Becoming a yoga teacher/therapist in its true sense, is a process, not an end point. Even if you have done 10,000 or 20,000 hours of study and teaching, the work is not over. Being a yoga teacher implies you are also a practitioner and that presupposes you are actively working towards self-improvement through practice and self-inquiry. It is not so much what we grasp through the intellect and deliver artfully but what we internalise and embody. And when we are able to internalise and embody in practice, we get closer to the actual end points, indicated by the eight limbs of yoga: Astanga yoga, especially the Yama-Niyama (social boundaries and personal observances).
When we are able to feel the pain of another being and refrain from causing harm, when we are able to see with clarity and communicate ‘what is’ without any distortions & manipulations, when we are able to respect and honour the boundaries and needs of the other under all circumstances, when we are able to experience contentment and peace, we know something is shifting at a deeper level. The relationships we share with our students/clients and the community we are part of, offer us an ever fertile and dynamic field to practice self-awareness so that we can progressively refine our intentions and actions.
So, the question is, how many of us who proudly call ourselves “yoga teachers/therapists” are seriously moving in this direction?
How much of ourselves are we willing to invest in this process?
And how much do we compromise?