Yoga teacher training
shock. Gone are the days
when you could study
yoga over the weekend
and then teach students
the next day. The
National Association as
well as gyms are now
enforcing stricter
training for legal and
injury reasons.
In
Australia, regulations
governing teachers in
gyms are about to be
introduced following on
from students being
injured who are being
taught by underqualified
instructors.
Fitness Australia
will agree to a range of
minimum instructor
qualifications for all
its accredited teachers
who teach the spiritual
and energetic sport.
The Yoga Teachers
Association of Australia
(YTAA) approached
Fitness Australia at the
beginning of 2007 after
they received a rise in
complaints from its
members about people who
were teaching classes
with apparently no
formal qualification or
certification of any
kind. What will be
brought in will be a
minimum standard for
accreditation and
certification which will
include at the very
least 320 hours of
instructor training over
a 12 mont period before
even teaching a class of
any kind.
Stephen Penman,
vice-president of YTAA
said: "One of the most
common complaints we
receive is of
underqualified people
teaching classes in a
fitness setting when
they have very little
experience. Some people
have just done a one- or
two-day course and we
wanted to raise the
standard of teaching."
Not only is the YTAA
taking stock but the APA
(the Australian
Physiotherapy
Association) is asking
for a cap on the number
of students in any one
class at any time. They
claim to have treated
many students for muscle
tears, spinal injuries
and nerve damage as a
result of badly taught
sessions.
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Peter Fazey, APA
national president,
said: "People think it
is a gentle form of
exercise but some of the
poses and some forms of
yoga can be very
strenuous. If it is done
wrong, you can cause
damage."
Currently anyone in
Australia can set
themselves up as an
instructor, even if they
have no qualifications
or certification at all.
In 2004 a report
conducted by Medibank
Private found 25 percent
of pupils had been
injured at some time.
Current Sports
Commission figures show
that 2.9 percent of the
Australian population
older than 15, which
equals just short of
half a million people,
regularly practice yoga.
There is no doubt
that there is a huge
interest in the general
population in attending
these classes. However,
without a doubt as a
result of an increasing
rate of injury more
study is going to be
required before any
teacher can teach pupils
at any level and that
can only be a good
thing.
