Yoga Teacher Training Forum

Hi Justin:

Namaskar!

Safety is very important in Hatha yoga classes. To become a yoga teacher, you repeat the same points often. Later you repeat safety policies so that each student knows them by heart. This includes all safety measures. But yoga teachers can get caught up in competing for popularity and having big classes. It is my belief that yoga has increased in popularity for several reasons. First it has become more accessible to more people. Only major city centers used to have yoga schools but now many little towns have specialty schools offering more variety of classes appealing to people with many different needs.

Second many famous people, actors, singers and other people from pop culture have taken up yoga and popularized the practice of yoga to improve health and fitness. Third, yoga has become watered down. This was to meet the needs of students who wanted less yoga and more exercise. This watering down of yoga has made it more accessible to more people.

Many people around the world want to see instant physical results, so trends in yoga lean toward the Power and hot yoga varieties. These varieties speed physical results but have little to do with a search for higher consciousness. If western students walked into yoga class and the teacher meditated for and hour, discussed chakras and talked about awaking the serpent kundalini they might have more difficult time attracting students. So schools teach what they need to teach to stay in business sometimes at the cost of their student's absorption of all yoga has to offer them.

No matter what you do, never forget to teach yoga safely.

Shanti

M Sook