Yoga Certification

Last week I touched upon the Aims of Teacher Training as part of the Pursuit of Purpose series. Take a moment to read the prior two posts before we begin, as I will try to build on the earlier narrative.

Before I unpack this section, I want to note that I have been trying to make the writing here pragmatic and concise. I hope in doing so that I am not leaving out any details of importance that sometimes can be expressed in sentiment or meandering. And ultimately,  I will meander. 

Jumping in! 

Certification

I think it’s important for us to not look at things as linear. For instance, I started meditating and practicing breathing-related (pranayama meets psychic development) practices when I was a child. I had no formal training — my parents weren’t yoga practitioners; nor were they spiritual in the sense that we think of it at this point in time. Simultaneously,  I can say that I learned a lot about spirituality from them. 

Congruent to being non linear, I cannot say  that a daily 35-year-long meditation and pranayama practice makes me more superior in the art of these practices. I can only attest to the states of experience, perspective (mindset) shifts, and other benefits of these practices. I am not sure if they have made me a better person or if that is something you work out as you move through life by setbacks and celebrations… Maybe that’s a topic for another time. 

I can say that these practices, and the ones that followed in formal training, in the shape of initiation and teacher training programs, certainly changed the approach toward my self and toward the self of others. 

The idea of being non linear is important when we are talking about credentialing and certification. I find that this varies in such a way as having a theoretical or a practical education. By education, with reference to yoga, I mean to say: dedicated time with your guru, directed studies by a teacher, apprenticeship, teacher training, mentorship, self-study and self-guided practices. 

Yoga does contains all of these. Sometimes in a rigorous, detailed program modeled on the teacher’s journey through their own path. The reward can be induction into a lineage, the pedagogy of the institution or the certification at the end. We get so hung up on being instructed and the time it takes to get there. Often, our examination into what yoga is yields merely physical practices, instruction and benefits we all agree upon over an experience of inner work and inner guidance — having to do with the mind. 

The classical paths of yoga all lead us to and thru the mind. Reducing this ruling energy of the senses to become one, yoked, or bound to consciousness is the actual yoga part. In a sense, we cannot do yoga but we can practice techniques of yoga that lead us to a state (which we call yoga). Being a state, like nirvanna or enlightenment, yoga is something we arrive at. Here is where the topic of certification or credentialing comes into play. 

How many people do you know that have been given permission to teach because they are in a state of yoga (samadhi)… or can reach those states? How many certified?

I would argue that even those in said states do not follow something that is accredited as the programs that hold these certifications are guided by methods in which they feel would make one a good yoga teacher, not necessarily a good yoga practitioner. To me, and for me, that was the point of taking the practice of yoga. When I met my guru, it did not feel like there was a choice, it was like moth to flame or a lighthouse that I steered toward. 

I like the second analogy better — I had to do the steering, feel the experiences, do the practices. He was being the lighthouse. I wasn’t even trying to be a lighthouse, I was trying to understand how that steadiness was unwavering, receptive and self-contained. Those characteristics stood out to me, made me want to be better. It is favorable, at this moment of time, to not look favorably on gurus. Part of this seems to be the built up figurehead of the guru, possibly appropriated and glorified by western practitioners. In that power handover, a lot has occurred — yoga from a behind the scenes spirituality to a major force, driving it’s own economy.  However, I have a strong affiliation with teacher-studentship as this was the traditional path of transmission of the material and it has worked for me as teacher and student. 

This process has worked not only in a modern sense — delivering a lecture at training program — but in a traditional sense such as seeing a student become a teacher, a leader, a lighthouse!  

I believe that certification is good for studios, mainly providing them with an instructor and potential curriculum, or techniques and education that may be associated with the program attended by the hired yoga teacher. 

At present, anyone can teach yoga. Start a channel, perform postures, talk about your practices and offer zoom classes. Done. 

Though I favor traditional frameworks, certification can entail a deep experiential dive — modeled after the initiation process — though it certainly serves often as a means of income for a studio. This is not to say that all passion and purpose is washed out with the idea of payment and profit. 

I find that success, failures, time studying, experience gained, plateaus, false samadhi, and thriving are parts of study, gaining knowledge within and come out on becoming an educator. And all educators — making a distinction between educator and instructor — expand their knowledge in the process of educating, giving everything as they were given. That process mostly happens in a dedicated environment. Certification May or may not be a byproduct. 

“…the goals of a particular system determine the way the body is imagined and used within its yoga practices.”

- Roots of Yoga, James Mallinson & Mark Singleton

Next up, Credentialing.