YOGA RESPONSIBLY means listening to your own instinct as a student. But, it also means doing your best to create a class and environment that is safe for your students based on the knowledge you have received as a Teacher. If you throw that knowledge or information out the window in order to make the class ‘harder’ or more ‘popular’ then you are compromising your students safety and eventually causing them more harm than good………
We learn as we go because there are so many things to consider. So, of course, none of us are perfect. BUT, if we’ve been made aware and have received the information that can help us and others then why wouldn’t we put it into practice? After all, that is why we came into yoga, Either to help ourselves or others, or hopefully, both.
As, I’ve recently learned through training and other more knowledgeable and experienced teachers, practicing more than 3 standing/balancing poses on one leg, in a row, could be potentially damaging to the hip joint. The average person does not have the core strength to move through so many balancing poses on one leg, one right after the other, in turn proper alignment is not even accessible. Over time this could damage a person’s hip joint.
“Today many schools of yoga are just about pushing people. You can’t believe what’s going on — teachers jumping on people, pushing and pulling and saying, ‘You should be able to do this by now.’ It has to do with their egos. My message was that ‘Asana is not a panacea or a cure-all. In fact, if you do it with ego or obsession, you’ll end up causing problems.’ A lot of people don’t like to hear that.” ~Glenn Black
Yoga is healing practice. I’ve become aware of this more and more since I’ve been teaching and just how important it really is. Yes,we can be challenged and build strength through yoga in many ways. One way is by working more of the alignment in each pose. Which seems to get overlooked. A lot of newer students (and sometimes even more experienced ones) have not yet learned to honor their body and they just want to push harder. Its something that most of us have experienced personally and seen in others. This is just our ego. Through yoga we learn to conquer the ego and cultivate more awareness. I feel as teachers it’s important to encourage this growth in ourselves and our students. I’ve also learned, as of late, that while it may be easier to please others and give into what they want it is more important, although more difficult, to do what you know is the right thing. That can be a hard lesson and one in which I’m sure will take some more practice.
Cultivate awareness of how you are acting and why you are doing the things you are choosing to do BEFORE just reacting to what you feel. None of us are perfect and there will be times we fall into reaction and emotions. But, over time and with practice we can learn to control it. We can only do this if we’re willing to see ourselves and take ownership for what we have done.
It’s important for a Yoga teacher to guide their class in a safe way, giving students OPTIONS, CHOICES and reminders to listen to their body, take breaks when needed, and follow their own inner guidance. However, it is up to each individual student to be aware of what’s behind their choices. Are you moving too quickly and pushing too hard and, if so, WHY? A large part of Yoga is Svadhyaya/Self Awareness, learning to recognize the ego when it comes up. As humans we all have ego. Through yoga we learn to slow down & in turn become more aware of the ego so we can acknowledge it when it comes up, NOT in order to judge it, because then we’ll just be replacing ego with more ego & blame. We work toward cultivating awareness in order to understand the ego….Become one with it. Learn to control the ego instead of letting the ego control you. It’s not always an easy feat. It takes lots of practice, over time, and there’s no state of perfection that is reached. It doesn’t exist as long as we’re human. Instead, it’s a constant journey of understanding and acceptance. This comes into many different areas of life. When there’s a lack of awareness in anything problems will arise. We just do the best we can wherever we’re at, in any given moment. Then, move forward to the next moment and try again.