Yoga has been in practice for around 5000 years as the art of living a physically, mentally and spiritually healthy life. But as a career option, yoga has come up in the forefront only recently both in India and abroad.
Train Yourself
Yoga cannot be done the way you would go for gymming. To get the full benefits of a yoga asana, one must do it the right way with the right breathing techniques. Only a trained teacher can teach this the right way.
Asanas are only a part of yoga. It includes anatomy, philosophy, exercises, meditation and also theory and principles of yoga. In the practical part, many asanas like shatkama, suryanamaskar, and pranayam are taught.
There are various levels of training in yoga. The amount of time taken to become a certified Yoga teacher varies from person to person, depending upon the individual's commitment, desire, degree of one-to-one training and practice.
There are long and short term courses. The long term courses normally last for a year and the short ones are for a week and beyond. For you to be able to teach yoga, you need to be trained at least for six months.
Learn
As there are no specified qualifications to become a yoga instructor or trainer, experience does count a lot.
In India, there are more than 35 colleges offering graduate and postgraduate courses in yoga, apart from around 15 yoga learning centres.
If you are a graduate in any discipline you can pursue courses in yoga, but Philosophy graduates are preferred. These courses are available at the graduation level and post graduation level.
There are various yoga techniques. The one which is the easiest to learn and teach is the householder's yoga. The Yoga Institute in Santacruz (E), Mumbai has been running strong for the past almost 100 years and the courses are for a month or for a year. The courses are conducted in English and Hindi and details are available on their website www.yogainstitute.org. The course costs anywhere between Rs.2500 to Rs.3000.
The other specialised institute for yoga is the Iyengar Institute. They also offer various courses on yoga. The Iyengar Institute teachers are spread across the world. This technique of yoga is different from that of the householder's yoga. This is a little difficult and requires more practice. You can have a look at their website www.bksiyengar.com for more details on the courses available.
Apart from that, there are a few colleges that offer yoga courses like the Somaiya Trust, Mumbai University and the SNDT University.
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