Detach from the form
Detach from the form, embody the function
I might question you, but if you are the clear expert in relation to me on a topic, do your thing. I love that, even if it challenges my current knowledge base. This is how we learn. I'll leave the guiding up to you. I won't tell my attorney how to practice law. We can discuss my needs, but he determines the actions taken for justice. I will bring my symptoms to my physician, I may even ask her for certain labs. I’ll ask questions, I'll hear her out, and we can discuss treatment options, but ultimately I won't tell her how to treat me - she's the expert, and I put my trust in her.
Sometimes, some students who may be new to me do this, they tell me what Yoga to teach them. While initially amusing, it does trigger me. Pitta dosha being a little July-high, I got passive aggressive in class, not my norm. Not because I think I represent the be all end all of Yoga. Not because I've worked extensively with groups for nearly 30 years and have become very confident in assessing groups, determining their capacities and teaching accordingly. Because everything I teach emerges from the cradle of Yoga civilization, only. Because immersion in intelligently designed, progressive and purposeful practice is the foundation of our studies and teaching, and it’s time-tested. Because I have TKV Desikachar’s blessings to teach, train and administer Yoga Therapy. This is my dharma, not just a job or a hobby. My allegiance is to the Yoga Krishnamacharya taught, for health, healing and beyond.
And because I am not the teacher for everyone, and I am not afraid to lose students along the way, in the name of Yoga. While we have been guided to teach to the least capable in group class settings, think about it. Sometimes, we are in physical suffering, angame jayatva. Slowing down, facing we are aging, deteriorating and not capable of even the simplest of physical and mental tasks from time to time is too much to bear. Doing what is familiar, even if it’s not best for us, may give us a boost. I get it. While our symptoms are subject to change, ignoring them or just doing what may have landed us there in the first place doesn’t drive change in a positive direction.
One of a group of over 20 students asked me if I would teach more traditional postures, like their other teacher. What those postures were called was unbeknownst, but sun salutations (never teaching this in a 60s and up group) and child’s pose (our vajrasana forward bend, present ubiquitously in our group classes) were amongst them. While I tried to explain all I teach is traditional, adapted for this group, I took a few minutes and reflected, as Yoga enables us to do.
Sure - I’ll teach them. Smiling. Confident. And as an example of mithya Yoga, wrong Yoga (which incidentally is one of the causes of disease). I did not choose this strategy. It chose me. “Traditional” means classical, means as was originally meant for those beginning Yoga in childhood. Sun Salutations, perfection in asana, quick, dynamic and challenging is the name of the game. We did that, for many of the strange “non-traditional” sequences I had planned for the course. Once “traditional (as many styles of Yoga would teach them), once strange, as I do.
Laughing, panting, surprise, sweat and grunting ensued, and everyone, almost, realized the stark difference between classical and modified. We still do virabhadrasana, uttanasana, utkatasana, adho mukha svanasana, bhujangasa, savasana, etc. But there are a myriad of ways to do these, and my choices respect your starting point, the season, your age-related limitations and they gradually move you to a better place. Physically. Mentally. Behaviorally.
Trust me for a minute, meanwhile you swell with doubt and judgement, fear and ego. If you don’t trust me yet, trust the expertise of my current and past teachers, all students of Desikachar’s and Krishnamacharya’s. If not them, trust Yoga - over 5,000 years in the making and still taking the world by storm, largely on the coattails of Krishnamacharya’s legacy. And if you have issues with trust, just keep coming. You will gradually sense my intention is to support your health and healing, through Yoga.