Truth… Satya, as it is called in the Yamas. Today’s reading during the close of yoga practice really hit home for me. The reading described how not living in our truth saps the life out of us. It’s as though God says, “Well, since you aren’t doing what I created you to do… I guess I’ll just take some of that back and use it elsewhere.” The Bible also speaks of this in the parable of the three servants (Matthew 25:14-30) in relation to money. Money being just another form of energy also illustrates this point very well. Having had a rough day at work, the reminder came that I am being sapped of my energy in my current line of full-time work. I am not meant for the 9 to 5 life and I know it yet I’m hanging on for security when my soul knows it wants to let go. In this case, I’m the servant hoarding away the talents that bring me joy and could truly impact the lives of others for fear of not being financially stable if left.
I often joke with my fiancé that “I love my job… when I don’t have to do it.” If that isn’t a sign enough that I’m clinging to something that I should probably let go, I don’t know what is. I grew up with the idea that, “Nobody likes to work for a living, that’s why they call it work. It’s something we all have to do.” My soul rebels against this idea and part of me questions whether I’m delusional for feeling that this is a big fat lie or whether the world has gone mad. I know that no matter what you do, effort is required, and it doesn’t always go the way you hope it will. There will be ups and downs no matter what your career path because that’s life… a beautiful union of opposites. However, I do feel that we were all sent to this Earth with a purpose and that there are certain types of work that resonate deeply and feel more meaningful than others for each one of us.
I’m on the path to doing more of what I love. I know that much. As I continue to attend yoga classes with the beautiful women at my studio and progress through the 200 hour yoga teacher training, the excitement grows. I find myself envisioning the type of experience that I want to offer my students when I start teaching. I am listening to their cues and paying attention to their cadence and realizing that I enjoy some instructors more than others because they pace their cues in consistency with my natural breathing pattern, not too slow, not too fast, but perfectly. I think about how I want to be the kind of instructor who flows with my class in such a way. Knowing when to speak, and when to be still.
I observe them greeting their students, how one of my instructors specifically is always smiling and knows every person by name. She has a way of making you feel special. Her beautiful spirit carries through from the moment she greets you to the moment you leave the studio. You can’t help but walk out feeling on top of the moon. This is primarily what I want to offer the souls who find their way to the classes I offer. I want Spirit to shine through in every moment of the class so that they are bathed in light from the moment they step into my presence and carry the light off into the world. When I think about teaching yoga, I think about lighting up this corner of the world one soul at a time and I pray that those who need a lift will find their way into my class and leave feeling more themselves, more lit up, more authentic, more in tune with all that is each time they come.
As I think about my playlists, I continue to add songs that have depth and point the way back to Spirit, back to truth, back to love. It’s my hope that the music and my intention sinks deeply into each soul as the practice works it’s magic and Spirit infuses each person in only the way that Spirit can. I hope to serve as a conduit for the alchemy that takes place each time they hit their mat as so many have served for me in my own yogic experience. While I don’t want to rely on the music, I know music has been a huge part of my own spiritual healing journey and I want to allow others to experience it for themselves. Do I think that the music I resonate with will be for everyone? Nope… Do I want to infuse each class with what has been helpful and healing to me? Absolutely.
I’ve been listening to podcasts geared toward yoga teachers who talk about the fact that “It’s a job” and I think to myself, “No, it’s a sacred responsibility.” However, in the West, we tend to butcher anything that has a hint of the sacred in it. We rip the philosophy right out of yoga and pretend like we’re teaching people yoga when we’re just serving as an exercise instructor. The more deeply I delve into traditional yoga, the more I am confirmed in my own personal experience of yoga. Asana was meant to be a very small part of one’s practice, yet it takes central stage in our westernized society. The Vedas are never mentioned in classes that I’ve been to nor is the full 8 limbed path and the purpose of yoga. In my training, we have not had to study the Vedas or the Bhagavad Gita. It’s disappointing because all of the beauty of this ancient practice is being lost in translation.
I don’t think this is because people aren’t open to it, but because teachers who come out of training with only 200 hours and maybe no background having done any type of spiritual work within their own being don’t quite “get it.” They focus so much on learning anatomy, the particulars of each pose, and how to cue the physical body that they pass over the main purpose of the practice. Because they fail to ingest the depth and beauty of the practice, they fail their students by not offering this wisdom to them. We cannot offer that which we don’t have, which is why the primary goal of any yoga teacher should be their own personal spiritual development and the refining of their own spirit.
I told my therapist, that I know what kind of teacher I want to be. I want to be the kind that instills the primary purpose for the practice within my students. I want to be a teacher who highlights the spiritual work over the physical. I want to bring students to self-examination while teaching them the morality found within the sacred texts, yamas and niyamas (and also the commandments as much of the Christian guidelines also fall into the yogic guidelines… truth is truth!)… I want to help people set themselves free. Free from anything that pulls them away from the highest version of themselves. Free from their baggage and ego. Free from the prison that their own minds have put many of them in. My only goal, in all areas of my life is to work for progress within myself and extend my hand in service to help others to do the same.
Do you practice the 8 limbed path of yoga or solely asana (physical postures)? If so, what draws you to class? Would you be deterred from going to a class that offers more philosophy and a deeper experience?