Yoga and Yogic Science: Career opportunities and Scope

To have a sound mind, one needs to have a sound body. Fitness is term that has been stagnating on our Google searches and to do lists. In this busy era, we can't find the time to invest in ourselves.

With a nine to six working hours shift and excessive work load, we refuse the plans that we ourselves made. We may read tons of articles and follow innumerable social media accounts about being fit, but hardly few people can discipline themselves to follow these plans.

To tackle such a problem we have an ancient form of fitness making a return.

Yoga and Yogic Science: Career opportunities and Scope

Yoga is a collection of spiritual, physical and mental practices that has it origins in ancient India, speculated to have arose during the pre-vedic period. In the 1980's it emerged as a means of physical exercise in the west, but continues to remain as a meditative and spiritual practice in the east.

A lot of young aspirants of this traditional art have been taking up courses to know more, practice it and share the art of keeping oneself content.

Yoga as a practice

Amateur practitioners and aspirants can find out the various means to practice yoga through the availability of the information through the Internet or by word of mouth.

There are various yogis, professional practitioners of yoga who have centers and courses that cover various aspects of the practice.

The main focus of yoga is to maintain physical fitness, through which a balance of mind and soul is tried to be obtained. But more than just knowing Asanas and few trivia about Yoga, there is much more to the practice of Yoga. The benefits of yoga are numerous.

Yoga helps in making the body more flexible and build strength in the muscles. It increases concentration and control over ones emotions.

Yogic Sciences

Yogic sciences help in the understanding of how the practice of Yoga will help in providing a stable health. In the ancient schools of learning, Yogic Sciences were given utmost importance. As times changed, the focus on such a subject changed and there were fewer universities and colleges providing courses that had yoga as their prime focus.

Yogic sciences helped in spreading awareness in terms of yoga therapy and helping people understand the potentials of it. There is much research that is done in this area and studies how found that proper practice of Yoga can help in the dealing with the symptoms of cancer, heart diseases, and schizophrenia. Though these studies are only theories and much more research is needed in all the areas.

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How to become a Yogi

To become a professional in Yoga, one needs to simply have the interest to start with. To make it a profession, there are no requirements as such, but many universities require a basic high school degree in any stream.

There are various diplomas available, wherein the aspirant would be introduced to the practice of Yoga. Several institutes also provide Bachelor course, which is titled as B.Sc in Yoga and M.Sc in Yoga, the post graduate degree.

These courses, are focused on Yoga primarily but will have specializations like Yoga therapy, rehabilitation, philosophy, and consciousness. If one aspires to continue their studies in the area of research and want to understand and gain more knowledge they can take up a postdoctoral degree in Yoga.

Career Opportunities as a Yoga Instructor

To become a Yoga instructor, one must continue to practice lifelong. To pass on knowledge to another follower, one must have enough knowledge.

Some career opportunities in instruction can be focused on children, pregnant women, and the senior citizens. There are therapeutic sessions that are conducted for people who have anxiety, depression, asthma-related health conditions.

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Certification and credibility

The practice of yoga is an ancient one. With such a tag to the career option, there are many who fake their knowledge just to make money. This is of a major concern for all the actual yogic practitioners and teachers as well as aspiring yoga professionals who find it difficult to be known and be credible.

The government of India has thus carried out steps to certify yoga teachers in an effort to admonish doubtful yoga institutes and yoga teachers without any credibility. The government launched the "Scheme for Voluntary Certification of Yoga Professionals" which is under the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH).

The Quality Council of India (QCI) which is responsible for accrediting various sectors, has developed a scheme which will certify all yoga professionals who have a desire to spread the knowledge of yoga.

If an aspirant requires certification, they can apply to QCI (offline or online), and pay a fee of Rs.6,000 and get examined at a chosen center.

The examination will include a written test, a practical demonstration, and an interview. 70% for this test and interview is a must to be qualified for certification. The certificate has a validity period of three years, following which one must re-apply.

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Remuneration in Yoga

In India, according to Payscale, a yoga instructor will be getting an average of Rs. 3,30,000 per year in the initial stand. The pay depends on the location and the number of people who are getting trained under the yoga instructor.
According to the 2015 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary for a yoga instructor in the USA is $36,160.