The IYTA’s Diploma of Yoga Teaching course has been running for more than 50 years but 2020 has been a year of first for the non-profit organisation
By Katie Brown
It’s the first year of running the 460-hour course during a global pandemic.
The highest number of male students (there are five enrolled in this year’s course compared with 21 female students).
And the first year there has been a combination of online lectures, live streaming and face-to-face lectures – in each study weekend!
But yoga is known for being flexible and the IYTA Diploma Yoga Course has been adapting its year-long course to ensure the students have the best possible learning within government restrictions – and its worked!
One of the current students is Brjinder Sandhu he says: “ I felt the course came into my lie at the perfect time. I was very impressed at how quickly the IYTA transitioned from face-to-face to online Zoom classes during the lockdown.
“I know other courses were cancelled, but thankfully the IYTA continued. It could easily have felt like a waste of a year, but instead I have been gaining this useful tool that has helped me cope with anxiety and stress, has supported me emotionally and psychologically – all while keeping me in good shape!”
Plus once Brij graduates early next year he’ll be an internationally qualified yoga teacher.
Brij – started off his career in the corporate sphere – working in travel marketing. But seven years ago he quit the rat race and qualified as a massage therapist. Now he’s planning to combine yoga teaching with his massage business in Sydney’s North Shore.
Before embarking on the Diploma, Brij did a lot of research to choose the best yoga teaching course. He was particularly keen to learn from a variety of different lecturers and not be tied to one particular yoga lineage. The IYTA has an expert panel of 22 lecturers – teaching on all aspects of yoga from asanas, to philosophy to anatomy and energy systems and pranayama.
Brij says: “I wanted to learn how to be a teacher, rather than draw from one point of view.”
He was also impressed with the IYTA’s long standing global reputation and how well respected it was within the industry.
Brij had enrolled in the IYTA’s Yoga Foundations course – a 70 hour online course and knowing how professional and thorough that course was gave him the confidence to take the next step and embark on the full teaching diploma.
Brij says the IYTA course has also helped him to be more grounded. He says: “I would recommend this course to anyone who wants a better understanding of yoga and of themselves!” He adds that you don’t have to teach at the end of it – but you will end up becoming your own teacher!
Brij says it is great to have a mix of other men on the course – but that everyone has come from all different walks of life. And he adds that the guys doing the course are probably already on their own path of self discovery.
The irony isn’t lost on Brij who was born and grew up in India, is qualifying as a yoga teacher while living in Sydney! He says during his 20s in India he did study yoga but has found the IYTA’s approach is more open.
He believes there is more freedom to explore self expression. “In India they want you to say things in a certain way – you are constricted in the way you can teach. But that wasn’t my personality. I need to come from a place where I can infer from multiple sources and grow Into the kind of yoga teacher I want to be while still having a strong focus on safety.”
Get $1,450 off the course by taking advantage of the Earlybird deal – valid until December 18, 2020.
The IYTA is also running a series of free Open Days and Live Zoom events – to find out more or register your interest, please email us
