I was going to write a piece on Yoga schools battles. if you are practicing happily, you probably can’t care less about who does what and the difference between
BKS Iyengar, founder of Iyengar school
Iyengar,
K. Pattabhi Jois, founder of Astanga Yoga
Astanga,
Swami Satyananda, founder of Bihar School
Bihar
Bikram Choudhoury, founder of Bikram Yoga
Bikram
But if you are in the ” industry” and teaching Yoga, you might want to read the well researched “Yoga battles“, published last June in the Indian Calcutta Telegraph.
Inspiring Yoga teacher Wendy Teasdill once told me: “Don’t worry about school battles and do your practice.” I often think of her and practice as well as I can.
In the UK , a lot of teachers go through the British Wheel of Yoga to qualify. Now if you go to American Yoga Alliance website (they have recently opened a UK branch), you read:
Quote 1 “…The BWY are NOT the governing body and you do not require to do their training courses to teach yoga. There is no official governing body for yoga in the UK.
Quote 2 “…There is no governing body for yoga in the UK. Yoga Alliance UK has been established to promote and encourage high standards of teaching. Joining is on a voluntary basis, and we do not claim (or want) to be a governing or regulating body.”
My qualifications being certified by Yoga Alliance, I therefore stick to it and do my practice as well I can.
What is the difference between Yoga and Gymnastics?
In a gym class, you might be told to turn your foot to the left ten times as fast as you can. In a Yoga class you’ll be told to breathe through the movement, to become aware of your foot, its bones, muscles and ligaments. You’ll be asked to become aware of the stretch of your toes, of the alignment of the foot with the ankle, and you will be encouraged to stop as soon as it becomes strictly painful.