Yoga is staging a comeback as a leisure activity, particularly for women. But experts say the instructor in the ancient Asian practice should be well-qualified.
British yoga teacher Dina Karim says it's a method for making the body "a fit vehicle for the soul." The practice includes breathing exercises, relaxation and concentration, alongside its 84 classical postures, or "asanas." Karim says the aim is to enable students to gain "greater strength, stamina, flexibility, tranquillity, alertness, concentration and sensitivity, as well as improved breathing and relaxation."
But Liz Parker of the British Wheel of Yoga strongly advises that would-be yoga students find out how long a teacher has been practicing and what qualifications he or she has. An unskilled instructor can put students at risk, she warns.
"Anyone can call themselves a yoga teacher," Parker says. "Some have only done a short course of lessons. In terms of safety, it is better to go to somebody who has been properly trained."
