By Kathryn Boland
Do you have a group of friends, or one or two close friends, who practice and/or teach yoga? Do you see the benefits that can come from the support of having such friends? Do wish you had this support system? I’ve previously written about the advantages of connecting with yoga instructor colleagues - collaboration, ideas for solving difficult issues, having a network of potential substitutes that you can call upon in a pinch, et cetera. These practical advantages are key.
I’d like to turn now to another aspect of having a yoga community, which can include fellow practitioners (non-teachers) as well - for fun, for emotional support, for practical help when you can use it. Let’s go through some ways in which this bears out, and therein how’s it’s all so valuable. First, practicing with friends is even better than practicing alone.
Yes, yoga is a very personal process and experience, but it can be fun to sneak glances, smiles, and sometimes giggles - at moments like falling out of a difficult pose, an instructor’s joke (funny or not so funny), and when you’d just like to have gratitude for the other’s presence. A friend can also help hold you accountable; it’s harder to cancel a plan to go to class when it affects someone else, someone who might have really been looking forward to going with you!
It can also be interesting and satisfying to discuss the class a bit over coffee or a meal after. With a teacher friend, you can discuss a bit what worked and didn’t work as well for you as students. This can inform your own teaching, but also be a lens on your practice. A practitioner friend could offer another interesting lens on this - perhaps with insights with which those in a teacher’s mindset might have lost touch. This effect can often be multiplied with more friends practicing together!
All off this can be a powerful force for reminding you why you love the practice, if the teaching “grind” has replaced some of that with exhaustion and discouragement. In any way you may connect with your yoga “tribe”, individuals who share common knowledge of and appreciation for this practice we dedicate ourselves to, you can be more fueled to weather the challenges of teaching. You’ll also be more receptive to it's gifts.
They can also offer perspective on other aspects of yogic living in modern life. What are some inexpensive and convenient ways to more consistently practice ahimsa (non-violence) as a twenty-first century consumer? Should you go vegetarian? If you already are one, should you go vegan? How do you make that transition in a healthful, logistically accessible, and economical way? Where are there Kundalini classes in your area (you’ve always wanted to try that!)? Do you have a certain type of essential oil I can borrow for a workshop I have coming up?
All of this applies in reverse, that you can be there to support your yoga friends - which can be even more enjoyable than being helped! Mutuality, equal members of a relationship or community engaging harmoniously, is at the core of truly healthy, successful relationships and communities. But how does that start? It’s actually fairly easy to never truly engage with your fellow yogis, beyond things like stacking props together and saying “excuse me...that’s ok…..thanks" while navigating tight spaces.
In order for some sort of friendship or community to build, someone has to reach out with a smile, with a kind word, with a comment about class - why not you? If you like someone’s leggings or yoga top, compliment them! After class, as may feel appropriate, joke with someone about a silly moment like almost falling out of a pose or when the instructor made you laugh. And, just as in yoga, see how things may change after simple first choices and actions.
When you’re teaching, you’re in a bit more of a professional position, so this dynamic cannot as freely play out and still be professional. Yet, if friendships organically grow with your students, even from that professional position, you can let them grow. Use your common judgement, play on the safe side, and always be clear with boundaries. So long as those proper professional boundaries are in place, being friendly with your students can help you serve them better by knowing more about them. It might also just make you look forward to teaching your classes even more.
The act of reaching out, of building community, and from that living in community with others, might just lead you to smile and greet strangers - the cafe cashier, the toll booth officer, the person in front of you at the grocery store. It’s a way to go through life with more kindness, joy, and grace. Others outside of the yoga world might very well follow suit. This might be something that the yoga community can offer the world. It has to start with someone - why not you? You - professionally and personally - and all could be much better for it. We could all, yogis and non yogis, perhaps experience a bit more of the union of true yoga.
© Copyright – Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division
Click here to see our online Yoga Nidra teacher training course.
Are you an experienced teacher looking for YACEP credits or continuing education?
Subscribe to Our Newsletter for Special Discounts and New Products
Related Resources
52 Essential Principles of Yoga Philosophy to Deepen your Practice
by Rina Jakubowicz
A Relaxing Way to De-stress, Re-energize, and Find Balance
by: Gail Boorstein Grossman
YOGA: THE PATH TO HOLISTIC HEALTH
by B.K.S. Iyengar
TEACHING YOGA: Essential Foundations and Techniques
By Mark Stephens
No comments:
Post a Comment