Yoga’s Evolution and Australia’s Response
In the ancient tales of India, Kali drinks the blood of the demon Raktabija to end his endless proliferation – each drop of his spilled blood spawning countless new copies. The metaphor speaks directly to yoga’s 20 year transformation: commodification multiplied exponentially with each compromise, each shortcut, each dilution of authentic practice. In this article Josh opines on the state of yoga and the contribution Yoga Australia makes to yoga as an industry and a living tradition.
At some point, Kali would have to step in. Classes grew shorter and shorter, more physical and less spiritual, until the very essence of the practice was lost. This strikes at the heart of yoga’s dual meaning – the word “yoga” refers both to a state of being (expanded awareness beyond the physical form, made possible by perceiving opposites as equal, samadarśin) and also to the vast corpus of Indian practices designed to achieve that state. When classes become so thin, they no longer serve their purpose and begin reinforcing the very opposite: a state of duality, fragmentation, and short-term thinking that yoga was meant to resolve.
We reached the tipping point where classes were creating diminishing returns, even counter-productive outcomes. This needn’t be seen as a permanent challenge but as part of the usual cycle, like the sacred vibration aum itself: creation, sustenance, dissolution, and renewal. Yoga Australia finds itself poised to help build anew from this cleared ground.
Sacred to Saturated
In the 20th century, following Swami Vivekananda’s groundbreaking journey to America, the seeds of yoga’s global expansion were planted. The education and international mobility of Indians traveling to British universities (luminaries like Sri Aurobindo among them) created bridges between Eastern wisdom and Western minds. Later, as air travel became affordable, a new phenomenon emerged: earnest Westerners began seeking out teachers in India, spending long periods studying with masters like K. Pattabhi Jois and B.K.S. Iyengar.
These early Western students were deeply committed, often staying for months or years, learning the philosophical foundations, lifestyle, devotional aspects, and physical techniques that make yoga a complete system. They understood they were receiving something precious and rare, and it was treated with corresponding reverence.
What followed was predictable: popularity bred commercialisation and shortcuts. Each generation of teachers, further removed from the source, naturally adapted the teachings for their own context and practical constraints. The profound became palatable, the challenging became comfortable, the transformative became therapeutic.
These early Western students were deeply committed, often staying for months or years, learning not just the physical practices but the philosophical foundations, the lifestyle, the devotional aspects that made yoga a complete system.
In the 2010s, a wisened eye could probably see the signs of a bubble growing, just like any real estate bubble. But rather than high rise constructions, it was Teacher Training Courses springing up, offering fewer hours of training while prices kept increasing. What had been a very special offering for yoga studios in the 2000s gradually became part of the standard business model. Lack of focus predominated, along with other telltale signs of commerce without principle.
Covid became the trigger for the bubble’s inevitable burst, but the underlying conditions were already in place. This wasn’t malicious, it was simply the natural trajectory of any profound teaching as it moves through a corporate culture. The cycle had to complete itself.
Market Saturation Meets Public Confusion
The years following Covid revealed a disoriented public making up for lost time, travelling and socialising, and many yoga teachers found new work or returned to former careers. Studios faced uncomfortable rent situations as live online streaming found a niche for those who preferred to stay home.
This disarray created a peculiar landscape. Teachers who entered the profession late in its popularisation didn’t always have the same opportunities to benefit from the passionate local teachers of earlier decades. Many entered the market underprepared.
Perhaps this too is simply part of the cycle. Pilates has its own surge every decade, which we’ve witnessed over the past two years.
This bolsters my central point: it’s time for yoga to be prominent once more. In the 2000s, people lined up outside studios hoping for spots to open up. Teachers still working today tell amazing stories of those times, yet currently their classes are just moderately occupied. Yoga is peak experience.
The clearing has happened. The ground is prepared.
Australia’s Prescient Response
Over 25 years ago, as yoga in this country was beginning its upward surge, leading teachers from established lineages saw the need to combine their efforts for professional recognition and local matters. Yoga Australia was born to support lineages and bring individuals together. More recently, with many newer teachers having no lineage at all, Yoga Australia has stepped up and provides philosophical education, skills development, and mentoring pathways to fill the gaps.
