Home Study Certification Courses? Aura Wellness Center, etc

Exactly … without the inspiration of my teacher I would not have found the path to yoga. That is why I said - although making an online-course - you should go on retreats, workshops and attend nearby yoga classes (may be you do not fancy that yoga in particular but you always learn something and get out something).
Most of the people here have an economic problem I think and that is why they take the decision, or it is simply difficult to find a teacher training nearby.
However, I think whatever we say here in defense we will never be right but criticized. Such a shame as we all love the same thing (I am repeating myself).
The clue is not to make an online course and stay there - but to move on and get as much “touchable” experience as possible. That is what Aura recommends by the way.
Namast? BloomingLotusYoga and as you said, it is beautiful to be inspired by a yoga teacher; but I have found some uninspiring ones on my way as well and can only draw my conclusion out of it and make it better :slight_smile:
Om Shanti & Love to you all out there <3

[QUOTE=David;54732]Can you please also link me to a series of DVDs so I can learn to be a doctor from home?

If Aura Wellness is offering home-based yoga certification, I will state that, in my opinion, Aura Wellness either has no idea what yoga might be, is run by shady people after little more than a quick buck, or both.

The art, wisdom, and knowledge of a TRUE yoga teacher cannot be learned from home via some DVDs or online courses in 300 odd hours. It’s absolutely absurd and shameless.

Make no mistake, if you learned to be a yoga teacher via a home course and spent 200-500 hours on it, you are [B]NOT[/B] a yoga teacher and I hope your ass gets sued to hell and back when you start hurting people. And I’ll be the first expert witness in line to testify against you.

It’s time for us to start building a real foundation for yoga in the west. Home based courses do nothing more than crumble what is already a foundation made of balsa wood. Wake up and take some personal responsibility people. Go earn yourself some ethics.

edit Good god.[/QUOTE]

Arguing home study is like learning to be doctor using DVD is as bad as modern certified Yoga teachers, who do not live the yogic life, claiming to be yoga exponents.

If I can be to allowed throw away the Yama [moral codes, Niyama [self-purification and study], Pratyahara [sense control], Dharana [concentration], Dhyana [meditation] and Samadhi [absorption into the Universal] and just master only the two broken limbs, Asana [posture] and Pranayama [breath control] in a commercial yoga institute, personally trained through a RYT 200/500 certified trainer, do you think it is better than self-learning?

Yoga was about a century back learned and perfected by Gurukul practice. If that has become a mockery, it is time to accept that in-person training through commercial institute is also a mockery.

Take it easy David. If Yoga is just Asanas and Pranayama, you don’t need a personal trainer. If it is a way of life, it is [B]PREFERABLE[/B] to have a real Guru to live with and learn.

Just jumping high and above and bending back and forth and holding breath can be performed even by kids in high school gyms.

In other words, let us discuss from the bottom of our heart, how many institutes run BY RYT 200/500 certified trainers have real trainers who live and follow eight limbs of Yoga. [B]MOST OF THE OCCASIONS[/B], Yoga institutes focus more on being a socializing clubs for singles and forced singles.

If I am a true yogi at least by mind, I will avoid socializing too much through a routine yoga schedule to avoid sense dissipation and thus will truly enhance the practice of Pratyahara.

It is just [B]perception VS commercialization[/B], whichever is convenient I may speak and advocate for.

I agree with you 100% Sahasrara. Most of the “commercial yoga institutes” are not producing yoga teachers either. That doesn’t excuse “Yoga in a box”. Neither are producing yoga teachers.

I find all of your comments very informative. I do not have experience teaching yoga (only practice) but do have 20+ yrs teaching young children and adults who inspire to be educators themselves at undergrad and graduate levels. I’ve been both an instructor and a student in traditional, online, and hybrid classes. There are good and bad teachers in any subject; some who come with very high credentials. In an ideal world we’d all have time and money for face to face quality classes with good teachers but that is not so. After an extensive review of curricula from several yoga teacher training courses, I’ve decided to take correspondence ‘box’ courses which probably will take me 1-2 years to complete (requiring exams, papers, study, practicum, and videos of teaching. I’m fortunate to have yoga mentors where I live but no teacher training school. I consider this a start on the right path. Sometimes the hardest thing is to begin and given my circumstances am grateful to have options.

