‘When you are born a lotus flower be a lotus flow and don’t try to be a magnolia flower.’

 

True happiness and true power lie in understanding yourself and having the confidence to live that way without craving recognition and trying to adapt to please others.

 

Yoga Bananas has never fitted well into the corporate mould. It was born at a time before the arrival of self-appointed bodies scrambling to own the rights to govern yoga and those who teach it. Yoga Bananas resisted joining but eventually had to to survive despite observing that quality yoga teaching and training was not at the heart of their mission. However, fifteen years on our company has decided to relinquish these badges and mantles. We know our value. We have also seen substantial rising costs to trainers where only those who are willing to invest 3 figure sums are given a platform.

 

Over the years we have been endorsed by the Independent Yoga Network, a network of independent Yoga teachers and Teacher Training Schools dedicated to the preservation of the spirit and practice of Yoga as a deep and genuine inner enquiry.  Even though the IYN originally came together to resist the many forces threatening to undermine the spirit and diversity of Yoga, they have grown into a multifaceted resource for the Yoga community at large. You need to have completed a minimum 200 hour yoga course to join.  We have been a Continuing Educational trainer for the Yoga Alliance US, to benefit international students, 28 contact Continuing Educational Units and a minimum of 12 non-contact Continual Educational Units can be added to your profile if you are a current member of this organisation. You need to have completed a minimum 200 hour yoga course to join. Yoga Bananas is a member of the Yoga Alliance Professionals and 28 contact Vocational Training hours and a minimum of 12 non-contact Vocational Training hours can be added to your profile if you are a member of this organisation. 

A Note on Yoga Teacher Training Accreditation:

Yoga Bananas has been training teachers in children's yoga years before the registration bodies existed with the exception of the British Wheel of Yoga. Over the past 12 years there has developed a political climate between the various registration bodies (these are not governing bodies) as they struggle for dominance and monopoly over teachers and training courses. For a time, some of the organisations excluded membership to graduates who had been trained by a school that had not registered their teacher training with them but had chosen to register with another organisation. This would suggest that the ability of the student and trainer is not their sole focus. Added to this, some of the registration organisations have changed their criteria for membership a number of times, often to attract more members and improve financial gain, but also because they have had difficulty setting the criteria. 

 

At Yoga Bananas we are aware that it is a minefield for anyone looking to train in yoga and it will be those registration bodies who have the biggest exposure and membership who lead many to believe that their organisation is the governing authority - whereas there is no governing authority and never truly can be because yoga is a vast wondrous journey of realisation.

 

It is understandable that people looking to train require some reassurance, as in any industry there are some training courses that are better than others and although there is no requirement for graduating students to join any registration body after they have trained, the subscription badges offered by the registration bodies to the yoga teacher training companies to display on their websites may go some way to offering that reassurance.

 

However, the badges are not a sign of pedigree, but a sign that the training company has successfully managed to match their syllabus to a set of subjective rules and timings. A training company should be judged on its intellectual and practical content and on how much of the training material is authored by the trainer as they will have genuine enthusiasm to portray their ideas to their audience, on how closely it adheres to the ethos and morals of yoga, on its relevance to its audience, on the experience and ability of the trainer who should be fully qualified to impart knowledge and on the trainer's provenance in their field. A yoga registration body should be judged on whether they have a genuine care for the future of yoga, i.e. protecting it as a spiritual practice, and on whether they are motivated by these core values over and above profit and status. 

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