Kelsea Duvauchelle

Photo courtesy of Milissa Bradley

Diablo Valley College has launched a new yoga teacher certification program to make becoming a yoga instructor more accessible—and affordable—for Contra Costa Community College students.

Milissa Bradley, the program’s lead trainer and an E-RYT 500 certified yoga instructor with over 5,000 hours teaching experience, said the program that got off the ground in the fall aims to empower students and community members alike to experience and teach yoga without financial barriers. 

“There are a lot of yoga teacher trainings out there, but it is a very expensive endeavor,” she said. “It ends up being really inaccessible.”

For Bradley, discovering her passion for yoga started as a simple fitness endeavor but turned quickly into a profound personal journey. 

“I went into the class thinking that I was going to work out,” she recalled, “what happened is that I actually started working in,” she said, referring to her inward exploration through the physical practice. 

“I realized that yoga was just something that I needed to do to process and move through my challenges and also to help me with my self-understanding and personal growth.”

Determined to share the practice with others—and recognizing the steep financial costs of becoming certified—Bradley saw the need to create a more affordable pathway for aspiring yoga instructors.

 “I knew there was a need, and I knew there was an interest,” she said.

The result is a comprehensive, 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training Certification program that costs a fraction of the price typically associated with such programs.

According to All Yoga, traditional in-studio yoga teacher certification programs can cost upwards of $3,000, making them inaccessible to many individuals. 

But priced at $560 for two semesters, with students also eligible to receive financial aid, the DVC program provides students with the same rigorous curriculum and accreditation as traditional programs, ensuring that graduates are equipped to teach yoga globally. 

“We’re a certified Yoga Alliance registered school,” Bradley said, “so curriculum-wise if someone graduated from our program, they would be able to teach yoga anywhere in the world.”

Bradley envisioned the class to be accessible to working professionals, college students, and anyone in between. With classes meeting on Monday and Wednesday evenings and Saturday afternoons, the six-class program is divided into two accelerated eight-week semesters. 

Since its launch in the fall, the program has already seen a growth in interest and participation—jumping from 10 enrolled students last semester to 16 in the spring. The first four teacher trainers in the program graduated with full certification in March. 

“I’m doing everything I can to bring yoga to the community,” said Bradley, “and also help individuals understand how they can take this information and knowledge and get out into their communities to bring it to individuals that need it.”