Rachael, as an Aussie who has spent very little of your working life in Australia or the developed world, how did you come to learn yoga?

In 1999 I just walked into Newtown Community Hall looking to learn. There was a local class and I started attending regularly. Little did I know it was an ideal environment to build a solid foundation of yoga, pranayama and meditation practice that is still unfolding today. The one and a half hour classes opened space for a deep dive into structural alignment from my toes right to the top of my head. The teacher gave strong structural foundations so that we could transition to a flowing sequence with inversions and pranayama.

His instructions were always extensive and precise. It gave beginners like myself access and insights to a whole other level of what might be possible. I was transfixed to observe my teacher in incredible lotus position head stands and some kriyas I have never observed by anyone else since. I feel very lucky and grateful – I didn’t realise I was learning from one of best yoga teachers in the country. Thank you, Simon Borg Olivier.

You’ve selected some of the most emotionally challenging work I can imagine. Did you see the same kinds of stories playing out in different countries?

The organisations I worked for address inequality and injustice in communities around the world, through partnership with local organisations and local communities. The practical impact of this work has left a profound mark on me.

I have witnessed with my own eyes the personal devastation of conflict and post-conflict events happening around the world. Syrians with haunting eyes as they sought safety for their families in Jordan – fleeing war and conflict. Communities in Laos growing food and cash crops in fields still surrounded with land mines. Vietnamese young people living with disability from agent orange, just trying to access dignity.

I travelled to remote and hard to access communities and listened to people’s stories. Travelling into restricted parts of Myanmar to meet with the Rohingya people, a few years prior the Army’s mass killing of civilians; to the West Bank to meet with Palestinians farmers as they navigated checkpoints to take their produce to market, often spoiling on the way while waiting in the hot sun.

I listened to women and men talk about what happened to them and have been an attuned and present witness to see how communities try to come back together to rebuild their lives. Tamil families returning to their homes after decades of civil conflict in Sri Lanka, houses covered with bullet holes, tall trees growing through the roof, land cordoned off by UXO land mine tape.

I have seen people’s courage, dignity, strength, and grit. Women in PNG and the Solomon Islands working in local organisations to support other women surviving against systemic gender-based violence. Women and men in Afghanistan determined to access education for their girls.

I observed the critical importance of collective efforts of people coming together to support one another to address the multitude of systemic barriers so many communities face. The strength of Pacific Island communities advocating locally and globally to tackle the climate crisis and protect their ancestral lands from sea level rise.

No matter where I have been, I am always humbled by our ability to connect across language, culture, and life circumstances to look into each other’s eyes, to see our mutual humanity. Visiting all of these communities I realised we all share the same concerns – safety and opportunities for our families; dignity of decent work; future plans and dreams; and our connections to each other.

No matter what insurmountable odds communities have faced, there was always hospitality, an offering and an invitation, an expression of culture through food, drink, and story. And in some beautiful cases, music and dance. It was a reclamation of humanity, a remembering of what it means to be alive and with each other.

These days, yoga is often presented superficially as physical exercise, and on the other extreme it can be expressed so philosophically that it seems like an aloof luxury afforded to those with comfortable lives. How has yoga practically interacted with your journey?

I would describe it as foundational for my personal health and wellbeing and a critical pathway into a state of regulation for my nervous system.

I have come to realise over the decades of on/off practice, that my yoga and meditation practices were access points to metabolise and transmute my feelings. Emotions I might still be carrying once I returned home from long-haul work visits could be processed by coming back to my body, coming back to my breath, grounding into the present moment, tuning into internal sensations, and fine-grained awareness of what was going on inside.

By moving, stretching, focusing, and breathing long slow inhales and exhales, I was releasing any contraction or tension being held. With deepening awareness of what was arising, I found a level of spaciousness and calm. It became a source of nourishment and connection.

In daily evening meditation I accessed deep witness consciousness capacity (thank you Sally Kempton). From the practice of holding a steady and relaxed gaze and an even, steady breath while going into deep stretches, I was widening my window of tolerance and expanding my capacity for what I could manage. From that place, I could keep going.

Having yoga as a practice to transmute tough emotional experiences meant I could be more available to what might be happening in the present moment when meeting with communities. Meditation practice supports me to be able to drop into the heart and remain open hearted, curious, and compassionate. To hold a relaxed, open, and steady presence, so that people felt safe to turn towards me, to be open and share. It is those moments where it is crucial to not become overwhelmed, flooded, numb, or turn away.

It’s difficult hearing about these situations, much less being on the ground. How can frontline workers sustain yourselves over the long term? Exposed to individual and collective trauma, how can you minimise the risk for vicarious trauma?

How we maintain our own wellbeing while turning towards the polycrises facing the global community really is the big question. In recent years I have learned about the neuroscience of the nervous system, about our hyper- and hypo-arousal states, which has provided me with the scientific explanation to my and others’ experiences and reactivity.

Now that I understand the physiological Fight, Flight, Freeze responses when we experience an overwhelming situation, I reflect even more on my practice.

While these are highly intelligent survival mechanisms of the nervous system in the moment to help us to survive, they cannot be sustained beyond the immediate action required to keep us alive.

Trauma can occur if this survival mechanism gets stuck, and we start reacting as if there is a threat, when there is no actual threat anymore. If an overwhelming event occurs in our past, and we didn’t have a way to process it, to be seen, witnessed, or held safely, or find a way to transmute what happened to us, then this is how trauma can become installed in the body. 

Learning about trauma has given me great cause for deepening my compassion when I observe reactivity or numbness in community.

It is important for all of us to avoid burnout or becoming consumed and overtaken by anger, cynicism, bitterness, resentment, grief, or numbness and depression.

