Interview: Patrick Oancia, Founder & Director of YogaJaya (Part 2 of 2), talks about YogaJaya’s Yoga Teacher Training Courses

Interview by Dylan Robertson.

This is the second of a 2-part interview with Patrick Oancia, Founder and Director of YogaJaya, one of Tokyo’s foremost yoga schools. In Part 1, we talked about how YogaJaya got started and the YogaJaya team’s philosophy on yoga. Here in Part 2, we talk about the driving forces behind YogaJaya’s highly acclaimed yoga teacher training programs.

When did YogaJaya’s yoga teacher training courses start?

We’ve been running Yoga Alliance registered courses since 2005 and started our YogaJaya International Teacher Training Accreditation Course in collaboration with the Yoga Alliance from 2007.

There seems to be a huge demand in Japan for Yoga Alliance certified courses.

Yes, and all over the world. The Yoga Alliance has a very strong vision with maintaining the integrity, authenticity and diversity of the study of yoga and many people are eager to associate themselves with them because of this.

My 200-hour course (completed at another school) was fantastic, but left me feeling that I had only discovered the tip of the iceberg in terms of what was required of me as a professional yoga teacher.

Yes, we also found that the standard 180 required contact hours for the Yoga Alliance 200 hour course was just not enough for an introductory level teacher training (TT). To answer to this, we have added additional contact hours to establish our own accreditation in collaboration with the Yoga Alliance, increasing our total training contact hours to 300 (additional 120 hours) for the YA200 affiliated course. Although developing physical yoga remains an important focus of our course, the other modules consolidate a deeper understanding of the ability to transform perceptions so to move toward maximum personal potential. The training is held morning to night on consecutive weekends and public holidays. Our TT students also have perks of coming to a designated number of public classes at the studio for the course duration and receiving reduced rates to attend additional classes, courses and workshops to help consolidate their experience of yoga. It can really be a very comprehensive and fulfilling experience for those who take advantage of this.

What kind of teaching faculty do you have?

We have teachers from all over the world with decades of experience and diverse backgrounds as yoga practitioners, athletes, academics, teachers, therapists and artists.

A few teachers, one of which includes Emil Wendel, teach the philosophy section of our 300-hour course. Emil has been living in the Asian subcontinents for over 30 years. He has been a dedicated yoga practitioner for 20 years, and also very involved in the academic study and research of Yoga and Indian philosophy as well as various aspects of Tantric Buddhism and Sanskrit. The way we approach the philosophy teachings promotes the understanding of how all wisdom traditions point us toward a deeper understanding of our practice and how not to become limited by only one perspective.

Another of our facilitators is Simon Borg Olivier. He’s the director of Yoga Synergy in Sydney, Australia and has been studying yoga since he was 10 years old. His Yoga Synergy System integrates his experience with knowledge from his masters’ degree in physiotherapy. He teaches how the different functions of the body are related to the utilization of opposing muscle groups to stabilize joints whilst working with very soft diaphragmatic breathing to accomplish a more subtle but advanced yoga practice. Some of his concepts are very different from what people are being taught in modern active Hatha Yoga. Simon is co-author of the book “Applied Anatomy and Physiology of Yoga”. This is a must for anyone interested in deepening his or her understanding of the potential of modern yoga practice. Especially for teachers. There is no other book like it on the market.

We also work with Chris Kummer, a German native who was based in Australia for many years. He’s a certified naturopath, structural alignment therapist and also a devout yoga practitioner for about 30 years. He was also introduced to yoga from childhood. Chris is able to draw a cross section between the modern western approach to anatomy and physiology, explaining practical applications and how that directly connects to the different elements of the psychic energy system explained in the yoga philosophy. He has taught Anatomy and Physiology on over 40 accredited Yoga Teacher Trainings in the past 10 years world wide and is the director of “Yoga Minds” presently based in Toronto, Canada.

We have a couple of other modules related to lifestyle that aim to build a stronger awareness of what’s going on with the social, environmental and political situation around the world. We believe that as yoga teachers, we can make a contribution to cultivating awareness on a world scale by taking action and responsibility for the way we live our lives.

For example, we’ve developed a new course module called “Social Synthesis”, based on the key attributes of yoga philosophy but at the same time points out certain concepts of human rights, equality of opportunity, and passive versus active participation in the world. From this, students can better understand yoga philosophy and how it applies in a very practical and contemporary way in the world. It looks at topics like racism and class society, gender and sexuality, cultural and social conditioning and active versus passive participation.

We also offer an in-depth module on Sustainable Ethics. One of our facilitators for this module is Junko Niwa, a Japanese woman who spent many years in the UK and completed a Master’s degree in sustainable design and concepts. Her teachings are about getting into the basic core issues of being human, and how our actions directly effect the environment that we live. In this, students can get a broader picture of how this “union” in “yoga” relates to nature and the environmental condition of the world.

Additionally, our self-inquiry module introduces applied techniques of modern psychology, Eastern philosophy, and life coaching. We introduce a multi-dimensional look on psychological conditioning and the personal decision to manifest potential through awareness. We are very fortunate to have Steph Davis lecturing on our courses from this year on the topic of personal empowerment. Steph Davis is one of the world’s top free solo rock climbers (this means she climbs with no ropes!) And sometimes base jumps (parachutes) off to get back down! She authored the book, “High Infatuation- a climbers guide to love and gravity”. In High Infatuation, she writes on the universal themes of life, love, friendship, personal empowerment, told through her career in professional climbing. The book follows her journey, and you can understand the depth of what it means to live a virtuous, fulfilling and adventurous life. She lectures all over the world on topics which include overcoming fear and understanding personality structure in relation on how to overcome personal limitations. She is a yoga practitioner and a vegan activist.

People have misconceptions about yoga just being this superficial physical practice. It is through working with various different people and metaphors that we hope to offer a more broad perspective on how the yoga philosophy connects to everything in life. In this way, we can work toward removing the limitations that we create for ourselves through opening our minds and hearts in devotion, determination, passion and dedication.

We have developed an advanced course to be launched in 2011. This will fall into the 500-hour Yoga Alliance category and accredits people under our YJAT 700 hour status. Whereby most YA500 hour courses only require 280 contact hours, the YogaJaya course offers 400 contact hours, expanding on the topics from our 300-hour TT also introducing several new modules.

I understand that your course also prepares students for the business side of a yoga-teaching career.

Yes, another component of our course is “Yoga and Career”. This module is related to integrating yoga into the professional world and how modern business and work ethics are in line with yoga philosophy and personal integrity. Even if somebody’s not interested in becoming a yoga teacher or starting their own yoga business, this module shows people that there are different ways to develop and enjoy a career. We give a cross section of how different people can establish any career with integrity to manifest personal potential, giving students an opportunity to determine for themselves what’s going to be the best route to fulfill their happiness in the workplace or as a private business owner. We advocate that you can earn a living, have a great lifestyle, and fuse these through integrity, virtue and awareness.

For more information about YogaJaya’s yoga teacher training courses in Tokyo, please visit www.yogajaya.com.