[QUOTE=BloomingLotusYoga;75278]You are just paying for a certificate…be mindful that the relationship with a real teacher is key…it is they who transmit the essence of yoga into a ripe student.[/QUOTE]

“The Real Guru” … Huh! One in a million in this Kaliyug.

Alas! average human life is only about eighty.

It is too short and sweet to not to keep experimenting on guru after guru for a real guru who transmits essence of yoga. You will be fed with lots of nonsense by pseudo gurus till your life time and at the age of eighty you will still be finding. Many accept pseudo-gurus in the street corner yoya-money minting shops as their real guru because of their shear ignorance, and they go about spreading the pseudo-ism.

I guess, the previous two posts are pointing to this. Why not self learn from a detailed set of videos and online support, instead of wasting time with pseudo gurus life long and becoming a pseudo guru.

I am a yoga student, I practice Bikram yoga daily sometimes even twice a day. I have young children and can not leave them for 9 weeks to follow a teacher training course. I have looked into aura wellness center and I think that they teach a very thorough program through the home based learning.
I agree that nothing replaces a live teacher, however, just because one may follow a TTC in person, will not make them a good nor a bad teacher. Being able to teach is a gift you have or don’t, it is not something you can learn to do.
I also think that any type of knowledge one acquires is fantastic, no matter where it comes from. And I also might add that a good yoga teacher is one who has a strong and focused practice. Those hours of practice are better than any course that one can take. Learning terms, definitions , history… Can be done through memorization , it is practice that will make one a great teacher.
I also believe that an important philosophy of yoga is not to be judgmental. I think as yogis our minds should be open and accepting .
Again, it will not be a certificate or an accreditation that will make one a good teacher.
Namaste

[QUOTE=Ekbella;77895]
I agree that nothing replaces a live teacher, however, just because one may follow a TTC in person, will not make them a good nor a bad teacher. Being able to teach is a gift you have or don’t, it is not something you can learn to do.
I also think that any type of knowledge one acquires is fantastic, no matter where it comes from. And I also might add that a good yoga teacher is one who has a strong and focused practice. Those hours of practice are better than any course that one can take. Learning terms, definitions , history… Can be done through memorization , it is practice that will make one a great teacher.
I also believe that an important philosophy of yoga is not to be judgmental. I think as yogis our minds should be open and accepting .
Again, it will not be a certificate or an accreditation that will make one a good teacher.
Namaste[/QUOTE]

Well said. You took the words right out of my mouth. I was surprised by some of the negative posts as I read through this thread. Some people seem to have a permanently embedded stick. I have practiced many forms of yoga over the past two years and I have never asked for any credentials, nor has it ever mattered to me. I always appreciate what the teacher is providing as I’d prefer to believe that they are doing the best they can. When I find myself practicing with new teachers, I find humbleness, patience and their desire to share their knowledge. Anyone with the desire to teach should not be hesitant to try a home based study. It’s all about what you put into it.

i too was surprised by the negative posts, especially coming from yogis!!! i thought it was all about not judging, and being accepting and open towards everything life has to offer.
I am starting an online course as i have kids and a husband who need me at home, I practice daily sometimes twice a day and i think i will be an awesome teacher mainly because i have a very open and accepting mind.
Namaste :slight_smile:

Yes, a yogi is someone who accepts all the BS the world has to offer and bends over and takes it when greedy people are putting money before the practice. I’m pretty sure that is sutra 2.1.

Om.

passes the tea

Om shanti shanti shanti.

In less sarcastic news, I notice that pretty much everyone who supports such material degradation of the practice of yoga is simply justifying their actions.

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!"
I’m not a yoga teacher. I’m well aware of that because I am honest with myself. I have a piece of paper saying I am one, but I am not. And neither are/will most of you. The problem is, you’re going to hurt a bunch of people first because the lineage of teachers has been broken. There is no longer the master who is ensuring that someone doesn’t teach until they are ready. Instead, we have yoga in a box.

Disgusting.

