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| Yoga Class at a Gym (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Options for learning yoga at home were pretty scarce way back when I first started. There were a few videos and books available, but nothing that could really teach you step by step what it was all about. The internet was still a long way away...
I learned much of what I know about yoga from the source... India. I spent years travelling that magical place, and had several great experiences along the way. But even after spending month after month in traditional Yogashrams, a real profound sense of what yoga was all about still seemed to elude me somehow.
But then I came across Swami Gitananda's "Yoga Step by Step," and everything changed. I had never seen a yoga book like it before, and I still have yet to see anything like it again today. Actually, it's not just a book. It's a real comprehensive correspondence course that changed my way of looking at yoga instruction forever.
In fact, it changed my life!
It showed me how much I was missing in yoga, and it also showed me how well it could be taught via photos, diagrams and the written word. Now with the video capabilities of the internet, it can be done even better!
Years later, as a yoga teacher, I'm now capable of sharing that experience. Over the past few years, I've gotten a good reputation as the author of some well respected online training programs, and I have Swamiji, my guru, to thank for that.
I still teach yoga classes because I believe there is much to be gained from them. But my experience has shown me how limiting they can be. It's difficult to provide much depth of instruction in the modern yoga class setting, and difficult to teach students how to safely and confidently practice at home.
The Internet has opened up a whole new realm of possibilities.
There are tens of thousands of yogic websites online already, but for the most part, most teachers who created them are still stuck in their yoga classes... yet to realize the great teaching potential of this global medium.
Teaching people how to practice yoga at home, from home, is the way of the future. If only just a few teachers start to realize how to use the internet to effectively share their teachings and get more people off the couch and doing yoga at home, then that future looks enlightened indeed.
Yogacharya Michael is the Founder of International Yogalayam http://www.discover-yoga-online.com and creator of The Yoga Tutor, a step-by-step online yoga training website. For your FREE TRIAL of The Yoga Tutor, visit http://www.theyogatutor.com
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