Membership FAQs

There are three options – Full Member, Associate Member and International Member.

Associate Member – for the yoga enthusiast (not necessarily teachers) although teachers (with a 200 hour teaching qualification approved by the IYTA Committee) working towards full membership can opt for an Associate Membership.

The annual fee is $65 and you receive a minimum five per cent discount off IYTA courses and workshops. You also receive the e-newsletter and magazine International Light three times a year.

Full Member – the requirement is that you have a minimum of 350 yoga teacher training hours as approved by the IYTA Committee.

The annual fee is $95 and you receive a minimum ten per cent discount off IYTA courses and workshops. You also receive the e-newsletter and magazine International Light three times a year.

The benefits are huge – from being able to use the IYTA logo for your promotional purposes, having a listing on the IYTA website, receiving 10% off workshops
and courses to being able to join the IYTA mentoring team.

International Member – the annual fee is $65 and is open to teachers who meet the Full Member criteria. It allows them to stay connected
with the IYTA and to receive the quarterly International Light magazine.

Click here to see a side-by-side comparison

Absolutely nothing!

You will receive a personal renewal reminder email before the due date, and your membership will automatically renew on the renewal date using the credit/debit card you used originally.

Note: we do NOT store your credit card details – we use a secure token system with our Payment Gateway, eWay.

All members will be sent a personal renewal email prior to their renewal date.

However you can visit to your Dashboard anytime to check your details and click on the RENEW button* – this will take you to a form. Once you have completed this form and paid, your membership will then switch auto-renewal.

* The RENEW button is only shown when your membership has expired or if your renewal is due soon and is still manual.

Note – to stop auto-renewals simply notify us in writing (via email or use our contact us form) at least 3 business days before your next renewal date.

We’ve switched to Auto-renewals for a couple of reasons:

• To make renewals as easy as possible for our members
• To keep our administration costs as low as possible – which helps keep our membership fees as low as possible!

Simply go to your dashboard and you will see all of your membership details, including membership
number, renewal date and whether your renewal will be automatically processed.

If you have any questions that you can’t find an answer for in these FAQs please contact us.

It is necessary as a yoga teacher to continually update your knowledge and experience of yoga teaching in the same way any profession continues their professional development.

All Full Members need to earn at least 12 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points per year.

The major Australian health funds also require of IYTA that our Full Members meet this yearly 12 CPD point minimum.

We make it as easy as possible to meet your annual CPD requirements.

Earn one CPD point every time you watch one of the free IYTA video tutorials. View one per month and you have gained all 12 mandatory CPD points for
the year.

Ways to earn CPD points

• viewing your free IYTA video tutorial (members only)
• attending IYTA workshops and events
• volunteering at IYTA events and further training

Changing your membership level can only be done by contacting our membership secretary.

You can call Amber, our membership secretary, during business hours on 1800 449 195 or use our contact us page.

We have recently enabled recurring billing when paying your membership subscription, which means the next renewal will be automatically charged to your
credit card. We implemented this new system in an effort to save you time and to minimise the association’s overheads, which will help us keep fees
as low as possible.

How do we store your card details?

IYTA does NOT store your card details, we simply encrypt them and securely pass them into our PCI compliant Payment Gateway who securely manages
them. We use eWay as our Payment Gateway for all card types (Visa and Mastercard).

If you have a new credit card and would like to change your details you can do this anytime on your Member Dashboard. Please login and click on the button: ‘Change Credit Card’

Your email address is also your log in, so making changes to this can only be actioned by our Membership Secretary. Please call or contact us and we’ll make these changes for you.

Yes, as a Full Member of IYTA you will receive a discounted rate from Yoga Australia.

When signing up with Yoga Australia, please ensure that you tick “Another Association Member” to be eligible for the special rate negotiated for IYTA members.

Full Membership to IYTA is either $95 or $65 (non-teaching) with no application fee for new IYTA members.  Membership with Yoga Australia would be an additional $96.25 with dual membership (vs $137.50 standard price) plus $110 application fee for new members.  If you have trained with a Yoga Australia-registered school, the application fee for new members is $55.