The four-level progression system demonstrates remarkable foresight in addressing exactly the issues we face today. Starting with Provisional Teacher (200 hours training, 6+ months personal practice), the system progresses through Registered Level 1 (350 hours, 2+ years practice), Registered Level 2 (500 hours, 7+ years practice, 5 years teaching), culminating in Registered Level 3 Senior Teacher (1000 hours training, 12+ years practice, 10 years teaching).
The system recognises that mastery requires time for integration, maturation, and depth of understanding. A Level 3 teacher has not only completed substantial training but has lived with the practice for over a decade and taught for ten years.
Crucially, the system includes Recognition of Prior Learning, allowing individuals to make a case for joining at the appropriate level. This honours teachers who may have trained in traditional settings or older systems where formal certification wasn’t standard practice. The subjective assessment process most often helps older Indian teachers who possess no certificates. It also provides a path for people with memberships from other associations and different countries. This flexibility ensures that authentic knowledge and experience are recognised regardless of their formal documentation, while maintaining the integrity of professional standards.
The integrity lies in preserving yoga’s essence while ensuring competency. Our system marries closely with Australia’s tertiary education framework, which is competency-based. You can have it all: be trained in the depths of the jungle and still be utterly employable in a Western context.
Real-World Validation
A series of wonderful validations have occurred recently where the Australian government has decided the evidence supporting yoga as a health treatment has been reassessed, and yoga has been reinstated in our national system. Thus private health insurers are now preparing parameters for including yoga as a clinical treatment alongside physiotherapy and similar modalities. Yoga Australia, as the preeminent association with the highest volume of yoga teachers, consults closely with the insurers.
This external recognition validates that a professional and contemporary approach rooted in ancient traditions doesn’t need to be difficult. In fact, yoga makes everything easier in life, doesn’t it?
The insurers’ confidence in Yoga Australia’s registration system highlights that our framework successfully bridges traditional wisdom with modern healthcare standards. While other wellness practices struggle for legitimacy, our sophisticated credentialing has earned recognition from institutions that demand evidence-based approaches.
Voices from the Field
The impact of our approach resonates, and members share their experience from time to time:
On our embrace of experts from beyond the West, “I found it offensive when certain other associations refused to entertain my credentials, essentially forcing me to buy one of their training packages. I’ve spent years with teachers in India but don’t have many ‘teacher training certificates’ to show for it. Having respect for the gurukul/paramparā system is reverential and appreciated.”
Starting as a Provisional Teacher gives people crucial confidence in the early years, “I know I have so much to learn. It’s been great taking advantage of CPD courses and it feels like I have a roadmap for my career. I feel like my students can tell that I’m committed.”
These days the industry is well aware of yoga’s commercialisation, but it can seem like there are no other options. A studio owner told us, “it has always been unpleasant when I inevitably end up paying an American company to rubber stamp my courses. Somehow Yoga Australia emerged from Covid stronger than before, and we have an authentic option that is respected overseas.”
The Path Forward
The opportunity before us is clear. Yoga Australia’s 25-year commitment to bridging ancient wisdom with contemporary standards offers a real solution for the years ahead.
Yoga Australia has an unwavering commitment to protect and strengthen the practice of yoga. We achieve this through registration of teachers, provision of continuing education and career upskilling, a cutting-edge TTC curriculum, fair assessment and certification of courses, and advocacy for teachers around scope and conditions.
The world is shaped by individual choices. When teachers choose membership with Yoga Australia, they advance their own credentials and theyparticipate in the elevation of authentic yoga. Participants benefit from clear guidance about qualifications, studios gain credibility with insurance providers, and the practice itself regains integrity through advocacy that reaches beyond the mundane.
The bubble has burst, the ground is cleared, and Australia stands uniquely positioned to lead yoga’s renaissance. The cycle is complete. The demons have been destroyed. Now comes the renewal, and it begins with each teacher’s choice to align with the organisation that truly represents their professional interests.
Join the movement toward integrity. Join Yoga Australia.
Become a Registered Teacher
Yoga Australia is the peak body for yoga teachers and yoga therapists in Australia, bringing together all styles and lineages by defining the national curriculum and professional standards, along with providing continuing education, technical support, advocacy, insurance, and public recognition.
We are an Australian not-for-profit with dedicated staff and volunteers across the country. We are available for support via phone or email.
