To Register with Yoga Alliance you will need 3 things:
Print out the appropriate application form (below)
Have a photocopy of your Yoga Teacher Certificate
Mail them in with the appropirate fees to Yoga Alliance
RYT: $25 processing, Annually $55 for North America applications, $85 for other applications
E-RYT: $95 processing, Annually $75 for North America applications, $145 processing, $100 for International applications
RYT 200 – a yoga teacher who has attained a minimum of 200 hours of yoga teacher training in the five categories. Application Form
RYT 500 – a yoga teacher who has attained a minimum of 500 hours of yoga teacher training in the five categories. Application Form
E-RYT 200 – a yoga teacher who is a RYT 200 (or equivalent) with a minimum of 2 years and 1,000 hours of yoga teaching experience since becoming a RYT 200 (or equivalent). Application Form
E-RYT 500 – a yoga teacher who is a RYT 500 (or equivalent) with a minimum of 4 years and 2000 hours of yoga teaching experience after becoming a RYT (or equivalent), 500 hours of which must be taught since becoming a RYT 500 (or equivalent). Application Form
This was posted August 2010. For the most up to date forms go to www.yogaalliance.org
“More than 16 million Americans practice yoga regularly, and they spend nearly $6 billion a year on yoga classes and products.
But, as Early Show Consumer Correspondent Susan Koeppen reports, a lack of regulation in the yoga industry could be putting you at risk.
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the number of yoga injuries rose from more than 3,700 in 2004 to more than 4,400 in 2006. ”
Comments:
This is a valid perspective that people need to be careful who they are taking yoga from. However, government regulation is certainly not the best solution for this problem. Unfortunately most people in government do not know very much about yoga and it would be difficult for them to be able to decide who is qualified to teach and who does not. I suggest that the yoga industry itself make a stronger push for more consistency in certifications and standards. At present in the yoga community the basic accepted certification level to be a teacher is 200-hrs of training. The 30-min online certification is not recognized in the yoga community that I know. As we better educate people about what the standard certification is, people will be able to make more informed decisions about who to take yoga classes from.
Thanks for the segment, but I feel you missed the point.
India Journal: Where Are the Entrepreneurs in Yoga and Ayurveda? Wall Street Journal (blog) “As for ayurveda, a medical science that originated 5000 years ago, the natural cosmetics industry in India is big business; 18% of all cosmetics in India …” Read the Article
Bryan’s Comments:
My experience in India tells me that Indian’s are born entrepreneurs, and that if there was demand for more yoga, that people would immediately figure out a way to provide more yoga and to make money from it. This is what makes this article so interesting. Do Indian’s want more yoga, yet not know it? For sure, it would lead to a healthier lifestyle for the growing middle class in India, but are they open to it?
India Documents 900 Yoga Poses to Block Patents Voice of America
“Photo: AP India has catalogued hundreds of yoga poses in an effort to block entrepreneurs and companies in other countries from getting yoga-related patents …” Read More
Bryan’s Comments:
This article gives some numbers.
They have videographed 900 poses and the intent to do a total of 1500 poses.
India is obviously upset with the west patenting yoga. Are you?
Can you patent yoga postures?
BBC News June 9, 2010
“The Indian government is planning to patent nearly a thousand yoga postures. Yoga teacher Swami Pragyamurti and Dr Vinod Kumar Gupta, of the Traditional …” Listen online.
Bryan’s Comments:
There seems something hypocritical about the Indian government patenting yoga poses simple to keep others from doing the same.
The real question is though, is will it work? Will it keep others from patenting or copyrighting sequences like Bikram has already done with his Bikram Series?
This sound clip also brings up the question of the morality of profiting from yoga at all. When does the desire and attachment to money get in the way of teaching yoga authentically?
Yoga expert: ‘It seems idiotic they can patent it’
The Guardian June 8, 2010
“The 64000 postures form only a tiny part of yoga. Poses are not an end in themselves, but a preparation for deeper, more meaningful practices. …” Read the Full Article
Bryan’s Comments:
Agreed. It does seem silly to allow someone to patent a pose claiming that they invented it.
That misses the point of what the Indian Government was doing. I think they also believe that yoga should not be patented. They are cataloging to show that things have been done before and that people claiming to invent yoga are not really inventing anything.
Isn’t there a difference though between claiming to invent a pose and claiming to have created a sequence? Bikram of course did this several years back and copyrighted his sequence. Out of all the poses available he took 26 and chose an order and method for them to be taught. It is reasonable to believe that he was the first to create that exact sequence. Should we as a yoga community encourage this ownership over sequences?
I guess the difference between copyrighting a sequence or sharing it freely with the world comes down to a matter of money.
“Selfish desires lead to problems. Selfless motivation leads to freedom.” -Robert Moses, Dublin, NH
Yoga heritage: don’t even think about stealing it, says Indian government
The Guardian June 8, 2010
“If your preferred yoga style is among the former you could find yourself on the wrong side of an effort to define what constitutes the millennia-old …” Read the Full Article
Comments:
It is interesting how India feels a need to try to stake their claim on yoga by cataloging videos of the poses. I did not know that anyone ever doubted yoga’s heritage. Certainly no one I have talked to.
On one hand I think it is great that they are cataloging what they think are the pure poses. I would only suggest that they think of it as a cataloging of ‘yoga today’. Yoga changes every minute. Our individual and collective understand of yoga practices are always in a state of change. Imagine if this videograph project had been done 100 years ago. It would be so cool to look back at what people thought of yoga 100-years back!
On the other hand it does seem to be segmenting our the asanas as being the main practice of yoga, which is not the case. There are so many practices of yoga that one could not comprehend how to catalog them all. Perhaps this focus on the physical is an influence of the west, or perhaps it is the litigiousness attitude that the west has shared.
Regardless of how this came about, it will be interesting to see how the videographs are used in the future. Perhaps Google can help them post these resources on the web!
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