RIMYI Notices

Dear Iyengar Yoga practitioner, certified teacher,

Namaskar! 

We write to you today with regards to various communications we have received reporting that certified teachers are conducting Teacher Training Courses under Yoga Alliance, RYT and other such courses, and are teaching beyond what is authorized by their certification level.

Please be reminded that as an Iyengar certified teacher, you cannot teach classes nor conduct teacher training courses in non-Iyengar yoga practices. 

We would also like to remind you that when you decide to take an assessment and are successful at attaining a certificate, each of the various, sequential, succeeding levels starting from Introductory Level 2 and up have requirements and qualifications which guide us all as they have the corresponding asanas and pranayama that that certificate level can teach. The process is always evolving and, through time, with diligent and religious practice, you will find yourselves reaching higher levels, attaining maturity and understanding of the practice as a whole. With this deeper understanding and higher certificate levels, authorization to conduct therapy, pregnancy and teacher training appropriate to your certification level then becomes authorized.  This is so important so that you may safely guide others as you yourself have been safely guided through the same process.

RIMYI reaches out to all of you to remind all that everyone must respect the process of learning and with each milestone attained undergo an assessment and obtain certification. This is required to be able to share your learning through teaching as appropriate to and defined by the certification level you currently are at.

These rules have been in place from the start of our community. We expect you to be responsible and respectful like all other practitioners and teachers are and always have been since the beginning of our community.

We would also like to point out that there are some of you who also teach other forms of yoga, some teach Pilates and other body movement work. This is not acceptable. We would urge you to use this time to deepen your knowledge of the practice by dedicating yourselves fully to the practice of Iyengar Yoga which is a lot more vast and deeply profound then you might know or believe. 

We remind all that as Iyengar yoga practitioners you must concentrate and focus to be able to reach that space deep within yourselves. By doing so, this concentrated effort will have lasting effects, a yoking takes place making this individual experience very purposeful and meaningful. This kind of practice then can and will strengthen your ability to communicate with intentionality and to responsibly share Iyengar Yoga with all those you meet whether on the mat or off the mat. 

This being the 100th year of Our Beloved Guruji’s birth, we hope that this letter will inspire you to recommit yourselves and to honor Guruji for the gift of Yoga he graciously given us and to be respectful of the name IYENGAR which you use to identify the practice you wish to share. 

We hope that this guidance will clarify what it is expected of a certified Iyengar teacher. 

Light and love, 

The Certification and Assessment team of Southeast and East Asia