These are all very understandable feelings under the circumstances, but we can learn how to cultivate an inner practice, to develop an inner state of safety, joy, awe, compassion, and equanimity. Feeling rage at the injustice of it all is a healthy fight response, however we cannot use this fuel to drive our work forever – it only burns us out.

Coming to the work from a place of regulation lowers the temperature and is more sustainable. We also need to be resourced from our own community to support us. We cannot do this healing alone. It’s not easy but necessary.

This is an incredible recounting, and I’m sure Yoga Australia members would have similar anecdotes in their lives.

Absolutely! Understanding the nervous system and becoming trauma-informed has provided significant reflection and insights into the even deeper value of my yoga, pranayama and meditation practices than I ever realised.

One time I talked to my trauma-informed yoga teacher friend who had also worked in international development. She said, “you didn’t realise your yoga practice was saving your life!”

A practice which combines body movement with breath (just like song, dance, ceremony) is invaluable in the prevention and treatment of trauma. Moving stuck and frozen energy in the body through movement and breath is a key pathway to regulate the nervous system back into a state of safety and social engagement.

It’s particularly effective when practicing with others as we co-regulate with each other in collective spaces.

Australia is in the midst of heightened discussion of these kinds of issues, and there is the likelihood for exposure or re-exposure to personal and sensitised wounds. Is there any advice you would give to someone on this land who feels angry, afraid, or despondent?

The skills we learn through yoga, pranayama and meditation help with the universal foundational need: to regulate and metabolise challenging experiences. Our practice supports us to become more available to the present moment and clearly perceive the suffering of ourselves and others, with compassion and loving kindness.

During overwhelming moments, we can return back to our breath, tune back into our bodies, and move the energy in a way that feels right, such as more restorative yoga practices, and being in nature and on Country. We can return to our practice again and again, so that the practice becomes an anchor we draw upon.

From this place, we can sense into our own collective trauma wounds that are surfacing in our own community. We can be the witness to the pain, and expand our capacity to hold space for ourselves and others to transmute whatever emerges. More than ever, we have access to tools and resources needed to support each other, and those most vulnerable and marginalised in our community.

However, there are other avenues to explore:

• Yoga students may be eligible for health insurance rebates
• Yoga teaching and yoga therapy can be included in the aged care and NDIS sectors
• Private addiction and rehabilitation clinics offer yoga & meditation as part of the therapeutic healing journey

It can be tricky to navigate these avenues if you are unfamiliar with the systems and processes in place.  Let’s set out some guidelines to build your awareness and knowledge around these options.

Health Insurance Rebates

Unfortunately, yoga is not claimable under Medicare.  Furthermore, in 2019, yoga (among other modalities) was removed from general private health insurance policies as part of the federal government review into natural therapies.  There are still some private health funds that continue to offer yoga as part of ‘extras cover’.  However, yoga must form part of a person’s health management plan as recommended by a medical or allied health professional. 

The private health insurance funds that do offer rebates for yoga as part of someone’s health plan will often require the yoga teacher or therapist to be a registered member with Yoga Australia.  Participating health funds will require a yoga teacher to issue a detailed and signed receipt, often including the teacher’s Yoga Australia membership number.

Residential Aged Care

Residential aged care is the term used to describe a facility where older adults live because they can no longer live in their own homes due to their care needs.  In the past these were called ‘nursing homes’, or in more recent times ‘low or high level care facilities’.  The current terminology is ‘residential aged care’.

Yoga is often offered in residential care settings as part of their exercise and lifestyle activity programs. 

As a yoga teacher looking to run classes in this setting, you would be expected to understand health and mobility issues experienced by older adults in a care setting.  You would be well placed to have extensive knowledge of chair yoga, anatomy and physiology, the ageing body, and dementia. 

In a residential care setting you would find a very diverse set of abilities within the class you teach.  Some adults may be cognitively intact, but frail and only able to move whilst seated, or in a wheelchair.  You may also have some very strong and able bodies participants living with dementia.  It will require extensive skills, knowledge and training to feel confident to provide an enriching class for all the participants. 

There are no particular rules around running yoga classes in residential aged care.  However, you may be required to show your Yoga Australia membership, insurance papers and first aid certificate.  The facility would look very favourably at a yoga teacher who understands the ageing process, and has completed further education in this field.

If this interest you the best way to get involved is to contact the facilities in your area, arrange to meet the manager, and drop off a copy of your resume and credentials. 

Some facilities may ask the participants to pay you directly for each class (for example the participants bring $15 each week).  Other facilities may have a set lifestyle budget and you would invoice them a flat rate for the class (for example $90 per class). 

Community Aged Care

Many older adults (that is, anyone aged 65 and over) receive funding from the Federal Government to receive care and support services to stay living at home.  This program is currently known as ‘Home Care Packages’.  Yoga can be an eligible service under a person’s Home Care Package, but must be prescribed and monitored by a physiotherapist or exercise physiologist. 

If this interests you then get in touch with private physiotherapy clinics and let them know what you offer.   This is a particularly useful connection to establish if you are a yoga therapist.  You may be able to hire a room at the physiotherapy clinic for one-to-one, or small group sessions.  You may be able to visit someone in their own home as part of their physiotherapy plan. 

The physiotherapy clinics would require you to be insured, be up-to-date with first aid training, and most likely, require you to be at least a Registered Level 1 Teacher with Yoga Australia. 

You would also be expected to have sound knowledge and skills around working with older adults, and understand the varying abilities and conditions that can impact them. 

You may be required to register with the organisation who holds the funding for the older person receiving the Home Care Package.  This would entail completing forms, providing insurance details, and a valid ABN. 

