Take the path to becoming a yoga teacher
Becoming a yoga teacher is part of a journey. The body itself, approaching the practice, makes sense and communicates the closeness with respect to a certain horizon of meaning. If this component is also replaced by the desire to pass on the accumulated experience, then we put ourselves on the path of teaching. In theory, those who hear the vocation should discover their lineage, the tradition they feel they belong to.
A series of significant coincidences will guide the aspiring teacher towards a qualified instructor who will offer him a specific sadhana . Depending on the lineage, the aspirant will have realizations that will lead him to higher states of consciousness. It is a long, personal journey, which depends very much on the occasion, on the meeting. The Buddha himself has indeed described life as a series of encounters.
Become a yoga teacher
In more practical terms, today, it is possible to become a yoga teacher after obtaining a diploma issued at the end of a course, usually three-year, at recognized institutions. Currently, compared to what happened in the past, many aspiring yoga teachers come from the world of gym and fitness, more than from spirituality.
The solutions are different and there are many courses to become yoga teachers. There are training courses that last only one month or five years, economic, expensive or even free, with exams to pass or not, with one or more teachers. The offer in this field is really varied, and this depends on the fact that there is no European regulation on the matter.
Of course, a course to become a yoga teacher is not enough: it takes years of practice and research . By practice, we mean a constant work on one's own person, a continuous experimentation, which passes both through the sensations experienced during asanas, and those that concern the most disparate aspects of life, of relationships. Adherence to oneself, the end and means for a good yoga practice, is realized in every moment. It would be foolish to think that the teacher exhausts his role within the walls of the gym.
Become a yoga teacher in Italy
Since there are no fixed parameters established by law, anyone can teach yoga, even without having attended a specific preparation school. However, there are standard requirements for the training that the European Yoga Federation has introduced since 1972, and subsequently expanded, in order to protect the quality of the teaching of this discipline.
In Italy, National Yoga Organizations, Social, Cultural and Sports Promotion Agencies, recognized by CONI (such as the UISP and ACLI) have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Education to encourage the introduction of the discipline and philosophy of yoga in public and private schools, of various degrees, throughout the national territory.
Now let's see some organizations where you can become a yoga teacher:
- EFOA University organizes five-year courses, plus possibly one or two years for the master. The offices are in Rome and Milan, the cost is around 1, 500 euros per year, including VAT. The frequency includes about 200 hours per year, distributed over six / seven weekends, plus a five-day summer internship.
- The Maharishi Yoga Academy Satyananda issues the diploma after a check on the execution of asanas included in the five-year study program. The headquarters is in Brescia.
- The Italian Raja Yoga Association, based in Milan, which offers five-year training courses, at the end of which it grants a certificate with the certificate RYT (Registred Yoga Teacher ). At the end of the course of study a thesis discussion is also planned. The cost is around 800 euros per year.
- The Yoga Training Association, (AFY), proposes a program divided into 8 weekends plus a four-day residential seminar for each year of the course. Then there are smaller realities (gyms, associations, cultural circles) all to be discovered, with people and teachers who can end up on their personal journey and discover themselves useful to help complete it.
Yoga teachers today operate in numerous facilities, as well as, obviously, gyms. A yoga teacher can exercise in elementary and middle schools; in hospitals and universities; in sports centers and holiday villages; at vocational training centers in various municipalities and in senior centers, especially if you have specific experience in the field of yoga for old age.
