Be a student of yoga

Even as a yoga teacher, think of yourself as a student of yoga!!

Above all, remember that you are not a teacher. Thinking of yourself as a teacher blocks learning. A student never blocks their own learning. Instead of identifying with the teacher, become a more humble student. A humble student ultimately becomes a true teacher, because they never close the door to learning — and this, too, is the practice of Svadhyaya (self-study).

During courses, when teaching yoga, you teach asana, pranayama, shatkarma, yama and niyama, meditation, and so on. Discussions take place on the practices, and at the end of the course, participants receive a certificate or diploma. This is the trend in yoga teaching. No instruction is given on how to become an excellent teacher. Teaching yoga is not limited to the physical or mental practices of yoga. Perfection in performing asanas does not make for good teaching. Communication skills, too, are not the criterion of a good teacher. Reading books about yoga and talking about them does not make for a good teacher. No one is taught how to become a good teacher.

What is actually required of a yoga teacher? As long as we teach only asana, pranayama, working with the body, the muscles, and the energy, we are in harmony with our bodies, movements, and breath, but we are not managing the mind. We control the body, not the mind. We make sure the body performs the positions correctly, while the mind is left free to wander and think whatever it pleases.

Beyond training in asana and pranayama, teachers should be given a specific sadhana to improve their teaching skills and to deal with their own mental issues. As a rule, every teacher should keep a journal in which they try to absorb, apply, and practice the principles of yoga (yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, and samadhi) — not just its practices. Choose one principle of yoga and work with it for a month, letting it become your sadhana as a teacher for that month. Then choose another principle and work with it for the following month, continuing in this way.

Many yoga teachers do not know their own strengths and weaknesses, ambitions and needs. That is why yoga teachers must regularly practice the principle of sadhana. Just as you prepare for a class by turning the pages of a book and taking notes, and prepare for public speaking, in the same way you should be able to look at your journal and recognize who you are, where you are, and what is present in your life at that moment. Which strengths are being emphasized, which weaknesses are being emphasized, what is circumstantial, what is internal, what is samskara, what is desire. In this way, teachers must monitor their own state of mind.

Besides this, a teacher must strive to be in a positive state of mind before starting class — not coming straight from work, changing clothes in a rush, and throwing themselves into a yoga class with all the stress of work still on them, trying to teach students relaxation while their own mind is under pressure and tension. Before leading a yoga class, a teacher should make sure they are in the right state of mind by meditating for ten minutes. During those ten minutes of meditation, they should identify with a principle of yoga and become it.

Swami Sivananda gave very clear guidance on the principles of yoga that one should strive to absorb into life. These are known as the Eighteen Qualities: calmness, regularity, absence of vanity, sincerity, simplicity, truthfulness, self-control, steadfastness, absence of irritability, adaptability, humility, perseverance, integrity, nobility, magnanimity, benevolence, generosity, and purity. As a teacher, for one month practice calmness for ten minutes before class, and then lead the class while maintaining that state of calm. As a yoga teacher, for one month practice the absence of vanity. First observe your own vanity, then try to control your reactions, your ego, your pride, and lead the class while observing both yourself and your students.

That is why yoga teachers should become more humble students, because beyond teaching in class, they should be learning self-mastery. When we hold the idea of teaching, we identify with the ego. And when there is identification with the ego, connecting with the principles of yoga becomes impossible.

Telling people how to practice yoga or how to teach yoga is not really the criterion of a yoga teacher. To succeed as a yoga teacher, after your training you must identify with the principles of yoga, not merely with its practices. Teach others the practices of yoga, but yourself practice the principles of yoga. Only by learning to master your own restlessness and negativity can you become a good yoga teacher.

Lecture by Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati, November 2004

Piyush Mittal

Nirmala Institute of Yoga and Ayurveda