‘India faces shortage of 3 lakh yoga teachers’

LUCKNOW: There is a shortage of nearly 3 lakh yoga instructors as against the requirement of over 5 lakh such people in the country today, says a report of the Assocham that has come at a time when the International Yoga Day (June 21) is round the corner.

With the kind of emphasis laid on practising the traditional Indian art to remain healthy these days, yoga is increasingly becoming ‘new currency for fitness’.

“The current demand for yoga gurus is about 5 lakh in India and this has also translated into greater enthusiasm to take up yoga as career,” adds the report.

The scope of yoga as a career is vast as one can get a job in resorts, schools and fitness centres.

One can even become personal yoga instructor of celebrities, reveals the report of the survey conducted by the ASSOCHAM Social Development Foundation (ASDF) in major metropolitan cities. Fitness institutes, yoga ashrams, and independent certified yoga therapists, offer a number of yoga courses. The footfall to these places has witnessed a marked increase. Majority of people are ready to shell out from Rs 5,000 month to Rs 25,000 month for yoga classes as they consider it an investment for their physical, mental and spiritual well being, reveals the Assocham paper.

As per the findings, there are different styles of yoga in India. Hatha, Iyengar, Ashtanga and Vinyasa are some of them and each requires separate training. Yoga teaching in schools, colleges or corporate instructors, work in hospitals, rehabilitation centres or in the preventive medicine department is becoming famous, adds the Assocham paper.

It also says that with the yoga gaining popularity around the globe, there’s a shortage of trained yoga instructors the world over.

“The popularity of yoga amongst celebrities makes teaching yoga a lucrative profession. Yoga teachers can charge any money for private classes depending upon their experience,” says the paper.

Today, yoga is an intrinsic part of lifestyle for people across the country and the growing number of yoga studios and personal yoga coaching classes are a testimony to it.

The demand for yoga teachers is at an all-time high in Southeast Asia and India has emerged as one of the biggest exporters of yoga teachers to Southeast Asia as well as China.

An estimated 3,000 Indian yoga teachers are teaching in China and most of them belong to Haridwar and Rishikesh—the two places said to be the yoga capital.