Other community avenues that you may consider include working in community health clinics, or local community centres.  Do not be afraid to get in touch, and reach out to these organisations.  They may not require a yoga teacher right now, but these situations are very fluid and can quickly change.

NDIS

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is funded by the Federal Government.  The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) is an independent agency who oversee the implementation of the NDIS.

NDIS provides support to people living with permanent or significant disabilities in our community.  NDIS funding ensures people can access the services and supports they need to enjoy their lives and live well.  NDIS covers people aged between 7 – 65 years, after which they would transition to a Home Care Package.

The NDIA understand the importance of people participating in ‘community, social and recreational activities’, and ‘exercise physiology and physical wellbeing activities’.  Yoga classes and yoga therapy may fall under either of these two groups. 

You have two options to get involved.  The first is to become a Registered Provider.  There are rules and compliance matters that you need to adhere to, and a detailed application process.  The good news is, that once you are accepted and registered, you become part of the wider NDIS community:  Your services are listed on the Approved Provider register.  As long as participating in community, social and recreational activities is on their plan people can access your services as needed. 

To be considered as a Registered Provider you must demonstrate that your service provides Core Support:  Your service helps a participant to complete daily living activities, and helps them work towards meeting their goals.  Your service must represent value for money, be effective and beneficial, and be related to the person’s disability.

As a Registered Provider you can promote your services on the myplace portal, and you can freely display the ‘I heart NDIS’ logo and use the ‘Registered NDIS Provider’ tagline.

You do not have to be a Registered Provider though.  A person (or their plan manager) may reach out directly.  For example, you run a weekly yoga class in Chelsea.  A woman in her 50’s who receives NDIS funding to help her manage anxiety and engage with the community, contacts you to see if your yoga class might suit her needs.  You contact her plan management agency to check if her plan includes yoga and meditation, you explain your service, and the costs.  They approve this and you invoice them directly. 

The upside of not being registered is that you do not need to go through the intricate registration process.  The downside is that you won’t be known to the wider NDIS community, can not use their logo or tagline, or be found on the myplace portal.  

Whether you are a Registered Provider or not, hourly rates are capped and you cannot charge more than the upper level for the corresponding item number.  You may be submitting your invoice through a portal (if you are registered), to the individual attending your class, or to the plan manager.  You will be required to include a valid ABN on your invoices, along with the relevant item number.

Not sure if NDIS is for you?  Why not do some research on the Registered Provider list.  Select the ‘Exercise Physiology and Physical Wellbeing” group and get in touch with a provider in your area.  You may be able to work for them, or with them, and explore your options. 

Here is the link to find out more about becoming a NDIS Registered Provider https://www.ndis.gov.au/providers/becoming-ndis-provider

Here is the link to search the ‘Exercise Physiology and Physical Wellbeing” group providers https://www.ndis.gov.au/participants/working-providers/find-registered-provider/provider-finder

Drug & Alcohol Rehabilitation Facilities

Many private rehabilitation clinics offer yoga, mindfulness, meditation and relaxation services.  These may occur onsite, or the participants may be driven to your studio.  There are no specific regulations or registrations needed to provide yoga in these facilities and clinics. 

It is worth noting that you may be required to provide mats and other equipment. 

In most circumstances you will invoice for a flat rate, regardless of how many participants attend each class.  A flat rate between $80 – $150 is acceptable and would include set up, and pack up time.  Some private facilities may pay you more.  

To get involved, do some research online.  Find some local clinics and reach out to them. Rehabilitation clinics can offer recovery from a wide range of addictions, including:

Important considerations

It is important to consider the following requirements when exploring ways to expand your teaching options:

All of the above-mentioned industries also employ staff.  Have you considered offering these businesses sessions for their staff?  These dedicated people often go above and beyond to deliver their support and care.  You may put together a mindfulness meditation program for the care staff in a residential or community setting.  Or, a 20-minute lunchtime asana class for the staff at a rehabilitation clinic.  The possibilities are endless once you begin to explore outside the box.  Through yoga you can help change lives.

In the interview Josh and Danny explore the significance of yoga in Australian culture, and Yoga Australia’s role in supporting yoga teachers and therapists in Australia.

The interview also highlights Yoga Australia’s Australian Week of Yoga, which runs from the 19th to the 25th of June. During this week, the Yoga Australia showcases the pioneers of yoga in Australia. One notable figure mentioned is Swami Saraswati, who had a TV show and made a significant impact on yoga in Australia. Another influential figure is Roma Blair, who traveled the world and also created the International Yoga Teachers Association.

Danny and Josh discuss the transformative qualities of yoga, the efforts of Yoga Australia to foster a thriving yoga community, and to celebrate this ancient system that offers wisdom, techniques, and practices for physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.

Yoga Australia is the peak body for yoga in Australia. It was established in 1999 with the aim of developing best practice educational standards and supporting yoga teachers and yoga therapists through vocal advocacy.

We invite you to participate in 7 days of FREE Guided Meditations, hosted by a Yoga Australia Registered Yoga Teacher. Each day, starting from Monday 19th June – Sunday 25th June, we are sharing a short meditation practice with the community to celebrate Australian Week of Yoga. This is a Yoga Australia initiative to celebrate the pivotal role that yoga professionals play in communities throughout Australia.

Visit this page each day during this dedicated week, whether this is your very first time meditating or you are experienced, all are welcome and encouraged.

See below to access each meditation practice.

The profession of yoga continues to evolve in response to public appreciation and demand. Over the past 30 years, yoga has shifted from being a niche practice to a mainstream modality, sought after for a variety of reasons in numerous settings. 
 
