NEWS
News and views from the New Zealand fitness industry.
Embracing yoga into the exercise community
As a part of our commitment to support the entire
exercise community, including those that use exercise
and movement as part of a more holistic environment,
ExerciseNZ recently hosted a series of yoga forums
around the country to explore how yoga practitioners
could be better supported by working collaboratively. The
response from the yoga community was fantastic.
The outcomes from the forums have been shared,
with a key one being backing for the establishment of
an NZ Yoga Teachers Council (working name only),
that ExerciseNZ has agreed to support. Several other
organisations that had already expressed interest in
supporting the yoga community in New Zealand have
been invited to be part of this project, including the New
Zealand Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs), Skills
Active, Yoga New Zealand, IYTA NZ and the Yoga Alliance.
As part of its involvement in this project, ExerciseNZ
is reviewing its various resources for exercise facilities
(such as health and safety, membership agreements and
employment guide) to ensure they are fit for purpose
and relevant to yoga studios. Several yoga studios have
already signed up to be part of the review process.
It’s certainly an exciting time to be part of the yoga
Health & Safety for exercise professionals
One of the hot topics at the ExerciseNZ Roadshow this
year was health and safety for exercise professionals.
ExerciseNZ has already developed and distributed
a comprehensive guide for exercise facilities in New
Zealand, and is currently finalising a similar resource for
exercise professionals. The guide will
cover what is needed to comply with
the new health and safety laws, as
well as provide the hands-on tools
and samples to do so. All those
registered with the New
Zealand
Register
of
Exercise Professionals
(REPs) will receive the
resource for free.
community, with yoga growly strongly everywhere from
studios to school halls, as well as private homes. We
want to make sure we are there to support it.
On a personal level, I took up yoga just three years
ago but am already converted. I’ve seen yoga work on so
many different levels, and provide benefits to everyone
from the inactive through to the gym junkie. This diversity
applies equally to yoga teachers, with many coming
from traditional yoga backgrounds and education
methods, while others are finding it through gyms and
contemporary exercise, and using it to compliment other
disciplines, from PT to holistic healing.
For more information on the forums, and to keep
up-to-date with what’s happening as a result, visit
exercisenz.org.nz/yoga
Namaste,
Richard Beddie
CEO, ExerciseNZ
[email protected]
NZ’s FitEx conference brochure and
bookings now online
Registrations to attend New Zealand’s FitEx
conference are now open at fitex.co.nz. This year
the conference is going all-in on technology, with
both the event brochure and full speaker profiles
being made available online. Supporting the
website will be an app that attendees can use to
get up-to-date information on everything from the
session schedule and rooms, to where to get the
best coffee, making it a true one-stop-shop for
information on FitEx.
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