Advocacy – Yoga Australia

Advocacy for the Yoga Profession

As the peak body for yoga in Australia, Yoga Australia actively encourages and facilitates action to improve the quality of the profession in Australia. We effect positive change for members and practitioners in the Yoga community.

Latest Action

Yoga is Peak Experience: 2025 Wrap Up

Yoga is Peak Experience We don’t need to explain consciousness to someone who’s just tasted it. The experience itself becomes the teaching, the proof, the…

The Credibility of Yoga as Evidence-Based Health Intervention

Open letter to healthcare decision makers, policy advisors, and insurance providers. This statement presents the evidence supporting yoga as a credible health intervention within Australia’s…

Adhikārī – Rethinking Readiness in Modern Yoga

In contemporary culture, we often hear the phrase: “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” But what does it really mean to be…

Direct action:

We engage with all levels of government and the health industry
We lobby on behalf of teachers to improve rates of pay, fair superannuation etc
We promote a broader understanding of yoga as an established modality to support health and well-being
We support reputable research and case studies that demonstrate the impact that yoga can have in many parts of the community
We conduct industry forums where policy can be discussed, and we facilitate collaboration with primary and secondary stakeholders both within yoga and the broader community. Keep reading to learn more about our policy and legislative advocacy.

Beyond strictly yoga-related advocacy, we also actively take part in many other good-for-the-world activities, such as those that impact our environment.

Our advocacy aims:

Improve the understanding of yoga and its role in health and wellness;
Encourage and inform government, industry, and health professionals to develop their understanding of yoga and its role in providing beneficial outcomes and positive changes for the community;
Encourage our members’ engagement in regulatory and policy changes;
Encourage research into the impact of yoga in the community
Promote the development of policy and regulation to support and improve the quality of yoga
Contribute to broader policy issues affecting health and well-being where our perspective will add value.

Yoga Australia’s Guiding Principles

Classical Yogic Precepts

The yama and niyama as outlined in Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtras offer behavioural guidelines for practitioners: ahiṃsā (nonviolence), satya (truthfulness), asteya (non-stealing), brahmacarya (right use of energy), aparigraha (non-grasping), śauca (cleanliness), saṃtoṣa (contentment), tapas (discipline), svādhyāya (self-study), and īśvarapraṇidhāna (surrender to what is greater). These are not moral commandments but practical orientations toward clarity and away from harm.

Yoga’s ethical foundations predate Patañjali. The yama and niyama appear in varied forms across the Upaniṣads, in Śaiva and Tantric traditions, in Haṭha texts like the Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā, and in the oral teachings of living lineages. Each articulates the relationship between conduct and practice differently. Some emphasise renunciation, others integration. Some list five principles, others ten or more.

What endures is the recognition that consciousness shapes conduct. The familiar English translations—nonviolence, truthfulness, contentment—carry centuries of colonial and religious reinterpretation. The deeper inquiry concerns movement away from hiṃsā in all its forms: not only physical violence but the subtler violence of grasping, accumulation, and self-deception. These guidelines support the practitioner in becoming less entangled, more present, less harmful.

Yoga Australia does not prescribe a single ethical framework. We expect members to engage seriously with the traditions they teach and to conduct themselves with integrity, care, and respect.

Membership Obligations

Yoga Australia accepts members from all Australian states and territories. Applicants must disclose prior convictions, disciplinary proceedings, or pending complaints relating to their practice. Yoga Australia reserves the right to suspend or expel members in accordance with the Constitution.

Members are required to abide by the Yoga Australia Constitution and this Code of Professional Conduct, meet CPD requirements of 12 points (minimum 20 hours per year for Level 2 and 3), maintain current First Aid qualifications, and hold public liability insurance ($2m) and professional indemnity insurance ($10m). Recommended insurer is GSA Insurance.

Continuing Professional Development

The yogic path is one of perpetual learning. Continuing Professional Development reflects this commitment, keeping teachers current with evolving practices and evidence while deepening their own understanding. CPD is an opportunity to deliver better outcomes for clients. All members accrue 12 points each year (consisting of 20 hours for Level 2 and 3). Yoga Australia provides CPD Short Courses on the member platform, and members may also complete courses from external providers. Compulsory topics include mental health and cultural awareness. A committed personal practice is assumed.

Professional Conduct

The relationship between teacher and practitioner carries particular responsibility. In this context, “practitioner” includes those attending yoga classes, clinical clients, teacher trainees, and those being mentored. Respect means welcoming practitioners regardless of cultural background, age, gender identity, ethnicity, physical and mental abilities, sexual orientation, or religious beliefs. It means maintaining spaces that are safe, clean, and comfortable. It means listening, communicating honestly, and protecting privacy.

Consent and Physical Contact

Physical adjustments are common in yoga instruction, but they require care. Consent must be obtained before any physical contact, and it may be withdrawn at any time. A practitioner who declines touch owes no explanation. Teachers should remain attentive to non-verbal cues, provide clear methods to decline, and seek ongoing consent throughout the session.

Professional Boundaries

Context shapes what boundaries are appropriate. A drop-in community class differs from a long-term mentoring relationship or a therapeutic setting. Power dynamics are inherent in professional relationships, and teachers must be alert to them. Behaviour that harasses or exploits practitioners is unacceptable. Conflicts of interest should be declared and addressed. Where personal relationships develop, they should be navigated with transparency, mutual consent, and regard for the professional context.

Integrity and Conduct Towards Peers

Yoga professionals should represent the benefits of yoga honestly and fairly. They should respect copyright and acknowledge sources. The yoga community benefits when teachers speak respectfully of other traditions and health modalities. Public forums, including social media, require the same care as face-to-face interactions.

Claims and Representations

Yoga Australia professionals must not claim to cure or diagnose any medical condition, make claims about therapeutic benefits that cannot be substantiated, or advertise services beyond the scope of their yoga teaching qualifications.

Members should represent that yoga may assist, relieve, or improve certain conditions and promote general health and wellbeing. They should be familiar with the evidence base for yoga’s benefits and able to reference it when discussing yoga with clients, healthcare providers, and insurers.