The following article, by Samadhi Yoga director Katie Manitsas appears in 'Inner Self' magazine this month ...

Teaching Yoga – A Life of Practice and Dedication

Namaste.  If you’ve ever attended a yoga class you’ve probably heard the teacher say this word either at the beginning or end of the practice.  Namaste is a word originating in the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit and it literally means ‘the divinity in me bows down to the divinity in you’.  Most of the yoga teachers I know started teaching because they want to share with others a life transforming practice which has radically affected their lives for the better.  They want to share the divinity yoga has unveiled for them. My teacher David Life at Jivamukti Yoga in New York puts its simply, we teach yoga ‘because we care’. Some serious students of yoga start teaching for seemingly practical reasons - leaving the corporate world behind as they swap the rat race for a yoga mat, or for the freedom a freelance career brings; but for most the choice to teach yoga is motivated by a desire to expand their own personal growth and that of others. 

Yoga teacher and best selling author Donna Farhi says the contemporary yoga teacher fulfils many roles including that of ‘health care advisor, personal confidante, spiritual mentor and physical therapist’. It’s certainly a big job being a yoga teacher.  How can we even hope to fulfill all those roles?  ‘Through monitoring our own behaviour and motivations and by being as prepared, focused, and generous as we can during the boundaries of class time’ Farhi suggests in her excellent ethics book ‘Teaching Yoga’.  Farhi is also a great advocate of referencing the original yogic texts and scriptures, such as ‘The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali’ and reminds us as teachers ‘when we are firmly established in truthfulness, actions accomplish the desired end’ (Yoga Sutra 11:36).

Leading publication and industry benchmark ‘Yoga Journal’ states that yoga is practiced more widely in the Western world than it is in India today with the majority of those practitioners being American.  I would argue that this statement depends very much on your definition of yoga.  If you mean ‘stretch and relax’ then yes but if you’re talking yoga as a spiritual practice I think India’s still got the upper hand.  Everyone in India is a yogi – this is a nation whose people would sooner ask you which God you believe in than what you do for a living.  A nation of bhakti (devotional) yogis.  We might be able to balance on one arm but we are a way behind the nation that Mahatma Gandhi coined as the pioneers of peaceful living.

India exemplifies a nation where yoga is practiced in daily life – where yogis live by example and the separation between work and play is not so clear.  Here in the West as a yoga teacher I sometimes feel like a living exhibit.  I know my words and actions are up for scrutiny.  When I recently had a baby people wanted to know was I vegetarian throughout my pregnancy (yes), when I go on holidays students want to know do I still practice yoga (usually yes) and how about my lifestyle do I eat organic, support not for profits and cultivate skillful relationships? (yes, yes and ask my husband)! This public scrutiny is only a problem if as a yoga teacher you hold yourself up as superior. The yogic teachings of moving beyond ego and ignorance (avidya) help us to keep our feet on the ground.  And if as teachers we are a little more ‘on display’ than we might sometimes like I don’t think that is such a bad thing.  An aspiring spiritual practitioner shouldn’t live a double life, rather an honest one filled with truth (satya). There is great wisdom in humility.

For me teaching yoga is never boring, there is always beauty in watching someone achieve their first headstand or witnessing as a student grows to love and understand and apply the yogic philosophies, which date back thousands of years.  The challenge of being a yoga teacher is to inspire and uplift both on and off the yoga mat.  There is great skill in communicating the teachings of yoga in their entirety without either diluting them or losing your audience.  For me learning how to disseminate philosophies such as ahimsa (non violence) and aparigrapha (greedlessness) within the violent and greedy culture that we are living takes great practice and continuous guidance from the many wonderful teachers I have been blessed to study with.

Yoga tells us that we are all one – that there is no separation between any of us.  Striving towards truly knowing this ‘oneness of being’ is what makes teaching yoga such a delight.  And what do the masters say of teaching yoga?  What lineage do we come from as yoga teachers?  Well, Yogi Bhajan the master who brought Kundalini Yoga to the West taught us that to teach yoga is to truly know yoga.  And Krishnamacharya, the great-grandfather of all yoga taught in the West gave three guidelines for the aspiring yoga teacher:

1)    Love your students
2)    Practice everyday
3)    Honour your own teachers.

It is a great blessing and an honour to be part of this lineage of modern day yogis drawing on the wisdom of the many masters who come before us. Namaste.

Katie Manitsas is the founder and director of Samadhi Yoga in Sydney’s Newtown.  She co-teaches the Samadhi Yoga Teacher Training and is author of ‘Spiritual Survival and the City’ published by Hardie Grant.  See www.samadhiyoga.com.au for more details or call (02) 95173280