INDIA, February 14, 2019 (Hindustan Times): The government is counting on the brand equity of some of India’s best-known spiritual and yoga gurus to take the ancient physical and spiritual discipline to the world — albeit by bringing the world to India first. The ministries of human resource development and AYUSH (ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha and homeopathy) have finalized a plan under which the country’s best-known and biggest yoga schools will offer specialized courses for foreigners, starting as early as this year. “The Yoga Certification Board (YCB) has identified 10 yoga institutions. These will undergo a process of being recognised by the board. Once recognised as leading yoga institutions, they will start offering specialized courses specially created for foreigners,” a government official said on condition of anonymity.
The YCB was set up by the government last year to certify individual yoga teachers and also yoga schools. It is headed by Dr. Rajesh Kotecha, secretary, AYUSH, representatives from several ministries, and also the heads of three yoga schools or centres, HR Nagendra of the Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana (S-VYASA), Chinmay Panda of Dev Sanskriti Viswavidyala, and Jaideep Arya of Patanjali Yogpeeth. Four courses will be on offer: a 200-hour yoga protocol instructor course which will take around one month; the second level or yoga wellness instructor course which will be a 400-hour or 3-4 month course; the third level yoga teacher course, which will be of 800 hours’ duration and take 6-9 months ; and the fourth level yoga master course that will take 1,600-2,000 hours. “There is a great demand for yoga teachers across the globe. However, often what is taught in the name of yoga is merely some kind of physical exercise which has no connection to the discipline. The aim is to guide the foreign student who looks towards this branch of knowledge. Those who take these courses can also go on to teach yoga in their countries,” the official said.