FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT NAMASKARAM, THE IYN AND THE YOGA REGISTER:
WHAT IS THE INDEPENDENT YOGA NETWORK (IYN)?
Essentially what it’s name implies: a network of Yoga teachers and teacher training
schools. Legally, it is a UK Company limited by guarantee. There are no shareholders
and no profit is made. The three company directors are elected by the voting members
on an annual basis.
WHAT IS IT FOR?
The IYN exists to create, preserve and enhance the conditions necessary for Yoga
to thrive in all its diversity and richness and do its good work within our culture.
Those conditions are various but underpinning them all is that yogis can practise
and share their Yoga in freedom. We therefore actively oppose all interference in
Yoga by government, institutions of the state, cultural and religious interest groups,
narrow sectarian groups and commercial concerns. The IYN is run by yogis for Yoga!
WHAT IS THE YOGA REGISTER?
The Yoga Register is a register of Yoga Teachers and Yoga Teacher Training schools
who have shown that their teaching is aligned with the three principles which guide
all IYN initiatives: satya (truthfulness), ahimsa (non-harming) and svadhyaya (self-study).
Registration is also an on-going commitment to these three principles as they apply
to Yoga teaching. Membership of the IYN, either as a teacher or teacher training
school, currently depends on being registered with the Yoga Register. See http://theyogaregister.org.
HOW DO I ANNOUNCE MY WORKSHOPS ON THIS SITE?
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP?
You will know that you are helping to keep Yoga free from interference, thereby maintaining
its vitality to the good of both individual practitioners and society at large. With
the support of Yoga Teachers and Training Schools behind them, the IYN officers can
confidently represent your interests at Parliament and in discussion with other relevant
bodies such as SkillsActive, QCA and Ofqual.
You will receive a monthly news letter with links to the items on this site (Namaskaram).
Through this we will keep you informed of any political and legal developments that
we are monitoring, as well as informing you of up and coming workshops and courses
being put on by IYN members. You yourself will be able to advertise your workshops
in this forum. There are also general news items and articles of interest (as you
can see!)
You will be able to put your details on the Yoga Register web site, including a picture,
a short write up and a live web link.
You will be eligible to insure through the IYN Comprehensive Yoga Teachers' Insurance.
This is the most comprehensive insurance currently available.
We will support you if you have any problem with employers, directly speaking to
the employer if necessary. (We are getting pretty good at this!)
You will be able to join special interest groups which we are busy promoting. So
far we have set up a special interest group for those taking Yoga into mental health
settings. Others will follow and the only limit on this networking is the limit of
your imagination!
You will be able to attend IYN events at a discount.
IS THE BRITISH WHEEL OF YOGA THE GOVERNING BODY? IF SO WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS?
The BWY was awarded the title Governing Body for Yoga in the UK by The Sports Council
in 1993. The Sports Council no longer exists and each of the UK nations now has its
own Sports Quango. Sport England still upholds BWY’s Governing Body Status but it
now applies in England only. These are facts, but what is the meaning of the facts?
One could be forgiven for thinking that ‘Governing Body’ status meant that BWY had
some legal clout, e.g. the ability to enforce who can and who cannot teach Yoga.
After all, the term ‘governing’ implies just that. Governments make and enforce laws.
To govern is ultimately to enforce. However, it is not the case that BWY has any
legal clout whatsoever or any mandate to govern in any of the accepted senses of
the word. Sport England will tell you that ‘Governing Body’ is a ‘non-protected’
term which means that it has no legal force and that its use cannot be controlled
by recourse to law.
This has not in the past prevented BWY members and officials from behaving as though
‘Governing Body’ meant what it said and seeking advantage from the semantic fog surrounding
the term. Many non-BWY teachers have suffered exclusion and prejudice as a result
of this tendency. Even now when the empty nature of the governing body title is more
widely appreciated, BWY is still claiming that it has a mandate to exert “reasonable
control and influence over the activity [Yoga] and over standards of teacher training”
(quoted from a letter from BWY Chair Helen Smith to BWY members). Fortunately a degree
of equivocation has crept into the BWY’s hegemonising tendency: Helen Smith does
say a little later on in her letter that BWY “does not have or seek to have control
over all other Yoga organisations”. Of course there is an obvious contradiction here
and this doesn’t instil confidence in the BWY’s ability to govern itself, let alone
anybody else.
The moral? Don’t be intimidated by any of the Governing Body propaganda.
