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The booming business of yoga provides employment opportunity to thousands

Yoga benefits

The yoga industry, an integral component of the overall wellness  market, is booming today. The ongoing Covid 19 pandemic has only given a “huge push” to this discipline which has its origins in India.

“The number of students has doubled in the last four years but the pandemic has created demand like never-before. More and more people are eager to practise yoga that is related to breathing and mental balance,” Sarvjeet Kumar Yadav, yoga therapist who holds a Masters degree in Yog Science told India Narrative.

Yadav, among others, provides regular Yoga sessions to several players of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) focusing only on building their mental strength and concentration. That apart, he has several students from the corporate world from across the globe.

“The therapy and training are related to the mind. For example, if a bowler is hit consecutively for three sixes, he can easily lose his concentration. I train the player to keep up with his concentration and more importantly, keep calm and maintain the focus with the ball. This is done with meditation and breathing exercises,” Yadav explained.

Also read: Back story: Why did India propose the International Yoga Day?

Yadav, in 2016, had just four students. Today he has over 30. 

According to the Allied Market Research, the global yoga market size was estimated at $37,462.5 million in 2019 and is expected to touch $66,226.4 million by 2027 —  a growth of 9.6 per cent.

In the US alone, the yoga industry touched $11.56 billion in 2020, according to data portal Statista.

Prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, the formal yoga market in India was roughly valued at $7 billion.  But the actual market size of yoga could be multiple times bigger as a large chunk of the business, especially in India, categorises as informal.

Yoga and employment opportunity 

Though much of the industry is informal, this ancient Indian discipline has provided employment opportunities to thousands of people.

Shiv Kumar, another Gurgaon based yoga coach said that the discipline which integrates the soul, mind and body has only grown in the last four years.

“Yoga had become a craze, a way of life even before the Covid 19 pandemic. People across the world have only become health conscious and now the Coronavirus pandemic has given a further push to this discipline, Kumar said.

Also read: Coping with Covid — how Yoga helped unlock inner reserves of body and mind

A certified Yoga therapist or trainer in India can easily earn upward of Rs 1000 of a session of one hour. In fact, Yadav charges anywhere between $22 and $25 from students who live outside India.

However, charges could depend on the qualification of the yoga trainer. “The more qualified the trainer is, the better the remuneration is,” said Kumar.

The Covid 19 related lockdowns and restrictions have decreased social interactions, which, in turn, has resulted in an increase in mental stress among the population, Allied Market Research said. “Practicing yoga has helped practitioners to release mental stress. Furthermore, various studies have been carried out to find the effect of yoga on health,” it noted.

https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/yoga-market-A06967

Data portal Statista revealed that in 2018, the number of people practicing yoga in the US alone stood at around 28.75 million. The number of people practising Yoga in the US now may have touched 55 million, it said.