EXPERTS

I read an intriguing blog post this morning about a blogster who works in the exercise/fitness area who is trying to get a book deal. While she has a popular and informative blog with a lot of good tips on nutrition and training, she is having no luck because publishers tell her she needs to be an expert in the field and have a designation beyond certified trainer, which are a dime a dozen.

Projecting that into the field of yoga, I wondered what would make a person an expert in the field of yoga. Beyond a 200 hour and now 500 hour designation with Yoga Alliance how can you tell who the experts are. Some of them are dead already or you have to go to India.

My advice on this as far as seeking a teacher is to check their biography and look at their training. See if the lineage they have trained in is akin to your heart and be open to new styles. My first experiences with Anusara yoga for example were horrible and I could not understand the popularity, now I am actively seeking more training and have bought a lot of home study materials to figure out what the heck those universal principles mean.

If you are seeking more training as a teacher, my advice is to seek teachers who have trained well. A lot of the teachers I have worked with, for example, actually worked with Iyengar. Look at your favorite teacher and see who they worked with and seek out more that have a similar background when looking for training.

As far as writing a book or promoting dvds, a lot of it has to do with popularity. Teachers who are out there a lot can do this easily without a lot of accreditation. Look out for how they promote themselves. I have seen people who promote themselves as "Master" teachers who I doubt really are. Did someone give them a certificate that says "Master"? Most of the great teachers do NOT promote themselves that way out of humility and modesty. Please.

My blog will move to the new domain within a day or two. New site and more stuff. I will be out of blogspot but you will be able to access the site from here. I have been working heavily on that and it will be ORGANIC and expect to see some changes.