The escalating demand of Yoga and Yoga professionals in last few years has revolutionized the world of ho­listic science. With the popularization and increasing requirement of people trained in Yoga, in September 2018, Indian Yoga Association and Healthcare Skill Sector Council signed the MoU to establish each other roles and responsibilities to scale, integrate and implement skill development programs through introduction of competency standards- Qualification Packs (QP) and National Occupational Standards (NOS), learning re­sources and mechanism for Yoga related job roles.

Recently, IYA and HSSC came together with their ex­pertise to develop job roles in the field of Yoga and Yoga therapy. Two new job roles of Yoga Instructor CYP (Common Yoga Protocol) and Yoga Wellness Teacher, their qualification packs and national occu­pation standards (QP NOS) saw the light of the day.

As many as 130 yoga organizations came together and participated in the process of validation. Along with all the Member Institutions and Associate Cen­ters of IYA, the process brought forward individuals, small institutes and their representatives.

Earlier the job roles were not organized under skilling ecosystem. 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.

As is the policy, the skilling ecosystem comes for a review after every 3 years. Presently, the Govt. of India has reorganized all the AYUSH systems as the sub-sector under Healthcare Skill Sector Council. As the Knowledge Partners of HSSC, IYA reviewed the job roles of Yoga Instructor, Yoga Trainer and Senior Yoga Trainer for their relevance and whether to re­duce the number of roles or increase the number of roles. This was thought off thoroughly keeping in mind the numerous parallel courses that are being offered in the industry. Also, it was decided to bring in some parity in the courses offered.

The entire IYA fraternity decided that 3 job roles are not required. Bringing in parity with various available courses like Level 1 and 2 of Yoga Certification Board (YCB), skilling training program and IYA Certification program, two courses emerged— Yoga Instructor (CYP) and Yoga Wellness Teacher.

A core committee was constituted to draft the Qualification Packs and National Occupational Standards (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.

The committee discussed in details all aspects of the two new Qualification Packs and National Occupational Standards. The entire IYA fraternity with participation from 130 Yoga institutes, organizations and individuals came forward for Validation process by submitting their views on QP NOS. Shri Ashish Jain, CEO, HSSC, Smt. Anshu Verma and Senior Manager, HSSC has been actively pursuing this ever since.

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.

Yoga Instructor Common Yoga Protocol (CYP)

Yoga Instructor – Common Yoga Protocol (CYP) should be trained and empowered to demonstrate and teach the yoga techniques of the CYP under the guidance of Yoga Wellness Teacher. They should have good communication, time management skills and ability to understand the requirement and limitations of the participants. The must possess key qualities such as self-discipline, confidence, maturity, patience, compas­sion, active listening, empathetic, and language proficiency. Such candidates should have regular personal yoga sadhana.

Minimum educational quali.cation and experience for a Yoga Instructor (CYP) is 10th Class Or the individual should be an Anganwadi /Asha Worker.

Yoga Wellness Teacher

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). They should possess abilities of man­agement and leadership skills to direct the team.

Minimum educational quali.cation and experience for a Yoga Wellness Teacher is 12th Standard Pass Or Yoga Instructor Common Yoga Protocol (CYP) with 2 years of experience

-by Shruti Prabhakar