Bringing Yoga to Life - Ch.10 - The Inner Teacher

 

"Become a student of the subject. Do not look only for what you "get" from the practice. 

Be motivated to learn the subject so that the practice transforms you." 

Prashant Iyengar

Chapter 10 of Bringing Yoga to Life, by Donna Farhi, delves into the importance of finding our inner teacher through our own self-study and practice. 

At the AGM and Conference in Ottawa in 2018 Birjoo Mehta talked about a state of flow. That feeling when things just seem to happen and there is no sense of time or effort. In yogic terms, Birjoo said this is Isvara pranidhana. When you lose the sense of "I-ness", ego is restrained and you are transformed into universality.  There are no dualities and these are states we have to feel to understand. To get into these states of flow, you first need the skill, a challenge to get to skillful action which takes self-study (svadhyaya) and tapas(practice).  In the yoga sutras, Patanjali says this is kriya yoga - tapas, svashayaya and isvara pranidhana.  Birjoo said, "That is why you have often heard Guruji saying you should practice. It is not just coming to class, because in coming to class you are only in svadhyaya. In your home practice you will be able to transform yourself.  Transformation comes through practice."

In an article in the 2014 Yoga Rahasya, Prashant Iyengar wrote Yoga is not a Consumer Product.  He is so brilliant in his analogies and used the idea of 'packages' and how we tend to get stuck in a consumer package and we should be going for a student's package.  We may feel good after a class and as a consumer keep going back, but if the state is temporary, we are stuck in that consumer state.  Prashant says, "Become a student of the subject. Do not look only for what you "get" from the practice. Be motivated to learn the subject so that the practice transforms you."

As a teacher of yoga in the Iyengar lineage it was always imparted on us to do our own practice and self-study for how can we teach what we don't know in our own bodies. This has really been told and by the quality of teachers I have learnt from shown that they have brought the knowledge into their own bodies before teaching it to others and I try to do the same myself. In our Basic Guidelines for Teachers of Yoga it says, "Teaching is an emotional, ethical and moral responsibility.", "The teacher needs to improve himself morally, emotionally, intellectually and socially." and that "It is very important for the teacher to do her/her own self-study.  He/she has to create his own questions in order to find the right answers, so that the understanding of yoga becomes clearer."  We are to do our own homework after classes to understand why a student may not be getting an asana. B.K.S. Iyengar said "To become a teacher, be a learner first.

Donna explores the importance of a self-practice in this chapter. I like how she wrote that she would "imagine each practice session was a time when she was meeting with someone special.  Dressing appropriately, cleaning the space, being on time, etc. and eventually that special someone we invite into our practice becomes us: we start to value ourselves so much that we want to treat ourselves in the best possible way."  I think often the demands of others can take over.  Until I realized how much my practice was not only benefiting myself, but also my family I didn't make myself as much of a priority as I should have.  I would feel selfish for taking the time for myself when others needed me. Now I know I am doing this not only for myself, but for the benefit of others as the effects do ripple out off of our mat.

I could give many, many more examples of the importance of getting to know your inner teacher..but don't listen to me..as Donna writes,"When we practice on our own, we create the conditions in which we are more likely to see that our happiness does not depend on something outside ourselves."

B.K.S. Iyengar said "To become a teacher, be a learner first." 

Pamela Nelson - CIYT, Level 3

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