@David, you are an unhappy person and what you say and write is not yogic at all. I am sad about your judgement (don’t judge - this is yogic). How can a yogi be so angry and insulting? I have been on so many yoga events, workshops, yoga centers during this year and met so many yoga teachers who learned “from a person” - and so so many of them do not have the yoga spirit.
I will unsubscribe to this as I do not want to read so much hatred from someone who pretends to be a yogi spitting ugly words at others and judging them.
Namast? and I hope you will find your way in your life without that much anger and pain you are feeling- obviously.

Indeed I am angry. I am angry that other practitioners of yoga do nothing as the very foundation of yoga is crumbling. I am angry that “organic” farmers in my area are not actually organic. I am angry that I watched a video on YouTube today on, “Yoga for Crohn’s Disease” and the teacher obviously had no idea about the intricacies of Crohn’s disease and was only interested in marketing herself by getting ranked high in Google. I am angry that people no longer do what is right but put the dollar first.

Guilty as charged.

However, I am happy (full of joy). One can have emotions but deeper down be something else. That judgement (you know, that thing you speak so much against) is incorrect.

I always love how many practitioners of yoga attack others with, “You’re judging, that’s not yogic, what kind of yogi are you” type of statements. It’s hilarious.

only guru can teach you real yoga, everything else is worthless and false… learn yoga tru books, dvds , or making those fake fitness gym ‘yogas’ is just self-sabotage be aware !

Even starting from fake can lead you to the correct path, most people learn from experience and all people cant be blessed to ride the wave in first try.

your destiny is made by your choices… good luck

We are not the doer and our thoughts is not ours. So we might think it is we who make choices. Karma has a big role and planets affecting our bodies as well. Good luck to you as well my universal brother.

Aura do indeed have plenty of 5 star testimonials,but that’s because they only publish those ones !!! and I speak from experience,after amending one of my reviews truthfully it was not published,and another was totally disregarded. I have taken courses with them one which I completed and one which I didn’t feel I could work with them any longer ,on,and decided to cut my losses.
I do not have anything negative to say about dr.Paul personally,but their policies are very dubious. I was told by the manager that I was eligible to take a level 2 course just before I paid for it (same day), a year later I am told that because I hadn’t paid the recertification fee for the first course that I should never have even applied for the level 2 course …even though they had all my details,told me I was eligible by email and were glad to take my money and sign me up for the course!!!
I’m then told that they will make an exception for me to recertify, as I can’t finish the second course without doing this, as long as I pay the $195 fee!! I was initially grateful until I came to my senses!! This is not the kind of company I want to be associated with.
Also if anyone is thinking about taking the kids 240 hour course, they say that you can’t teach adults…so don’t waste your money when you can do the 200 hour course cheaper and teach all ages…it’s that kind of place,they want you to pay extra for everything.
I regret doing any courses with them and I have to say in agreement with some in this thread, online is not the way to go,you need face to face training to feel confident with teaching others.I have since done some onsite training,and learnt so much more in only a short space of time.
Namaste

I recently found this site https://zing.events/cat/acro/ that compiles events and certification classes.
Hope this helps in your journey

I would like to suggest you If you want to learn yoga from experts? Then I would suggest you visit Arhanta yoga who provides yoga classes online at an affordable price. Do check out our website and know more details

Hey @MindNinja allow me to share my experience on this topic,

  1. I completed my masters in yoga in 2015 from Vivekananda Yoga University and then for 2 years I focused on my research. It was an Online course. I don't think my learning was ever hindered because it was online. So I'd suggest you to go online because in this day and age, technology will only enhance the learning.

  2. Getting certified in Yoga is as important as any professional course. We trust a doctor's advice because we know that he/she is qualified to provide that advice. Similarly, if you as a yoga teacher, will advice your students to practice yoga that will affect them physically (good or bad), It would be better if had a proper learning of that field. And how do you prove your expertise? through a certificate from a recognized institution.

And trust me people are gonna choose a certified yoga trainer over an uncertified one.

There are many yoga courses online that will help you getting certified. I hope this answer helps you.

A yoga certificate course is a stepping stone for yoga seekers who wish to pursue a career in this field. world's best yoga training provider Institute kaivalyadhama
I'd recommend you to check out these courses by Kaivalyadhama.