As a self-regulated industry, pay and pricing for yoga teachers and their services has in the past been left to individuals to negotiate. However, many people operating in the industry (both teachers and employers) feel unclear and uncertain about how much to charge or pay. 

Exacerbating this uncertainty is the wild variance in expertise and experience observed in modern yoga teachers.

Even more recently, we see price inflation affect the viability of teaching yoga as a career:

Salary Guidelines

This is a guide only and you should seek your own independent legal advice and contact the Fair Work Ombudsman in regard to any employment or independent contractor related matters. Generally, if a yoga teacher is employed on a full time, part time, or casual basis then they may be covered by the employment conditions outlined in an award such as the federal Australian Fitness Industry Award 2020. 

The most common places for permanent employment include:

• Fitness centres (private or council owned)
• Wellness centres or retreats
• Managing a yoga studio
• Government organisation
• Hospital/Medical setting

However, most yoga teachers will be contractors, rather than employees.  Currently, 60% of Australian yoga teachers identify as being in this category*, also known as “self-employed’.  This means they are engaged by individuals or businesses to teach classes, and they usually receive payment for each class or service provided.

In this situation you can usually set your own per class rate, but you will also be responsible for your own superannuation, insurance and other business costs. Thus, it is important to negotiate a suitable rate that takes these extra costs into account. 

The State of Yoga 2023 survey reveals that a self-employed teachers charge gyms and studios between $50-$100 per class. In the same survey self-employed teachers stated that an average rate charged per student, in a group setting, is between $15-$25.  Remember to factor the additional costs of venue hire and other businesses expenses into this income.

It is expected that hourly rates are higher for registered yoga therapists.  A yoga therapist is a highly trained and skilled yoga teacher, having completed an additional 700 + hours of specific therapeutic training on top of their YTT.  A Yoga Therapist might charge between $100-$150 for a private session, and between $25-$50 per person in a therapeutic group setting.

As the peak body for yoga in Australia, Yoga Australia is committed to establishing clear salary guidelines commensurate with classification levels. We recognise that more experienced teachers deliver more effective classes and thus better outcomes for students.  We hold that teachers who demonstrate continuing education and consistent development over many years ought to be remunerated accordingly.  For example, Yoga Australia requires Senior teachers to accumulate more than 10 years of teaching experience and 1000 hours of formal training, and their pay rate scales accordingly.

In making these recommendations Yoga Australia supports the positive perception of yoga as a safe profession operating under exacting standards.  Our thriving community of members ensures support for teachers, improved conditions, and wage parity across the board. 

* Information gathered in the State of Yoga 2023 survey.

Expanding Teaching Opportunities

With nearly 60% of Australian yoga teachers identifying as “self-employed” it is timely to explore some less considered revenue streams.  It is common knowledge that yoga is taught in yoga studios, gyms, online, in a corporate environment, and home studios. However, there are other avenues to explore…

See the full post for our recommendations:

Who is Yoga Australia?

Yoga Australia is Australia’s peak body supporting yoga teachers, yoga therapists, enthusiastic students, and practitioners.  Incorporated in 1999 as an independent ‘member-based’ organisation, we support all styles, lineages, and traditions of yoga. We are a thriving community of yoga teachers, yoga therapists and teacher trainers delivering high quality across Australia.

Yoga Australia’s values are grounded in ancient teachings and philosophy. We support the ongoing development and growth of yoga as a recognised profession and viable career path in Australia. 

Yoga’s Place in Culture and Society

The canon of Yoga describes both a state of being and a practice for attaining that state of being. It contains a path to understanding the perspective of the Vedic rishis, and the communities of the Indus Valley, on the threshold of recorded history, who experienced uninterrupted awareness of the paradoxical co-existence of duality and nonduality. They sought to promulgate methods for ordinary people to be lifted to a transcendental state of togetherness. The oral and palm leaf teachings prescribe methods for individuals to traverse the worlds in a way that is integrative, harmonious, and for the benefit of all.

The ideas of yoga are perennial and are found in documented history for over 5000 years, existing in many forms as a means to enlightenment. The Vedas (1500 BCE) and the Upanishads (as early as 8^th century BCE) describe consciousness and knowledge, propose arrangements of the cosmos and the material world, and the explain the emergence of linear time.

Around the 2^nd century BCE, with growing technology and the spread of language, sage Patanjali was able to collate and record what is known as the Yoga Sutras.  Patanjali codified the teachings he had access to in the form of the Eight Limbs of Yoga.  A linear succession of steps or limbs is a common method of describing the path to enlightenment, with various Upanishads describing other arrangements of limbs. For the most part, the methods and structures described by Patanjali form the basis of yoga as we know it today.

Far more recently, in the 20^th century, yoga made its way into the West.  As the British occupation of India matured, Indian gurus began to visit the West to talk about such lofty topics as consciousness and nonduality.  Thus began the great and somewhat barbaric project of translation of Sanskrit terms into English.  Any attempt to understand the roots of yoga must acknowledge the imperfections and inaccuracies inherent in such an endeavour.  To describe knowledge surpassing 5000 years of age using a much newer language, containing its own ideas of religiosity and power-structure, is fraught to say the least.

In just the last few decades, with cheap air travel and glossy magazines we have seen a new angle on the teachings.  One that promises to assist modern people to glimpse the worlds that are unavailable to the physical senses, so that they can reconcile the apparently ordinary with common, if suppressed, experience of the ineffable.

Now, with the influx of easy access to simple yoga that focuses on physical health and the development of concentration and longevity, we have a population perfectly poised to unfold continuing awareness of unity and the scientific truth that all actions affect all beings.

