Yoga vidya gurukul

Annastasia Ranjitadevi 15 months ago

Good, non-commercial place for a quality-based yoga TTC, but there are some things one needs to know before signing up for any course at YVG.

Pros:
- Courses are very affordable. Very rare to find such courses at such a low price.
- They share every material they ever created, incl. pdfs of books, audios etc. at no extra cost. Very generous; I think no other institute does this. Even if you want to stay for a few days after your course, they won't charge you anything.
- What makes their TTC unique, is that they teach yoga from scratch. It may feel too basic if you already have some experience with yoga, but it's really good if you want to teach beginners. In most yoga TTCs they don't teach you this basic approach.
- The TTC is very basic compared to other TTCs in India, but the lesson planning & micro lessons make it a good starting point as an aspiring yoga teacher. Although I had done a TTC somewhere else before, I only felt confident to teach after my lesson planning classes & micro lessons at YVG.
- They let you experience kriyas. Especially in their on-site YT course, in which even danda dhauti and shankhaprakshalana are taught. The latter was my best experience of the course. I'm very grateful for the way G & K prepared us & guided us through this unique master cleansing experience. Very less schools teach this cleansing technique in its full form.

Cons:
- Almost all their course material is freely available on their website & YouTube channel; on-site not much more is offered.
- Adjustment, alignment & corrections are barely taught. The asana & pranayama classes are very basic and really for beginners. If you want to learn/teach intermediate or advanced asana & pranayama, there are much better TTCs elsewhere.
- Quality of teaching varies a lot. In my TTC a girl who had just completed her TTC 1yr ago (that too online) gave many of our asana classes + even teaching classes & exam preparation. The 3 asana classes taught by K, G and dr. D (respectively) were the best of the entire TTC. Otherwise nuances and proper corrections are often missing + Critical questions can only be asked to K and dr. D; other teachers usually can’t answer them properly.
- Though you need a TTC to become eligible for YT, approx. half of YT course is exactly same as TTC (that's why these 2 courses are conducted simultaneously). I found YT very disappointing & boring, as I did my TTC 2 months before YT. Most other classes are just copy-paste from YT book (free download on their website) or exactly the same as in their YT course videos on YouTube (again, freely available).
- Some teachers can be very judgemental towards other yoga schools and techniques like vipassana.
- 1 main teacher can't handle feedback & can become quite toxic. 1 student even left the course mid-way, as he was mocked & verbally abused in front of everyone; the teacher was unwilling to sort it out privately. Though the student got a partial refund, the teacher’s behaviour was really uncalled for.

This teacher couldn't handle my feedback as well and after the YT course, he said he’d ban me from the institute if he was the director + I had to make sure not join any course in which he teaches; "it won't be good for me" & he won't accept me in any of his classes. He also spread false accusations that I showed improper behaviour during the course, hadn't paid my fees etc. and asked for extra ID docs through various staff members (suddenly after 2 on-site courses, that too after this harassment.. I can’t trust it). You can’t expect support, as all teachers are closely related.
- The YT certificate has exactly the same text as the TTC’s, except for the course title. After insisting as a group, we got a pdf with the correct text as a "solution", but it looks like some written e-mail, not a certificate. Teacher wasn’t willing to change anything, so I made a proper design & sent it through 1 of my batchmates who acted like it was his, so it would hopefully be accepted. We haven't received a proper correct certificate, but maybe upcoming batches will..

Navnath Bodake 23 months ago

Awasome place for yoga and Minimum fees for yoga clases

Priyaa Yoga 19 months ago

Gurukul is the best yoga institute. I stayed and learned yoga sadhana in the ashram. I'm blessed to have our respected Guruji and Pournima tae as my Guru. Thank you for giving me this new life as a yogi. I'm hooked to you for life time :)