by Heinz Grill
Originally published in German on 10th August 2024
The most recent teacher training courses, lasting three years with 1200 teaching hours, have produced very good yoga teachers. The aim is not only that these trained individuals are able to lead a few exercises, but beyond this that they can respond soundly and accurately to questions concerning the development of the body, soul and spirit. In this sense, the vocation of yoga teaching is not a trivial affair that goes alongside the usual worldly professions. It is a profession in itself which, although it has no national recognition, can provide a comprehensive contribution to culture. Were a yoga teacher to offer merely a few nice gestures of relaxation and some alternative, meditative ecstasy, then the profession of yoga teacher would be no more than one of alternative entertainment. Particularly today, however, our hard, materialistic existence demands this kind of compensation, and yoga with the aim of high self-realisation with creative activity would seem completely alien. However, the training is offered in such a way as to provide a foundation of learning which leads to therapeutic skills and can give people a well-founded and productive orientation, particularly in the field of guiding and shaping their lives and with the numerous esoteric questions.
Particularly at a time in which many people are flooded with excessive emotional gestures of meditation and esoteric ideas, within which a well-founded philosophy is no longer to be found, seekers need a foundation for a good and true spirituality and they should not only familiarise themselves with paths involving physical exercises in their purely outer, energetic practice, but rather find their way into the depth of the soul-spiritual connections.
On the yoga teacher training course, both simpler and also more difficult exercises are learnt and studied comprehensively in their meaning. A few examples can be mentioned.
The asana
The yoga teacher must acquire a sound foundation in the art of healing. Although the profession of yoga teaching can neither replace a therapy nor be offered as a therapy, practitioners need a sound knowledge of a wide range of pathologies and must be able to assess when and in what form exercises are helpful.
For example, with the headstand they should know when it is dangerous for the neck and when not.
The breath
The usage and significance of various different breathing techniques, of free breath and fixed breathing, the therapeutic effects and development of the many different, finely tuned subtle-feelings, also form an important part of the training. Practitioners get to know many different breathing rhythms and in their exam they have to show how through the consciousness the breath can become freely available and can build up a heightened capacity for awareness. At the same time they must be able to assess esoteric breathing practices in their significance and also in the potential for concern.
Concentration, meditation and the study of texts
A significant part of the training is devoted to developing concentration and meditation. The contents of Raja Yoga are worked through in a very broad and profound way. Other texts that are studied include The Bhagavad Gītā and some texts from Christian spirituality.
The chakras
The seven chakras are part of the work of conscious growth and shaping and they are developed by means of a variety of literature, in particular “The Soul Dimension of Yoga”. Course participants notice, at the latest after half a year, how with the content of this book they can not only reach a better physical foundation, but how they even experience transformative soul and aesthetic processes. Participants radiate considerably more light and their overall appearance further develops into a beautiful, aesthetic picture.
Further subject areas
Alongside these main, technical and content-based topics, there are also lessons offering practical opportunities in nutrition as well as in artistic creativity, such as music. The singing of profound texts, mantras or classical Sanskrit songs takes on a form that calls upon the cosmic meaning of the musical element.
Study-content based on anthroposophical texts by Rudolf Steiner and suggested exercises to prepare for spiritual vision with super-sensory perceptions are also part of the course.
The reason the profession of yoga teacher is so important for the future is because it is able to offer people not only a theoretical orientation, but beyond this a great, practical variety of possibilities to further shape life. Self-education and a goal-oriented philosophical training, with the development of a great number of aesthetic exercises, can meet the needs of this professional foundation. For this reason, the yoga teacher training, as it is offered at the Sun Oasis, is not an ancillary matter but a comprehensive professional development programme, with a responsible character that gives form to the personality.