Setting Educational Standards

Called Becoming a Yoga Professional, our new curriculum has been designed to assist training providers to achieve high level outcomes for their students, and to demonstrate to governments and health providers that the profession of yoga safely and ethically supports participants. 

See the full post for all the details:

Earning Income as a Yoga Teacher

As a self-regulated industry, pay and pricing for yoga teachers and their services has in the past been left to individuals to negotiate. Many teachers and employers feel uncertain about how much to charge or pay. Exacerbating this uncertainty is the wild variance in expertise and experience observed in modern yoga teachers.

Even more recently, we see wage stagnation affect the viability of teaching yoga as a career:

As the peak body for yoga in Australia, Yoga Australia is committed to establishing clear salary guidelines commensurate with classification levels. We recognise that more experienced teachers deliver more effective classes and thus better outcomes for students.  We hold that teachers who demonstrate continuing education and consistent development over many years ought to be remunerated accordingly.  For example, Yoga Australia requires Senior teachers to accumulate more than 10 years of teaching experience and 1000 hours of formal training, and their pay rate scales accordingly.

In making these recommendations Yoga Australia supports the positive perception of yoga as a safe profession operating under exacting standards.  Our thriving community of members ensures support for teachers, improved conditions, and wage parity across the board. 

See the full post for our recommendations:

Expanding Teaching Opportunities

With nearly 60% of Australian yoga teachers identifying as “self-employed” it is timely to explore some less considered revenue streams.  It is common knowledge that yoga is taught in yoga studios, gyms, online, in a corporate environment, and home studios. However, there are other avenues to explore…

See the full post for our recommendations:

Conclusion

Yoga provides a guiding light during difficult times.  Whether online or in person, yoga joins us together as a community, and strengthens our resolve as individuals.  Many are coping with the stressors, anxiety, and the illness of long-covid, the impacts of dramatic climate changes, the costs of sky rocketing living expenses and pressures of finding a roof over our heads.  Life is filled with variables and challenges.  Through the practices of yoga we learn to self-regulate and adapt to the challenges of life.

It is important to know that, particularly in Australia, there is a peak body working for you, for the profession, and for the legitimacy of yoga in all its forms.

For 25 years Yoga Australia has been the leading light in this field, and we intend to keep advocating for:

Fair conditions for yoga professionals

Higher standards of education for yoga teachers and yoga therapists

Full and complete presentation of the whole scope of yoga, beyond style and lineage

You can support us by becoming a member and shining the light of yoga in your own daily life.

Header image “Kinship” by Shannon Hartigan

This year Yoga Australia released a brand new curriculum, covering all levels of membership with Yoga Australia, from 200 hours right up to 1000 hours of training (each matched with hours of teaching and practice experience).

Called Becoming a Yoga Professional, our new curriculum has been designed to assist training providers to achieve high level outcomes for their students, and to demonstrate to governments and health providers that the profession of yoga safely and ethically supports participants. 

While we acknowledge and focus our support on the prevalent styles of yoga in 21^st Century Australia (those that centre around asana and hatha techniques), this document also creates a framework for recognition and development of the broader scope of yoga.

The curriculum uses modern educational terms so that external readers can audit the document. It contains key words like instruct, teach, class, practice, and training providers are free to interpret these words broadly as their lineage or modalities require.  Schools that teach seated practice, cultural practice, meditation, and enigmatic pursuits rooted in the traditions of the Upanishads can develop a qualification under this model.

As teachers, it is essential to know that, according to research, we can change people’s mindsets and brains by educating our students. Such education and understanding have long-term and cascading effects on the health of the whole bio-psycho-social system of the individual and psycho-neuro-endocrine-immunological system for our students and ourselves.  

Let us say it simply. We can educate ourselves and our students on the evidence-based benefits of asana and meditation. With valuable education, the effects are more remarkable for our brains, overall health and well-being and ultimately, the community at large. 

How can we teach Yoga to turbo-charge brain function?  

Exercise scientist Professor Damian Bailey from the University of South Wales has discovered that performing mental tasks while exercising can increase blood flow to the back of the brain. This increased blood flow can help reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety, and panic in the long term.  

In particular, exercise has been found to target specific parts of the brain that are fundamental to mood, and this effect can be achieved without strenuous physical activity. Yoga, of course, can be one such activity. Professor Bailey highlights the importance of working the brain at the same time as working the body in order to achieve maximum benefit. 

One way to achieve this is by engaging in activities such as Yoga with an educator who will push your concentration further whilst engaging in asana practice. If we want to turbo-charge brain function and increase blood flow to the back of the brain, we could involve a focus on breath, continually change the movements in a slightly unpredictable fashion for the brain, use smaller areas of the body such as lips, eyes, fingers and toes.  

A teacher or therapist could request that whilst performing poses, a student keep the beat with body parts to certain yogic music tracks to increase dopamine and neuroplasticity. Notably, a concentration task such as listening to a teacher explain scientific concepts and evidence-based yoga research will also boost blood flow to the brain, change mindset, and make the exercises work for them. Read more on this below… 

The research underscores the importance of combining physical and mental activity to achieve optimal health benefits. By exercising while engaging in mental tasks, individuals can improve blood flow to the brain and alleviate mental health symptoms in the long term. Listening to podcasts whilst on the move can improve blood flow to the back of the brain if you are also a walker or runner.  

Watch The Truth about Mental Health to understand this research:  
Timestamp 18 minutes – 26 minutes  
https://iview.abc.net.au/video/ZW2675A001S00

How can we use the Science of Yoga to make exercise more effective for the student?  

