The Making of a Yoga Teacher

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Praise the lord

The other day I had the pleasure of having two yoga teachers visit me at my home and as we soaked up a few rays, we also soaked in some good conversation.

Facebook, like any other tool, can be used for good or for bad; can be positive or negative, constructive or destructive. As one teacher spoke about her feelings regarding a recent Facebook battle, she said this, “I was disappointed, because he is a yoga teacher”.

It is my hope that we all hold ourselves to the highest standards, both personally and professionally. That we have enough self awareness to realize that we do not hold the title of yoga teacher; we teach yoga.

There may be pages upon pages written to communicate the differences, but I will save us from reading them, in order to encourage our own introspection and reflection.

We teach yoga and that is an honor. Because we are up in the “lights”, we are looked upon in a certain way.  Use that to lift you, but do not use it to fool you. We are just like the students we teach.  We simply play the role of teacher. Our winning formula comes from this truth.  It comes from being ourselves.  It comes from being honest with ourselves, with the world and secure in that knowledge!  We do not need to pretend or hide.  We do not need to be on an endless chase or “knowing more”.  We just need to speak to people’s hearts.  We need to make a great playlist and have fun with it; let it do the talking.  We need to get people sweating and thinking; that’s it!

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What is clear is that we are not yoga teachers.  We are humans just sharing our hopes, strengths and wisdom with others. There is no pressure to be great.  There is only encouragement to be you!

Now that we understand that we share yoga and not teach it, lets push ourselves to be professional. It does not matter what anyone else is doing, or how they are behaving; be professional.  Smell good, look good and be on time.

Yoga teachers should spend more time talking about life than muscles and bones.  Talk about your music, or more importantly, why you play it.   Even if the same dialogue is used in every class, make it meaningful.  Have conversations that everyone is afraid of having and make them comfortable.   We have the opportunity to touch people in a moving, meaningful way, every day.

Lets seize the opportunity and bring our strengths and our weaknesses into it.

I can’t, we can!

Peace,

EP

10 Comments

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  2. Thank you EP my wise Guru and dear friend. So well said. It is hard to be on that stage and to play a role other than authenticity. When we surrender and just serve, this beautiful connection happens in each class that is unspeakable! I am so proud to be on this team. To be a Yoga Shelter Teacher. To let people see when I am human as well.
    Namaste.

  4. Once more the honest words are spoken that explain the mission of the Yoga Shelter and the search for the ideal we work towards together. Yo here we go now!

  5. Once again my Teacher, my Life Guide, you are spot-on. What a concept, “sharing” not “teaching” yoga! A famous playwright, Shakespeare, I think is his name, said “all the world is a stage and the men and women merely players…” The only way we are believable as teachers and as humans is playing (sharing) ourselves. I love that Team Shelter has given me that stage to play “me”!!!

  6. Great article, I want to print it and read it every week. I love that the teachers at the Yoga Shelter do not separate themselves from the class, they genuinely share themselves with us. That is one of many things that makes you unique.

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