UNITED KINGDOM, December 17, 2016 (by Genevieve Roberts, iNEWS): A controversy is raging in the world of yoga – and many people are getting their yoga pants in a twist over it. The British Wheel of Yoga, appointed by Sports England as the governing group for mind-body workouts, is setting out to offer a minimum benchmark of competence and knowledge for yoga teachers. This won’t be compulsory, but Paul Fox, Chairman of the BWY, says he hopes this will “help to protect the public from injury in yoga classes.” And it has angered many yogis, upset at the idea of benchmarking the ancient spiritual practice. They argue that this makes yoga teaching comparative to other sports, rather than staying true to its roots. Fox has previously said that if he had the hypothetical power to go into training institutions across the country (something he’s not seeking) he would most probably close down 75 per cent of them.
Can you benchmark spirituality? Satish Sharma, General Secretary of the National Council of Hindu Temple wrote to Skills Active, saying: “Unless you can first establish that yoga and the religion of my ancestors are separate, you cannot legally proceed.” There are many strands of yoga and different styles of practice, some focusing more on the physical, others that see chanting, meditation and breathing exercises as being equally important. In the West, overall, we place more emphasis on the physical than in India, the birthplace of the tradition. As yoga has boomed in popularity, so has the industry, currently estimated to be worth a billion US dollars a year according to business analysts from Ibis, around it. And that has led to both dubious and brilliant training. Reverend Padma Devi Sumananda says: “I do believe that harmful, discreditable, unqualified yoga teaching schools should be prevented. And to my knowledge, they are prevented by consumer awareness — anyone taking a teacher training course should always ask, ‘Is it accredited and by whom’?” Ultimately, while spirituality cannot be assessed, I do think that the physical side of yoga teacher training should be of the highest standard possible to protect people in class.
Read more at: https://inews.co.uk/essentials/lifestyle/wellbeing/golden-standard-yoga-teachers-well-good-cant-benchmark-spirituality/