Dr Crum and Dr Langer’s research on mindsets has shown that changing our beliefs and perceptions about exercise can significantly impact our physical health outcomes, which can be attributed to the placebo effect. One of their studies explored the placebo effect of exercise. They examined how the impact of changing the perception of hotel room cleaning to daily exercise tasks took participants on a journey to better health and well-being. This occurred simply with a change in mindset about their jobs! 

Enjoy watching how our mind changes our reality! 
5 minutes with Dr Alia Crum – The science of mindset on diet, exercise and food 

The study divided hotel employees who cleaned rooms into two groups. The first group was educated about the health benefits of their job within 15 minutes. They were told the calories burned during cleaning were enough to be considered healthy exercise. In contrast, the second group was not given this education. Although both groups performed the same amount of physical activity, the group that was given the mindset that their job was exercise experienced significant health benefits. 

After only 4 weeks the group that was provided with the exercise mindset lost an average of 2 pounds, lowered their systolic blood pressure by 10 points, and had a healthier BMI compared to the group that did not have the exercise whilst cleaning at work mindset! This study demonstrates the power of mindset in achieving physical health goals and shows that the perception of exercise is crucial in achieving optimal health. The fact that they knew what exercise was doing for them affected their health outcomes.  

Furthermore, this study supports the idea that the placebo effect significantly affects health outcomes. The placebo effect is a phenomenon where a person experiences a positive health outcome after receiving a treatment or intervention, even if the treatment is not proven therapeutic. The study shows that the placebo effect of exercise can be achieved by changing a person’s mindset towards a specific task or activity. 

Overall, Dr Alia Crum and Dr Ellen Langer’s research highlights the importance of mindset in achieving optimal health and shows how changing our beliefs and perceptions can significantly impact our physical well-being. By understanding the power of the placebo effect, we can use our mindset to our advantage and achieve better health outcomes. 

What Evidence Based Yoga Research can I begin to include in my everyday teachings?  

Over the coming months, we can begin to explore the following ten fields of emerging research for Yoga & Meditation teachers and therapists that you can begin to implement in your teachings:  

1. The Vagus Nerve & PolyVagal Theory 
2. The Heart-Brain Connection 
3. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) 
4. The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) Axis 
5. The Gut-Brain Axis  
6. Psychoneuroendocrinoimmunology (PNI) 
7. Neuroplasticity and Cortical Remapping  
8. Bioplasticity and The Embodied Brain  
9. Meditation for our DNA, Epigenome, Telomeres 
10. Meditation’s Effects on our Inner Pharmacy 

I look forward to sharing the latest research in Yoga, Meditation & Lifestyle Medicine with you with further articles on the mentioned evidence.  

By Celia Roberts, Yoga Australia Registered Senior Teacher and Registered Yoga Therapist. She runs the BioMedical Institute of Yoga & Meditation (BIYOME) in the foothills of Brisbane, Australia.  She invites people from all walks of life to merge science and spirituality for betterment of their health and well-being, to ultimately know depth, stillness and compassion within.  

https://biyome.com.au

References: 

Bailey, D. (2019). The Impact of Exercise on the Brain: What It Means for Depression, Anxiety, and Stress. Oxford University Press. 

Crum, A. J., & Langer, E. (2007). Mindset matters Exercise and the placebo effect. Psychological Science, 18(2), 165-171. 

All the talk about the climate crisis our world is experiencing can cause anxiety and despondent feelings in humans.  Unfortunately, some people have experienced the stresses of climate change directly. 

The ancient teachings and practices of yoga naturally guide you towards a life aligned with nature.  In some ways, the more aligned with nature, the more distressing your response to the climate crisis can be.  However, when you view the world through a yogic lens you are able to expand your awareness beyond self to encompass nature and the environment.  In yoga you find natural equanimity and emotional balance through the three gunas. 

On its own, and out of balance, rajas can be angry and disruptive.  In balance, rajas supports taking strong decisive action and the ability to problem-solve.  Out-of-balance tamas is inert inaction.  In balance allows space for stillness.  Above all, sattva naturally steers us towards correct and right action.  Sattva represents clarity, discernment, calmness and harmony.  Cultivating sattvic balance through your practice allows you to see ‘all’ as ‘one.’

Feeling anxious or distressed is normal, and not a sign of weakness.  What you have at your disposal is the ability to explore your feelings and emotions.  Your yoga practice gives you a unique perspective to adapt and cope, building greater emotional resilience.

Yoga teaches harmony as it relates to self, society and nature.  Importantly, you have access to teachings that cultivate a deep understanding of the interconnectedness of humans with the environment. 

Yoga Australia’s response to the climate crisis

As the peak body for yoga in Australia, Yoga Australia is committed to being an organisation with a strong environmental consciousness.

The teachings of advaita vedanta propose a unique approach to the apparent external world.  A non-dual approach encourages us to consider that world perceived within the mind and the world perceived outside as mirrors of one another.  Thus, climate change is a challenge innate to ourselves, and it behoves us to contemplate how we might resolve it on as many levels as are available.

Yoga Australia has a long history of supporting scientific research studies and we are thrilled to share this recent achievement of our members.

What does the research say:  Yoga and climate change

In their research paper ‘Coping and Adapting to Climate Change in Australia: Yoga Perspectives’ the authors[1] explain how long-term yoga practitioners are coping with the climate crisis. 

Published in the International Journal of Yoga Therapy the evidence of yoga’s role in the climate crisis is made clear.  Applying a qualitative methodology, the authors explored the lived experience of the climate crisis by interviewing 11 long-term yoga practitioners. 

These 11 participants reported that their deep understanding of yoga practice and philosophy naturally supported the opportunity to explore their feelings.  It allowed them to give rise to varied and mixed emotions surrounding climate change events, and create space to acknowledge these feelings.  Although they found it challenging, they were able to find meaning, strength and clarity because of their practice. 

