Bangalore: 27 Chinese are currently residing at The Art of Living International Center for Advanced Yoga Teachers Training Program conducted by the Sri Sri School of Yoga. The first batch of 121 students from 25 countries around the world, have just finished their 35-day training and will be returning back to share the wealth of yogic knowledge in their countries. The Advanced Yoga Teachers Training Program introduced its participants to Vedas, Yoga Sutras by Maharishi Patanjali, human anatomy and physiology, asanas (yogic postures), pranayama (breathing exercises), meditation and teaching skills. The graduates of the yoga program will also receive certification as qualified Yoga instructors from the Quality Council of India.
“Yoga has become a part of mainstream urban lives from the last 10 years. But Yoga is popularly understood merely to be a form of exercise to make your body flexible, and this is the perception I’m going to change,” says Ping He, a fashion designer with her own brand of clothes in China, who has just graduated from the Advanced Yoga Teachers Training Program.
Kenneth, speaking about the reason he started yoga, said, "I started on the path of Yoga, looking for answers to all my questions about life and myself. I have many scattered experiences, but I was looking for something to tie it all together. This course did it for me. The quality of the teachers was the most significant part of the program for me. Even if some of them had come to speak to us for five minutes, what they said changed my life!"
Tong has been associated with the Art of Living for two years now and says there's a dramatic difference in her temperament. "I run my own firm, and it is a very stressful job. When I started doing yoga, there was a drastic difference in me and even my teenage kids got inspired to practice Yoga. They're so different now. In fact, looking at the change in them, other parents in China want to bring their kids here! This is why I decided to become a teacher. I will be able to transform many lives," she says.
“The Sri Sri Yoga Teachers Training Program has made me realize that Yoga is not about difficult postures. It’s about ease, effortlessness, and awareness. Asanas combined with pranayama, meditation, and knowledge from the Gita and other Indian scriptures have given me a holistic understanding and experience of Yoga,” says Shuping Tong who has been running a landscape design firm for the last 20 years, and wants to spread the knowledge of Yoga to all her clients!
Ming Liao, who was already a Yoga teacher and saw that his students were charged up with energy and had better sleep patterns within just a few sessions of Yoga, says he came to the course to experience the vastness of the knowledge in the Indian Yogic Tradition. “I have studied several commentaries on Yoga by myself, but learning from teachers who really know this, has given me a proper understanding.” He can lucidly talk about the different paths of Yoga and wants to explore further.
Yingjian Wang says she has learned to be content and finds happiness in the little things of life. “Despite the course being very demanding, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the process. Time flew so quickly here at the Art of Living Ashram! I don’t want to leave,” she exclaims, echoing the sentiments of everyone present there.
