Perhaps this has already been discussed on here, but I realized today how ... it seems good to ask this question often.
While preparing for a lecture on yoga, to help clarify it, I asked myself what I wanted the attendees to learn (a bunch of senior citizens). As I kind of waffled back and forth on this, I found myself asking 'why do I teach this period?' What I realized is that I was teaching from a place of cultural fear - teach to prevent pain, or avoid death, but when I look at people I teach them also from a place of love. On the opposite side of this was the real reason I teach, and I didn't even know it - to help people (and myself) enjoy life and see it's beauty. To keep our surface blinders at bay so we can have JOY.
I'm not sure how this will change HOW I teach, but it will definitely change how I LOOK at it, or approach it - which will, hopefully, give it an entirely different energy and rub off on me, too :) Instead of responding to this fear in myself and my students and society I can actually practice yoga's philosophies of surrender and gratitude.
Why do YOU teach, how as that evolved for you? Ah journeys....
Namaste
While preparing for a lecture on yoga, to help clarify it, I asked myself what I wanted the attendees to learn (a bunch of senior citizens). As I kind of waffled back and forth on this, I found myself asking 'why do I teach this period?' What I realized is that I was teaching from a place of cultural fear - teach to prevent pain, or avoid death, but when I look at people I teach them also from a place of love. On the opposite side of this was the real reason I teach, and I didn't even know it - to help people (and myself) enjoy life and see it's beauty. To keep our surface blinders at bay so we can have JOY.
I'm not sure how this will change HOW I teach, but it will definitely change how I LOOK at it, or approach it - which will, hopefully, give it an entirely different energy and rub off on me, too :) Instead of responding to this fear in myself and my students and society I can actually practice yoga's philosophies of surrender and gratitude.
Why do YOU teach, how as that evolved for you? Ah journeys....
Namaste
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Wisconsin
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Re: why do you teach yoga?
Fri, April 4, 2008 - 6:18 PMTo me I ask why do I practice yoga.
I have found that my practice and experience of yoga improves the quality of my life.
I mean this in a physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual way.
My path of yoga has clearly improved the quality of my life.
My teaching is a part of this path.
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Re: why do you teach yoga?
Fri, April 4, 2008 - 7:25 PMBecause I believe I am helping people find a little more joy and empowerment in their lives.
My prenatal class has reinforced this--I've had a few of my students tell me what a different the class has been making for their pregnancy. One woman told me how empowered she now felt because when a weird ache or pain comes up for her she has the tools to deal with it via the poses and breathing and relaxation techniques. Getting that feedback makes everything worth it.
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Re: why do you teach yoga?
Sat, April 5, 2008 - 12:59 PMI could give you a very well thought out, internally grand answer but the fact for me is that teaching helps me learn. Everything I learn through teaching helps me pass along some bit of information to a student who needs it. And the wheel keeps me and others turning and sharing together. -
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Re: why do you teach yoga?
Sun, April 6, 2008 - 5:34 AMIf you had a lifesaving drug and someone needed it wouldn't you render it with all sincerity? And maybe its you that need it most for the sake of all humanity, and for the sake of all sincerity itself.
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Re: why do you teach yoga?
Mon, April 7, 2008 - 8:50 AMI teach to help people find the uninhibited, self-accepting joy I've found through yoga. Or rather, to give them the tools through yoga to find that joy for themselves.
Also, I just love teaching. It gives me energy and lightness and it's just really, really fun. -
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Re: why do you teach yoga?
Mon, April 7, 2008 - 10:02 AMI teach to help people find the joy in life. Nothing specific. But I encourage people to practice at home, even if it's just 1 or 2 poses, so they at least get into the habit. I practice yoga to learn more self-acceptance and appreciation of what I have. I usually share that in my teaching.
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Re: why do you teach yoga?
Mon, April 7, 2008 - 4:26 PMMy mentor Samuel Avital teaches that by learning something at the level of the physical body, we form the basis to experience it on other levels. For example, a kinesthetic foundation that we are establishing in yoga practice is one of dynamic interconnectivity. Inquiring into this, we learn that a movement anywhere effects the system everywhere. Once we embody this understanding, it can gradually expand into the knowledge that our individual thoughts, words, and actions effect the system of all our relations from our closest friends to the furthest reaches. To act as an individual in relationship with others to activate the perception of this interconnectivity is an essential reason why I teach and why I adore it.
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Re: why do you teach yoga?
Mon, April 7, 2008 - 7:30 PMI was absolutely shot today. I felt like I had nothing left in me. I'm recovering from knee surgery. I had already taught two classes. I picked myself up and went to class. My energy came around. Teaching is an elixir that heals me. I am better because I teach. it is in my cells. This is what I do.
As a yoga teacher, I am a subversive. I think most people come to yoga for exercise, to stretch, to physically feel better. But I am leading them to Ananda Maya Kosha. I am leading them to know their inner truth. The subtle body, the subtle mind, this source of self. I keep guiding them that way. I don't often tell that is what I am doing. I keep pointing a light at their true selves. And in the process, I get to see it as well.
Teaching is a very selfish act and one of the most giving things I do.
And, to be perfectly honestly, I teach to pay the bills.....
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Re: why do you teach yoga?
Tue, April 8, 2008 - 8:50 AMThanks all, these are great morsels to savor :) Sometimes I am ... overwhelmed in a good and scary way... by the power of what is working through me - that something so simple that I also enjoy is SO powerful and helpful for others. Praise LOVE!
Thanks Paul for the body/mind/spirit reminder - that it is easier and more approachable to learn not-so-grounded things in a grounded way and that it is this way that they integrate. mmmmmmmmmm
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