So, this business side of yoga has prompted me to been reflect on the changes in the social position of yoga and yoga teachings in our western culture. Traditionally in India it is a great blessing to find a teacher that will share the deep teachings of yoga. These teachings are considered priceless and yet access is considered our birth rite. Sincere students finds generous teachers, maybe after a period of trial and testing. There are many humorous stories of students Ego' being worn down by pointless tasks given them by teachers'.  

 

60 years ago and earlier even when yoga entered western society, early teachers like Vivekananda were highly revered and The Beatles were at the forefront of the hippy explosion in India revering Maharishi Maneshi Yogi. In the pretty conservative society of the day though, Yoga seemed confined to the hippy communes, adventurous travellers’ to Asia and a few eccentric housewives!

 

It certainly wasn't the commodity it has become today.  In my life I've watched the explosion in popularity of yoga as a physical and mental health tool. Depth teachings have been made accessible by quality teachers. These teachers' have also ran teacher training's and qualified an abundance of grateful yogi's who have benefited by everything they have learnt. I've also seen traditional teaching diluted into pop-psychology in order to make it accessible. I've seen very experienced teachers' teaching students with mixed practice experience and thus charismatic new teachers with marketing finesse devotedly sharing what they have gained by practising yoga or doing short teacher trainings.

 

This has resulted in various teachings under the label of 'Yoga' spreading and providing a very valuable service in our society.

 

But there is a downside to this spread of yoga and teachings.  In this now yoga flooded market, yoga has been reduced to a service and a marketable commodity. From the perspective of our transactional mind frame, this can be seen as great. Yoga classes and teacher trainings' are competitive – students can shop around like never before to find the class/training/ retreat/ holiday that suits them. The impact for the seeking student though is suggested in the old metaphor... “dig many shallow wells and you won't find water”. When we treat yoga teachings and teachers like a service and commodity we lose the opportunity of selflessness, where we suspend our personal desires to test out the spaciousness of the Ego-less space. This comes from commitment to a practice, facilitated by a skill-ful teacher over along period of time. Like a therapist the relationship with the teacher is precious; the teacher comes to know us well and can gently guide us in the towards greater understanding of our eternal Self.

 

Anyway this will be the topic my next blog. I leave this discourse to give thanks to my long term students and to encouragement all students' to commit to their tested, senior teachers if they are wanting to go deeper into yoga. I also encourage newer teachers to keep connected with Senior teachers in order to continue to grow and teach from a deeper place. I think it's fantastic that there is so much yoga on offer –something for everyone – and I place no judgement of folk that just want to do asana and teachers' that cater for that need. But we all need to acknowledge that Traditional Yoga is one end of the Spectrum and includes deep liberation teachings that has birthed so much that brings so much benefit.

 

Namastaye, Namastaye, Namastaye, NamoNamah!