The options for learning yoga at home were pretty slim when I started. There were some videos and books available, but nothing that could really teach you step by step what it was about. The Internet was still a long way away…
I learned a lot of what I know about yoga from the source… India. I spent years traveling through that magical place and had several great experiences along the way. But even after spending month after month in traditional Yogashrams, a really deep sense of what yoga was all about still seemed to somehow elude me.
But then I came across “Yoga Step by Step” by Swami Gitananda and everything changed. I have never seen a yoga book like this before, and I have yet to see anything like it again today. Actually, it’s not just a book. It is a very complete correspondence course that forever changed my way of seeing the teaching of yoga.
In fact, it changed my life!
He showed me how much I was missing in yoga, and he also showed me how well it could be taught through pictures, diagrams, and the written word. Now, with Internet video capabilities, it can be done even better!
Years later, as a yoga teacher, I am now able to share that experience. In recent years, I have built quite a reputation as the author of some highly respected online training programs, and I have Swamiji, my guru, to thank for that.
I still teach yoga because I think there is a lot to be gained from it. But my experience has shown me how limiting they can be. It is difficult to provide much depth of instruction in the modern yoga class environment, and it is difficult to teach students how to practice safely and confidently at home.
The Internet has opened up a whole new field of possibilities.
There are already tens of thousands of yoga websites online, but for the most part, most of the teachers who created them are still stuck in their yoga classes… yet to realize the great teaching potential of this medium. global.
Teaching people to practice yoga at home, from home, is the way of the future. If just a few teachers start figuring out how to use the internet to effectively share their teachings and get more people off the couch and doing yoga at home, then that future looks really bright.
