Newsflash: the world needs you! The shared disillusion is palpable, as people are becoming increasingly frustrated with the limitations of organized religion. Be it in the wee hours of the morning, or with the culmination of every busy work day, they are increasingly turning to you for a sense of spiritual guidance and emotional uplift. Are you up for it?
As of late, I have found myself marveling at Patricia Moreno, founder of SatiLife, a revolutionary heart-mind-body practice. The positive energy she manifests is a direct product of the fact that she loves what she does, and boy, does it show! Her classes are consistently sold out, her students hailing her as their equal for talking "to" them, as opposed to "at" them. I praise her because she candidly shares her journey with us, openly admitting to and facing her fears, inviting us to push past our self-imposed limits. I am so grateful to Patricia for pushing the boundaries of what is possible at the gym, by seamlessly combining a great workout with personal and spiritual growth work, not to mention community connection.
Patricia and many other visionaries, such as Elena Brower and Bernadette Birney accomplished something very special despite publicly putting themselves through the ringer. Patricia, Elena, Bernadette, your work began with a vision, a dream of one day being able to speak a truth so powerful, people would bask in its light. That insight led you to wrestle with your own integrity, as you attempted to ''walk your walk'' and ''talk your talk." I commend you for having had the guts put out something different, knowing that although some would reject it, there was a chance many others wouldn't. These amazing women took and gave so much to the Handel Method®, I felt it only fair to share their work, in the hope of inspiring many more followers of this enlightened practice.
For those of you who feel like complete frauds because you are teaching something you are not adhering to, it should come as no surprise that you feel neither powerful nor content in front of your classes! The truth is, you don't have to be perfect to lead. In fact, it would be a problem if you were, or even thought you were. The world desperately needs you to face up to your shortcomings, even if it involves admitting that although you dream of making a difference in the world, you still want your classes filled.
With love and appreciation for who you already are and for the commitment it took to look to yourselves to understand this letter,
Laurie
This letter has turned into a petition. I await your pledge to up your game as a teacher and a leader. Add your name in the comment box, along with the first goal you have set out for yourself. I'll be responding.
Follow Laurie Gerber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/HGLifeCoaching
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http://donttouchtheplate.com
AmritDev Singh
I am unsure why you've lumped fitness instructors in with yoga teachers. To me it seems to further ratify the illusion that "yoga" is fitness. With any deeper look into both it is quite obvious that one is a 9,000 year-old system for human evolution, the other a method for "toning" the gross physical form.
As such, I don't believe there's a higher bar for fitness instructors (though they are welcome to one). For the most part they do as they are expected - though every field has ethical issues.
More to the point, a great yoga teacher should be taught accountability, integrity, and complete responsibility in their teacher training. Unfortunately some consider a 200-hour teacher training as an end while others acquire the title "Yoga Teacher" in a 21-hour weekend. The former merely scrapes the surface and is the bare minimum while the latter is laughable and dangerous.
As for integrity...
Just as it is inappropriate for a yoga teacher to teach something they are not practicing, so too is it inappropriate to not teach something they ARE practicing. In other words, both "fraud" and "withholder" are the same animal.
The process of Svadhyaya or self-study is foundational in yoga's applied philosophy. I say "applied" because philosophy alone is useless to humanity unless it is also applied. So we, as teachers of yoga should be looking at ourselves minute by minute. That is part of the commitment of being a yoga teacher.
Thank you for the inspiring post.
Laura
In the past I have missed the input of a wise teacher. I have now found some who have profoundly influenced me. I pledge to continue to seek out their wisdom and the wisdom of others - wherever I find it!
yoga has become an exercise work out in america.
I have met several yoga instructors that think they are enlightened yogi's. they are not of course.
the bikram guy walks around with a million dollar watch and he thinks he is a yogi. he is not the watch gives him away.
now the good news yoga can be done in the smallest of areas. just the size of mat.