The world of Yoga is expanding rapidly and many new opportunities are being created worldwide for the young enthusiasts to take up professional studies in Yoga and Yoga Therapy. IYA is collaborating with the Healthcare Sector Skill Council (HSSC) to develop job roles in the field of Yoga and Yoga therapy for the past few years. This is as a result of the felt need that such job opportunities be created for Yoga professionals to receive the best social and financial benefits.
A meeting of the Technical Committee of the Healthcare Sector Skill Council (HSSC), Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship was held on July 23, 2020 to discuss the new job roles under HSSC. The meeting was in continuation to an earlier Technical Committee meeting held on June 3, 2020.
In the previous meeting, two new job roles of Yoga Instructor CYP (Common Yoga Protocol) and Yoga Wellness Teacher, their qualification packs and national occupation standards (QP NOS) were drafted.
Similar roles had existed previously under the Beauty & Wellness Sector Skill Council (BWSSC) as Yoga Instructor, Yoga Trainer and Senior Yoga Trainer. It was decided in the National Consultative Committee, that above roles of BWSSC will now be taken up as two new roles as above under HSSC.
A core committee was constituted to draft the QP NOS as per the direction of the Chairman of the Committee and this included Dr Karuna Nagarajan, Associate Professor, S-VYASA, Dr Nideesh Yadav, Patanjali Yogpeeth, Haridwar, Sri Mayur Karthik, Faculty, Sri Sri School of Yoga, AOL, Dr Sharad Bhalekar, Principal, GS College, Kaivalyadhama, Lonavla and Smt. Anshu Verma, HSSC.
As all programs are now going online due to the COVID19 Pandemic, the meeting also discussed an online MTOT for Yoga Therapy Assistant job role. The details of such a job role had been previously discussed in meetings held at Art of Living, Bangalore earlier last year and attended by representatives of IYA institutions and committee members.
A detailed discussion was held by the Technical Committee on July 23, 2020 and the expert members of the meeting included Sri S Sridharan, Trustee, Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram, Chennai and Life Member, IYA; Dr Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani, Director, CYTER of Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth and Director, SPPPRC IYA; Shri Arun Pandala, Sivananda Yoga Centre; Pandit Radheyshyam Mishra, Ujjain Yoga life Society; Shri Durgadas Savant, Yoga Vidya Niketan; Dr Sampadananda Mishra, Director, SAFIC, Sri Aurobindo Society & Secretary, PY UTCC, IYA; Shri Nataraj, Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre; Smt. Thangalakshmi Balasubramaniam, VK; Smt. Sunanda Rathi, Chiranjivi Foundation; Dr. R Elangovan, WCSC; Dr Nidheesh Yadhav,.University of Patanjali, Haridwar; Dr Charu Sharma, Yoga Technical Manager, IYA PrCB; Dr Anita Singh, Smt.Priyanka, Smt Anshu Verma, Sr Manager, HSSC and Smt Thrushal Sunman, Secretariat, IYA.
With regard to the Yoga Instructor – Common Yoga Protocol (CYP), it was recommend that they be trained and empowered to demonstrate and teach the yoga techniques of the CYP under the guidance of Yoga Wellness Teacher. It was felt that such individuals need to have good communication, time management skills and ability to understand the requirement and limitations of the participants. The experts opined that they must possess key qualities such as self-discipline, confidence, maturity, patience, compassion, active listening, empathetic, and language proficiency. It was unanimously stressed that such candidates should have regular personal yoga sadhana.
Similarly the Yoga Wellness Teacher would be trained and empowered to teach yoga for promotion of wellness in educational institutions, yoga studios, workplaces, yoga wellness centres/Primary Health care centres etc. They would also be empowered so that they can guide other yoga professionals for relevant yoga demonstrations as per the Common Yoga Protocol (CYP). All members opined that such individuals need in addition to skills mentioned for instructor additional abilities of management and leadership skills to direct the team.
The committee discussed in details all aspects of the two new Qualification Packs and National Occupational Standards and the process is now furthered through open validation by member institutional and other stakeholders. It is anticipated that these QPs and NOS will become a part of the National Skill Registry by the end of this year and that thousands will benefit through such innovative endeavors promulgated by the Government of India.