The importance of ‘living’ yoga rather than simply ‘doing’ yoga gave the participants the deep understanding that all life is inter-connected.  The participants saw yoga as not only life-changing, but life-saving when it came to coping with the stressors of climate change: 

• When faced with threat to life, they found purpose and meaning  
• In the face of disconnection, they found connection on multiple levels  
• From constriction came expansion 
• From confusion arose great clarity. 

By taking yoga off the mat, and making it a part of who they are and how they live, the participants have capacity to explore these stressors beyond themselves.  They were able to see the bigger picture, exploring teachings from the ancient past to prepare for the uncertainty of the future.  Being able to draw from yoga lineages, past generations, and their personal practice, culminated in present moment awareness.  This awareness allowed them to see the bigger picture and draw on their inner strength and knowledge. 

One participant noted that through yoga they were able to adapt for future events through preparation, mitigation and adaptation.   This awareness of self and beyond-self offered an enlightened perceptive on their environmental choices: 

• Choice of diet 
• Care for all living beings 
• Preparedness, being evacuation-ready 
• Speaking up through activism and voting
• Planting trees 
• Engaging in sustainable practices, and
• Investing in renewables.  

These are steps that you can take to enhance your ability to cope with climate change. 

Climate change related mental health 

The researchers take time to examine the link between polyvagal theory (PVT) and climate change related mental health.  PVT advises that safety and connection are default settings for the human system.   

Mind-body practices, such as yoga therapy and talk therapy, support mental health.  These practices alleviate climate change distress, improve emotional regulation, and naturally draw people towards social engagement and connection.  

Past research highlights pranayama as an intervention relieving psychological distress after natural disasters.  The current research clearly points to “yoga’s inherent mindfulness” as the number one skill set to help deal with the intense emotions associated with climate change stress.   

Yoga philosophy to the rescue 

For the yoga practitioner adapting to climate change stems from cultivating self-awareness.  Once you are able to modify your daily practice to suit your changing needs, you can extend this awareness further afield.   

Apply this awareness to enhance your peace of mind, your attitudes and relationships.  Cultivating this level of awareness comes from exploring the Eight Limbs of Yoga on and off the mat.  Asana practice on its own will only limit the ability to become aware.  

Yoga philosophy offers practitioners a unique opportunity to cope as they adapt to the climate crisis.  This is evidenced by the research participants’ lived experiences of applying yoga philosophy as a way to adapt and cope with climate change: 

• Yamas (ethical restraints) and Niyamas (observances). Both guide one toward the concept of truth and faith for a life well-lived
• Breath awareness; ujjayi (victorious), sitali (cooling during heatwaves), bhastrika (heating during cold snaps)
• Asana (sun salutations)
• Pratyahara – withdraw from the external, focus inward, allow yourself to become completely absorbed in, and on, the moment (brahmari breath)
• Dharana – focused attention and concentration on something else (tratak, mantra, chanting, drishti). This improves mental strength and clarity, easing mental anguish
• Dyhana – meditation, mindfulness, affirmations, embodied visualisation (bhavana), intention setting (sankalpa), and yoga nidra to cultivate gratitude and compassion
• Samadhi – to be able to ‘see’ the life in front of you without judgement or attachment, to ‘be’ in every moment.

Recommendations for future research 

The researchers recommend the following as important topics in yoga’s relationship with climate change: 

• Yoga studios and yoga therapy clinics provide a community-based network for climate vulnerable communities (based on geographic location) 
• Research into polyvagal-based interventions targeting marginalised or displaced people 
• Yoga’s role in guiding people towards a mindset shift, nurturing capabilities to adapt and cope with change 
• Examining how in-school yoga programs and nature care projects support mental health in children 

Conclusion 

The final teaching of yoga is delivered via the disarming paradox, known as acintyabhedabheda, the inconceivable co-existence of both one-ness and difference, and it promotes (at times unnervingly) clear awareness of your surrounding environment.  Yoga allows you to appreciate all that nature offers, the delicate balance of eco-systems, and the impact of the changing climate.  Importantly mindful awareness creates the deep understanding that all life is interconnected.  

Yoga gifts you with incredible tools.  It creates space to develop not only physical strength and flexibility, but mental strength, flexibility, endurance and courage.  All of these characteristics must ultimately be cultivated in the apparent external world.  Yoga teaches self-care, self-awareness, and community and environmental stewardship.  Importantly, yoga helps you adapt and cope with the many variables intrinsic to climate change in Australia and across our Earth.  

By the Yoga Australia team

References

[1] David, T., Buchan, J., & Nalau, J. (2022). Coping and Adapting to Climate Change in Australia: Yoga Perspectives. International journal of yoga therapy, 32(2022), Article 15. https://doi.org/10.17761/2022-D-22-00016

What sounds like a picturesque nirvana could quickly become a distracted hyperextension, spectacular sprain, and a mood that falls well short of the clarity and poise associated with yogic awareness. A long way from the therapeutic glamour promised on the “Gin with Yin” sales page.  

Yogic fundamentals of skillful action and courageous surrender are in opposition to alcohol indulgence. We all know that yoga is so much more than physical movement, but let’s simply address physical safety before even considering the deeper layers.  

Yoga connects you to your body so that you may expand healthfully into the tissues, and into subtlety well beyond the mundane – bringing the body along with it. As Harvard Medical School reported “Yoga can functionally develop the body by improving the body’s ability to interpret and respond to nerve signals sent back and forth between the muscles and the brain… increased connectedness of mind, nerves and muscles.”  

