British Wheel Of Yoga Reviews 

Outdated teacher training curriculum with poor support and an almost non existent ability to provide feedback despite them being happy to take your money in a sizeable deposit.

I did my BWY Diploma teacher training from 2001-2005 with the late Liz Parker. We were taught to be compassionate and caring, as well as totally respectful and safe.
I'm not a member at the moment, because I struggled with the turmoil that happened a few years ago, I personally didn't think that it was very yogic and I chose to step away.
I've always wanted to do the best for my students and continue to teach a couple of classes.
At the time I believe the standard of teaching was above and beyond excellent. I'm not able to comment about this now.
I do think it's a shame that a few people's poor experiences have been so badly portrayed here.
I lost my daughter 2 months before I was due to qualify and the BWY were very supportive and my fellow teachers helped me hugely.
It saddens me to hear negative feedback about the Wheel.
Love and light to you all 🙏🙏🙏

I did the BWY TT course in the 80's when it was good and humble and was about TRUE Yoga not £££££, red tape and an encyclopedia of rules and regulations! Isn't it interesting that some of the greatest Yogis didn't do Yoga courses and didn't need insurance or to be verified by a 'governing body' who have somehow become the 'trusted voice' of Yoga without being put to a vote. The BWY have since allied themselves with other 'governing bodies' and made it very difficult for yoga teachers to work in the UK without their own certification - funny that! If the BWY really followed the prinicples of Yoga, they would understand the karmic implications of the laws of attraction and how this plays an intrinsic role in students and teachers choosing each other and the lessons contained therein; but instead we have this abomination of Yoga which is very similar to a form of spiritual fascism. I think the true spiritual masters definitely would not subscribe!

Fantastic trsining

I have been a member of BWY for 20 years and have enjoyed a wide range of events from teachers of many different schools of yoga. The community offered by the regional events have lead to life-long friends in yoga and life.

I too am only writing this review to give my own experience of BWY.
I'm not a teacher or a trainee, just someone that has practiced yoga under BWY teachers for 50 years and been a member of BWY for the past 6 years, during which time I completed Foundation 1 with the Wheel.
I found my own BWY guides and teachers to be beyond reproach, and always acting and teaching fully within the guidelines. If it hadn't been for them, I wouldn't be the person I am today and, with their assistance, I continue to evolve.
I am personally grateful to the Wheel and feel sorry for anyone, like the first poster, that had an unhappy experience. I just wanted to describe my own experiences.

I am a person who has been practicing yoga for many years. In my thirties I trained with BWY and the training was good then. I could not complete it for personal reasons. Now in my 50’s I am retraining and having had experience with the ‘get qualified in three weeks’ type of course have to say that the BWY diploma 4 course is a fantastic way to become a teacher. I have been supported with my relearning , met some wonderful committed people who believe in safety first and realise that teaching yoga to others is being trusted with their health and well being. It is a long course and requires commitment to the work but now in my second year I am so glad I came back to them. Yoga was my first love and thanks to BWY it will be my last.
I am very sorry for lady who had such trouble below but clearly not all experiences with the BWY are like this. All the diploma tutors are individuals and mine has been great.

I just read your review and it disgusts me.
Trying to remain balanced in my opinion, from a business perspective I can understand they must have terms and conditions to not return a refund. Now, if you have a valid reason and a doctors note (plain and simply, if it is obvious to them) that you are unwell/ have a medical reason to be excused then YES they should give you a refund.
I am a hindu and yoga philosophy has been intilled in my from youth. However, you don't have to be a yogi to work that one out. Although you would expect a yogi (more that anyone else) to respect that/ be a bit softer to that. Yoga is a way of life, a science and a through training the body you train your mind and ultimately giving way to heightened awareness and conscience. You literally get to read through people the more you practice and gain a sharper 6th sense if you like. If that is how your instinct guided you then you were most like correct in your judgement. It saddens me, I have seen this before too, that an institution that represents an ANCIENT system that was not OWNED but somehow people in the west now think they OWN it have those feelings. Let it go - it is one person saying they have an illness - just give them there money back and good karma will take care of the rest!

Obviously, it is easy for me to say that, but you need to be sure you gave a doctors note etc or dealt with it in a way that ticked boxes for a refund. It sounds sad though to hear that you experienced that. I'm sorry.

This organisation purports to regulate yoga teachers in the UK, safeguarding the public from yoga teachers who treat people unfairly or unethically. However, when I complained to them about one of their members withholding a refund from me, they did nothing, effectively colluding with the member in question. [They're support of this member is further confirmed by their complaint to Trustpilot to have her name removed from this review]

The situation involved an instructor (initials L.C. based in Polegate, Sussex at the time). I signed up for a one year course with her and paid her the full course fees in advance. I was then diagnosed with a chronic disabling illness just prior to the course and could not take part as it would have made me more ill to do so. This Sussex instructor who also works online via the Ekhart yoga website suggested I could 'come along to the classes and just watch'! I told her my doctor had recommended complete bed rest and in any case going to a yoga training course to just watch would be like going to a swimming instructor class just to sit by the side of the pool. It was a ridiculous suggestion. Retrospectively, it's obvious that this was her attempt to avoid giving me a refund.

I asked for my money back (nearly four hundred pounds) and I was told 'no, you're not getting a refund'. I complained to the British Wheel of Yoga who then told me that the 'teacher' refused to give the refund and that there was nothing they could do to compel her to do so..

The moral of the story is think twice about getting involved with the BWY and some of its member instructors. They don't offer the public the protection that membership suggests. Their members may come across as full of light and yogic wisdom and serenity, but for some of its members at least, it is very often just a stereotype being acted out in order to court the admiration of students looking for a guru. When it comes to money and what they themselves are after, you'll see their true colours come out when their backs are to the wall. An authentic person who is genuinely practicing the principles of yoga and its spiritual and moral foundation won't allow themselves to do you any harm, whether that be financial, physical, spiritual or emotional. This 'teacher', however, did just that, and the BWY stood by and let her.

I qualified as a yoga teacher eventually as my symptoms subsided some years later, and after years of practice and meeting really genuine, unpretentious and decent people in the yoga world (there are some of us out there!), I now know the difference between the real, authentic practitioner of yoga and those leotarded charlatans who will parrot yogic philosophies, name-drop their associations to famous yogis, and talk about 'spiritual bonds with India', as if a trip to India somehow turns you into Gandhi. No matter how many trips to India they might have made and guru's names they drop, any person claiming to practice or teach yoga who deliberately withholds money from a disabled person is revealing a streak of ugliness and mean-spiritedness normally kept hidden beneath a 'positive' or friendly appearance. She had me fooled at the time. You need to ask yourself whether you would want to be taught yoga by someone who can look one way and act another. And whether you want to give money in support of them and the organisations that protect them.

If you are considering getting into yoga, be wise and beware of the trap of the western guru syndrome (housewives one day, spiritually enlightened the next) and the member organisations that shelter them. I write this review simply to help protect others from being harmed or hurt by such people.