During the coronavirus pandemic, the whole world was trapped inside their homes without connection with other people. Millions of people became lonely and felt low points of isolation throughout the mandated home confinement periods. We saw families everywhere meeting on zoom to stay in touch, and friends began having Netflix watch parties to connect over movie nights while everyone remained safe from infection from the comfort of their own homes.
A lot of people turned to mind-body practices during this time period to help ease the tension of being all alone. Yoga classes shifted to online settings, and even yoga teacher training programs became available online. Many people wanted to know if yoga teachers can make money, and when they learned that yoga teachers do make money, online yoga teacher certification programs began to fill up.
Modern technology has expanded to meet yoga teachers and practitioners where they are. There are many online learning platforms that host entire education programs and there are other software programs that host online yoga studios. Technology advancements have made it possible for people everywhere to practice yoga with the teachers of their choice, and for yoga teachers to grow and expand their student bases. This really opens doors for yoga practitioners who were previously limited to their local yoga studios and whatever style of yoga was offered there.
There are so many styles of yoga and yoga practitioners have many options to choose from when they are looking for a yoga class or a yoga training program. Some styles of yoga don’t even have much physical movement. Martin Luther King was the greatest yogi ever and never got on a yoga mat. Some styles of yoga, such as ashtanga or vinyasa, can be very vigorous and really increase the heart rate. Other styles of yoga such as yin or restorative are slower, more gentle, and don’t even require standing postures. There’s even Yoga Nidra which is a form of sleeping while doing yoga.
Technology has created unique opportunities for all of those who practice yoga to connect with other like-minded individuals in yoga classes of their choice. Technology has also enabled people to become certified yoga teachers through online yoga teacher training programs. It is quite easy to become a yoga teacher now with all of the new technology that is available. People can choose from yoga training programs in any country, across many different lineages of yoga, that last different lengths of time and that have different requirements for graduation.
Online meeting spaces like zoom have created opportunities for yoga training programs to offer correction for form in yoga poses in live time with a live instructor. Some of the software for learning management has given yoga teachers the ability to learn through pre-recorded lectures when a live instructor is not necessary. With all of the advances in yoga through technology, people have found a lot of relief from the isolation felt during the pandemic.