Whilst Full Members must continue to meet their insurance, first-aid and CPD requirements to maintain their membership, we no longer need Full Members to send in any documents via email. We trust you to keep the documents and be able to produce them if requested.

However, as a Full Member, you do still need to make sure your information is kept up-to-date in your profile. Please add your Insurance information and the expiry date of your certificates in the fields provided.

NB: your annual membership certificate will NOT be issued unless your insurance and first-aid/CPR are current.

You can enter your insurance and first-aid information online by visiting to your Dashboard.

First Aid Certification is a requirement of Full Membership of IYTA (within Australia). Your First Aid Certificate is valid for 3 years. It is a legal requirement for all businesses to have at least one person qualified for First Aid, and the CPR component of your First Aid Certificate should be renewed annually to remain current.

Annual CPR Certification is advised by IYTA. Please check with your employer; the studio or gym that you may teach in; or your professional insurance provider for cover as it relates to your duty of care to an incident where you are required to be the first responder.

As First Aid and CPR  are an ongoing requirement of membership IYTA have organised discounted training for members with CBD College (Australia-wide). Please login to your dashboard to access your discount code: Login to Dashboard

Handy Links:

• Safe Work Australia: https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/first-aid
• Australian Resuscitation Council: https://resus.org.au/
• Australian Red Cross First Aid App.: https://www.redcross.org.au/get-involved/learn/first-aid/first-aid-app
• St John’s Ambulance First Aid App: https://www.stjohnsa.com.au/how-we-help/public-access-resources/first-aid-apps

If you are a Full or International Member with IYTA we will advertise your Workshop or Event for FREE! We will add your event or workshop to our IYTA Members Listing page, where members can read more and click through to your personal page or website. We will also add a post to the IYTA Facebook page!

If you would like us to post your event or workshop send through the details to us via email at membership@iyta.com.au, please include:

• Event Name
• Date/s
• Cost
• Location
• Contact person/email or phone
• Short description
• Link to website or booking form
• CPD points (if applicable)
• An image (if applicable)

Or if you already have a flyer with this information, please send that through.

Give a good notice period before the event, up to 4 weeks and not less than one week is best. If you have any questions, please call or email.

IYTA can offer free advertisement for Workshops and Events only. A Workshop is a brief intensive educational program for a relatively small group of people that focuses especially on yoga techniques and skills. An Event is a planned single occasion.

As a solo yoga teacher you have the responsibility to record information for the students who attend your classes. IYTA advise that you have a new student form which all of your students have signed and includes a student/teacher agreement. For your website and online classes IYTA advise that you include a disclaimer that covers yourself and your students in the case of an incident.

It is best to receive advice from your insurance provider as this may be more specified to your particular mode of teaching. If you are covered under the insurance of a studio or organisation that you work for, ask what responsibilities you have and what cover you are provided.

We have an example new student template, and online disclaimer template for our Full Members to access through your dashboard. Log in to your Dashboard.

Roma Blair is the founder of IYTA, also known as Swami Nirmalananda. She celebrated her 90th birthday on 28th July 2013 and passed on the 5th of November 2013 in Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast where her light shines brightly.

Roma Blair lived an extraordinary life. Married to a Dutchman and living in Java, Roma became a Japanese prisoner of war. For three and a half years she had been missing and presumed dead. Roma gave birth to her son on a table with no medical help and even the demands of her Japanese captors to be out in the fields the following day could not break her spirit. Her journey through her life is one of remarkable strength, determination and courage.

With her release in 1945, Roma returns to Sydney to be reunited with her husband and family. Later travelling to South Africa with her husband and son, Roma takes up modelling. As her memories of the camp were fading her health becomes an issue.

Roma ends up at a yoga class and so begins a journey of healing. Roma has spent her life teaching others the physical and spiritual benefits of yoga and has continued to dedicate her life to charity.

Links to more information

• Roma Blair, the pioneer of Australian Yoga