaged in developing programs, workshops, seminars, retreats, etc, or who are involved in yoga-related research or authoring can receive CPD points for the time they spend developing these programs provided they are logged on the CPD reporting form and the points claimed can be easily substantiated by the member if audited.
Non-teaching members can maintain their membership from year to year without meeting the CPD requirement (and at a lower membership cost) by becoming an Associate member instead of Full member. However Associate members do not have voting rights or access to Yoga Australia insurance. Please see the Membership Information document for more information.