Don’t let the teacher fool you.
Often times, as yoga teachers, we are fooled into building our own egos. The name of teacher alone creates a sense of superiority or hierarchy at times.
I’ve often thought to myself about how little we are trained prior to teaching. When I first took my 200 hr Vinyasa Teacher Training, I had already been teaching for 4 years under a Hatha Certification. It was a set sequence and that allowed me to guide people, but ultimately I wasn’t truly teaching. In my 200 hr training there were around 20 people, to which some of them didn’t know how to feel the alignment of their downward facing dog. This is something that comes with lots of practice in time. Your downward dog can change, but ultimately it must be experienced before guiding anyone else in their journey. In my first Hatha training, the students were encouraged to complete at least 1 year of practice prior to training and the students also were to submit a recommendation letter from the studio owner as part of the application process. Meaning that each student needed to ultimately know what you were getting into before they began.
With the copious amounts of Yoga teacher trainings out there now, you really don’t know anyone’s level of experience. Honestly the criteria is low. Once you have that certificate, you are officially a Yoga Teacher. There are continuing education courses that most dedicated teachers take when they are complying with boards, such as, Yoga Alliance. This can be useful, but I don’t feel it sets up teachers to be better before entering the field or setting off on their own yoga teaching path.
Another thing that has resulted from so many teacher trainings being offered is that you don’t know who is truly good or not. Just because a teacher is popular doesn’t make them a master of yoga, or even mean they actually practice yoga in their daily lives. (Trust me, I’ve seen a lot of teachers not practice what they preach.) Personally I have never fallen for the amount of years one has taught to be a credential. Ultimately, it is very difficult to find a teacher who truly practices all the aspects of yoga in their everyday life in the western world. It’s hard for anyone who is trying to make it as a yoga teacher. Many other teachers in my experience would be really great life coaches. A life coach helps you fix things in your life for the better. A yoga teacher isn’t there to point out what you need to change, they point you to the changeless. They allow you to see what part you play in your life, and guide you to live beyond the concepts that are imposed upon you by society.
Not many people truly teach yoga, which is why so many people travel to India still to search for its roots. Just because one goes to India doesn’t mean they are a better teacher or student. That is ego. I also don’t have a problem with classes focusing on the anatomy or the basic fundamentals. The thing that drives me crazy is when the teacher takes the seat of an enlightened person with no humility. Personally, it’s clear as day when a teacher tries to wear the robes of a master but are not. I’ve found that many people are fooled by anything that makes them feel good. I used to say that going to yoga isn’t about feeling good. It is about meeting yourself that day, allowing yourself to question and experience; as a result from the practice of accepting everything for what it is, it feels like love. It becomes a state of bliss because you are allowing life, not changing it to be something you prefer in a controlled way.
I share this not to complain, not to create a sense of superiority about myself, not to encourage you to criticize every little aspect of a teacher. I share this perspective to hopefully encourage humility. There is always more to learn, there are so many things that teachers don’t know. Although I understand that many people/teachers want respect, to sit at the thrown of the teacher, we must ask ourselves, “Who is wanting the respect?”. It is the ego alone that wants respect. Respect will come naturally when it is deserved. It is not something to desire.
As teachers, we do not need to compare ourselves to other teachers. One of my favorite quotes is, “Do not compare yourself to the way he is swimming or the way she is swimming, or you will drown.” Sri Ramakant Maharaj - Meaning that even if someone else is placing their comparison on you or you on them, stay strong in your practice, in your conviction, in your mediation, in your selfless self. Even if you falter, practice again and again, you will find that the layers of illusion will slowly melt around you and all will be left is… (Well, that is for you to figure out 😉)