After reading the article in The Guardian “Why modern yoga should be more spiritual- and less narcissistic”
I would like to share my views on the subject of modern yoga.
Perhaps we can ask ourselves….Is yoga now days just another passing trend….?
..Author of this article has a point…Yoga became just a fashionable ” industry ” these days. I joke sometimes that soon we will have more yoga teachers than yoga students. Being a yoga teacher now days is hip and cool and even glamorous. There are lots of fashion companies making lots of money selling the latest yoga gear, asking attractive yoga teachers to model them on social media. I wasn’t spared this proposition either. Yoga magazines showing us images of beautiful young girls (often dancers and models who never even practiced yoga) to inspire us to practice yoga…If we only practice yoga we can all look young, healthy and beautiful….When I started to practice yoga in 1990 it was a very different story…there was still a bit of ” an old hippie ” stigma etc. attached to it 😉. Yoga was practiced and taught for the love of it…not for the fashion. Yoga teachers did not pay you complements on your practice…. there is nobody except the practitioner who can feel the depth of asana. Now days some people practice yoga for 2 or 3 years and already want to become yoga teachers. Rather than study and focus on their own practice perhaps a little bit longer they spend a lot of money embarking on the short courses to get a yoga teacher certificate. It takes time to get to know and develop sensitivity to your body,… and find your spiritual path….When you build up more experience and sensitivity you gain more respect and knowledge of your body. Consequently have more discernment when you become a yoga teacher. I practiced and study Iyengar yoga and various forms of yoga for 15 years before I felt I would like to teach and pass my experience and knowledge.
I was asked by couple of my teachers earlier in my life if I would like to become a yoga teacher… which I declined twice…not feeling ready. Only when I felt I developed certain level of intellectual, emotional and physical experiences in my practice I thought about embarking on yoga teacher training. Hopefully this yoga craze will settle and once again yoga becomes a profound practice.☺