Alcohol disconnects you from your body. Numerous studies show a clear relationship between alcohol consumption and increased risk of injury. A study on alcohol-induced proprioceptive and cognitive impairment on university students, published in The Journal of Physical Therapy Science 2012, stated that balance is affected “immediately after alcohol intake and for up to six hours afterwards”. Also, that consuming alcohol before a task requiring concentration “would cause more accidents and injuries.” (Cho + Choi 2012).  

Yoga is intended to foster concentration, balance and coherent breathing – all of which are hindered by alcohol. Alcohol is known to decrease our sense of awareness and dull our senses. We’ve all heard people say, “I was out of my head” or “off my face”, “blind drunk”, “hammered”, or any other number of analogies. None of which we would advertise to draw a yoga student or holiday seeker. 

Are we diluting the power of our yoga with society’s weakness for a strong beverage? 

 “Yoga is the union of the individual self with the universal self” (Iyengar, 2014). 

If yoga can relax the mind and body so profoundly, why would we think that a wine glass is needed to relax us? In fact, yoga has long been used to treat addictions and even specifically to overcome alcohol dependance.  

Our personal responsibility in the collective culture of yoga

Yoga is over 5000 years old and hasn’t aligned with alcohol in its long successful history. Since neolithic times, human life has existed without the need to market “vineyard vinyasas”. Our visual media makes it look pretty when selling retreats – often “wellbeing” retreats.  

A statement by Osho, no stranger to controversial excess and aberrant behaviour himself, “Alcohol is nothing but a chemical strategy to forget your miseries, anxieties, your problems, to forget yourself. My whole effort here is to help you to remember yourself – and you want to forget yourself.” 

The choice to advertise alcohol with yoga events seems too easy, particularly toward those who are overworked, overstimulated and desperate for an escape from the hustle, into a luxurious effortless world of lithe bodies stretching under a sunset. But the best location, most fashionable active wear and most expensive champagne is not glamourous when yoga gets blamed for avoidable injuries that would likely not have occurred without alcohol. 

The promised Eastern approach to a powerfully fulfilled life is less effective when all the stressed Western lifestyle habits are welcome to come too.  

Yoga is a state associated with growth and clarity. Yoga teachers must hold themselves to a high standard if we are to implement the teachings in a manner that does any justice to the lineages we claim to hold sacred. 

The solution? 

One idea is “Choosing low or no alcohol alternatives. These may have the same or similar taste but with less or no alcohol,” (Injury matters. 2023). 

Or, save it for after yoga if it is to be consumed at all. People have been found to be less likely to drink in excess, and sometimes not even at all, after making yoga part of their lives. 

Yoga is a celebration all of its own. 

Written by Julie Marshall in collaboration with Josh Pryor, Yoga Australia CEO  

References

• Australian Institute of Criminology , Morgan, A + McAtamney – Australian Government. 2009 (last updated 2020). Key Issues in Alcohol-related Violence. https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/rip/rip4 accessed 13/03/2023
• Department of Health – Commonwealth of Australia. 2019. National Alcohol Strategy 2019-2028. https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2020/01/national-alcohol-strategy-2019-2028.pdf accessed 13/03/2023 
• Encyclopedia Brittanica – Kellent, M, Vaillant, G. + Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. Alcohol and Society: History and the Use of Alcohol. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Anti-Saloon-League accessed 13/03/2023 
• Harvard Medical School – Harvard Health Publishing 2015. Yoga for the Body and Mind. Yoga for the Body and Mind – Harvard Health accessed 16/03/2023 
• Injury Matters. 2023. Prevention to Recovery: Alcohol Related Injuries. https://www.injurymatters.org.au/explore-injury/alcohol-related-injuries/ accessed 07/03/2023 
• Iyengar B.K.S. 2014. Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health. Revised edition. Darling Kindersley Limited/Penguin Random House Great Britain. 
• Foundation For a Drug Free World: Alcohol, a Short History. https://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/alcohol/a-short-history.html accessed 13/03/2023 
• National Road Safety Partnership Program + Monash University Accident Research Centre 2023. Drink driving is the number one contributing factor in approximately 30% of fatal crashes in Australia. • Over 1 in 4 drivers and riders killed on Australian roads have a BAC exceeding the legal limit. https://www.nrspp.org.au/resources/fact-sheet-drink-driving/#:~:text=This%20fact%20sheet%20focuses%20on,of%20fatal%20crashes%20in%20Australia.&text=Over%201%20in%204%20drivers,BAC%20exceeding%20the%20legal%20limit accessed 13/03/2023 
• Penn Museum. The Earliest Alcoholic Beverage in the World. https://www.penn.museum/research/project.php?pid=12 accessed 13/03/2023 
• Shearer, A. 2020. The Story of Yoga: From Ancient India to the Modern West. Hurst Publishers + Oxford University Press, New York USA.  
• World Health Organisation. 2007. ALCOHOL AND INJURY in Emergency Departments Summary of the Report from the WHO Collaborative Study on Alcohol and Injuries https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/43581/9789241594851_eng.pdf accessed 07/03/2023 
• Yoga Journal – Singleton, M. 04/02/2011 The Ancient & Modern Roots of Yoga: One scholar’s quest to trace his practice back to its source ultimately gives him a glimpse of yoga’s greater truth. https://www.yogajournal.com/yoga-101/philosophy/yoga-s-greater-truth/ accessed 13/03/2023 
• National Institutes of Health – Modig F, Patel M, Magnusson M, Franson PA. Study II: mechanoreceptive sensation is of increased importance for human postural control under alcohol intoxication. Gait Posture. 2012 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22206781/ accessed 07/03/2023