Become a yogapreneur

Ahead of International Yoga Day, yoga experts talk about how yogapreneur has grown by leaps and bounds. Monika Thakur reports

With the growing awareness of the benefits of yoga and  events like International World Yoga Day celebrated every year on June 21 worldwide, the demand for yoga experts have increased to about five lakhs in India, as per ASSOCHAM report. Many fitness enthusiast are now taking up yoga as career and starting their own entrepreneural venture by teaching yoga in their institute, or providing special classes in schools, colleges, resorts, fitness centres and even special classes at home.

Not just in India, the craze for yoga in other countries has made many certified yoga experts start their training centres in other countries as well. As per the report, an estimated 3,000 Indian yoga teachers are teaching in China and most of are from Haridwar and Rishikesh.

“Yog that was invented about 5,000 years ago isn’t just an ancient practice anymore. It has gained huge popularity in India and abroad. There is much more to yoga than what people think. Career in Yoga is setting standards and we have so many students who are making a decent earning out of yoga as their career,” Taiyab Alam, communication and documentation officer, Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga, Delhi, says.

lucrative career choice

Besides health benefits, yoga also offers various fascinating and upbeat career options. A career in this field gives you the freedom to:

Choose self- employment as an option to work

After completing your schooling, there are several institutes that provide certificate degree as well as diploma courses to the students who are looking for a career in yoga. These degree courses will help you gather enough knowledge and the relevant skills to be able to train individuals as a yoga instructor and to earn on your own, independently.

Travel around the world as a yoga teacher

Yoga has managed to gain a lot of popularity all over the globe. Pursuing yoga as a career lets you travel across the world with yoga as a full time career option. You can find work in resorts, gyms, schools, health centres, housing societies and large organisations. Television channels also hire yoga trainers, and renowned personalities prefer to hire personal yoga instructors.

“We train individuals in different courses according to their interests and the ability to stretch the limits. A lot of professionals trained from MDNIY work with various Government and Ministry departments. They do what they love and have a reputable job that serves their purpose. A lot of students who study yoga as a major get to travel to a lot of countries, as part of their job,” Alam tells you.

A lot of people are leaving their nine-to-five job and taking up yoga on a full-time basis. Debby, a yogapreneur hailing from Mangalore who travels teaching yoga to other countries says: “I needed a change in lifestyle and life in general. So after my first teacher’s training, it helped me understand myself and things around me a lot more and better. I also wanted to travel and not be stuck in corporate world or Government job.”

Prospect

People aspiring for a career in yoga can choose any profession as per their needs. Here are some of the jobs profiles that one can consider:

• Research officer—Yoga and Naturopathy
• Yoga aerobics instructor
• Assistant ayurvedic doctor
• Yoga therapist
• Yoga instructor
• Yoga teacher

Challenges

Yoga as a career has been serving a lot professionals’ purpose helping them increase their horizon, but there are still some limitations on the way to pursuing a full- time career in Yoga.

• As a yoga teacher, you might get lesser or no time to practice for yourself. It is really funny when an instructor doesn’t get to practice what he  delivers to the students.

Managing time as per your convenience and being able to practice yoga for yourself as an instructor can be difficult, but with practice, it can get easier.

• The field is over- saturated. Even though there are enough people who have started working as professionals in this field before you and there are a lot of people who are following your footsteps, might demotivate you. If you make sure that you have the required specific job-skills, no obstacle along the way can ever stop you from rising in your career.
• Some people start working as professionals without gaining enough knowledge and impart incomplete or false education to others. “A driver, who is confident about his ability to drive in plain areas, would not surely feel the same way if he had to drive in mountain areas. Similarly, every individual who knows a lot about yoga might lack the skills of a great yoga teacher. It is very important for people to understand that yoga is deeper than it looks, studying yoga needs an individual’s time, attention and dedication,” lalit Madan, yog guru, MDNIY, says.

Courses

Fitness institutes, yoga ashrams, and independent certified yoga therapist, offer varied courses from short-term introductory diploma courses to long-term graduate programmes. The student who seeks admission in such yoga institutes needs to be Class X pass for diploma courses, Class XII pass for graduate courses and a graduate/PG for PhD programme. Some of the yoga institutes are:

• RamamaniIyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, Pune
• Bihar school of Yoga, Munger
• Yoga Institute, Mumbai
• Ashthanga institute, Mysore
• Paramarth Niketan, Rishikesh
• Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram, Chennai
• Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Dhanwantari, Kerala
• Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga, New Delhi

Pay Scale

A yoga instructor earns an average salary of Rs 3,30,000 and above per year in India. This amount can vary if one is working in a different country and the demand of yoga instructors.