This meditation has struck a chord with me over recent days so I thought I would share it.
“I am willing to see the magnificence of me. I now choose to eliminate from my mind and life every negative, destructive, fearful idea and thought that would keep me from being the magnificent woman that I am meant to be. I now stand up on my own two feet and support myself and think for myself. I give myself what I need. It is safe for me to grow. The more I fulfill myself, the more people love me. I join the ranks of women healing other women.
I am a blessing to the planet. My future is bright and beautiful!”
On a yoga day yesterday with Helena del Pino we talked about
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, which reminded me of that “OMG
Eureka” moment when I first studied these and realised that it was all right there in those first three verses. Everything. The whole point of yoga.
atha yoganusasanam
yogah citta vrtti nirodhah
tada drastuh svarupe avasthanam
OK so I’m going to try and translate that as best I can. 
We need to commit to our practice and to learning from a teacher (even when we are teachers ourselves). We need to restrain the movements of the mind to allow the mind to be clear and calm. Then we will be able to see ourselves as we really are.
Amazingly simple and pretty awesome huh? Yet so hard. So hard!
To even begin to achieve this we need discipline and routine. We need to start to become self aware – we can only change if we are aware of what needs to be changed. We need to surrender – be aware that we just cannot control EVERYTHING.
We need to look after our bodies and our minds together. Sometimes we need to turn all the external stimuli off completely and listen to our bodies and our minds because they contain the real information that is important to our lives. But there is always so much external stimuli. Even as I type this I can hear the hum of my laptop. The sound of my neighbours’ (extremely loud) TV. We are constantly bombarded by news feeds, and twitter links and blogs (and yes I see the irony) and music and muzak and advertising and ….. oh the list is endless. This very typically western situation is why Krishnamacharya believed that the only real way to meditate in the West was by using Vedic chanting (it’s extremely hard to get distracted when you’re trying to pronounce Sanskrit correctly).
Sometimes I love technology. But most times it drives me wild with the constant bombardment of things I don’t necessarily want to be bombarded with. It is why over the last few months I have been trying my hardest to cut many forms of reporting and media from my life.
It’s hard but I want to find the right balance.
The interwebz have been full of thoughts and answers to this question and it’s something I’ve been mulling over for a while. I thought I’d add my two pennies for what it’s worth. This is purely how *I* feel as a yoga teacher and bears no judgement whatsoever on teachers who think differently!
I think teachers, of any discipline, are enablers. We enable our students to reach their full potential. We encourage them to keep working, to keep improving. Sometimes our students surpass us. My mother was an English teacher for many many years and got many of her students into Oxbridge – a feat she never managed herself. Sometimes we just help our students move on to the next level.
As a yoga teacher therefore it is not imperitive that we can perform every asana we teach “perfectly” (whatever that means). In fact, in my experience, I have found that my own limitations give my students a deeper insight into their own practice. “Look at me,” I say, “I can’t do some of these asanas very well. Some of them I may never do in this lifetime, but I keep trying because yoga is a journey, a work in progress”. I’ve always found this attitude makes my students realise what they are capable of, because they can see I am only human too.
Because to me what we as western yoga teachers are not is great leaders, gurus, spiritual teachers. I don’t ever want to be seen that way. It makes me uncomfortable when students refer to me as their guru, or even their mentor. I am just an ordinary woman with an ordinary job who teaches some yoga because it is my greatest love. I am just helping you a little along your road in yoga. Most of the work comes from you, from deep inside. Don’t become too attached to a teacher or a particular class in a particular place because this detracts from the root of yoga. That part of yoga that you carry around with you anywhere. That ability to practice, wherever you are, whenever you need to.
I am not denying there are some teachers who are able to lead the way, who are able to give deep insight into the spirit and philosophy of yoga. But if you are just an ordinary person who enjoys coming to a weekly yoga class to stretch and relax and meet people and ease your bad back then you really are the same as me. Eventually you will probably strive for more, you will look for further reading, you will self study, you will find yourself being kinder, calmer, less demanding. You may even train to teach yourself. But at the end of the day we are all the same, we are all on the yoga road. We are all in it together.
Namaste
