Guest guest Posted March 5, 2001 Report Share Posted March 5, 2001 Certification is another delicate topic .Why certification ?<br><br>A certificate from Guruji is definately a sign of quality- those teachers who been lucky enough to achieve the right requirements are truely excellent. Not forgetting that there are also excellent ashtanga yoga teachers without certificates, including David swenson etc<br>.<br>Right now as I see it there are developing 2 great problems :<br><br>1. That there are "2 extremes" Firstly those who have studied with Guruji for about 10 years, finished the 3rd series and got certificates and then secondly at the other end of the scale there are those (as you DD mention) who do a 2 week certification course- ( there are now also many fitness teachers who take a 10 hour course and then call themselves power yoga or ashtanga yoga teachers). These second extreme teachers have definately not the experience to teach and will only cause injury to their students and give yoga a bad name.<br>So what can be done ? It is unrealistic to expect that everyone who wants to teach Ashtanga yoga goes to Mysore for 3 months a year for 10 years. It has just become so expensive that many of us, can`t afford it. If we have the money then we don`t have the time. No way it doesn`t work no more.<br>What is needed is a" middle way"- a realistic teachers training program similar to the Iyengar model ( shock, horror !). Senior ashtanga teachers should obtain permittion from our guru KPJ to start these teacher training courses in the West.The length of these should be at least 3 years and only open to those with 2 years experience and a solid practice.<br>When Iyengar yoga started to get popular in the West ( I don`t know when I wasn`t there) I guess there was a time when these sort of decisions had to be made. They can`t be avoided because there will always be these" second extreme "types who will cash in ashtanga yoga and teach badly.<br><br> Problem 2. It has been said that in the past many Indian students studied with Guruji. Why don`t these have certificates ? Is it because they were not good enough and only us Westerners are ? I don`t think so. I can think of 2 well respected teachers in the Mysore area who are surely certificate worthy but who don`t possess such a thing.<br>What of the situation now, there are no Indian students at the yoga shala because of the high prices and number of westerners ( correct me if I am wrong). That means no more Indian students, (excluding family), will get The licence to teach . Already there are many good yoga teachers in the West and becoming fewer in India. Is this a good development I ask myself ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 5, 2001 Report Share Posted March 5, 2001 Another interesting, thought-provoking and well-expressed message. Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 5, 2001 Report Share Posted March 5, 2001 Ditto. YogaPunk - I really like your posts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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