Sometimes I feel like teaching about other aspects of Yoga in the United States is frowned upon. It sometimes feels like people suddenly leave because they don’t want to hear anything that has to do with Yogic Philosophy. I don’t know if this is true but sometimes it feels true when you know that most people find interest in only the physical aspects of what yoga teaches.

Now, I do believe that even if you choose not to teach fundamentals of Yoga Philosophy or Buddhist Philosophy, you can still transmit the teachings without having to say this or that. It is how I ended up where I am so I know that it can happen so I don’t push the ideas or beliefs because I feel like it can be disrespectful to others spiritual or personal beliefs to offer more than what they are willing to acknowledge.

It’s sucks that the same respect isn’t given likewise but it is what it is. I can’t remember which book I read it from: the Bhagavad Gita, The Sutras or The Upanishads… maybe it is mentioned in all 3??? Anyway it says to not offer the sacred (their heartfelt beliefs and knowledge) to those who don’t want or aren’t ‘ready’ for it. It said a bit differently but this is how I interpret it. To not teach it to people who really could care less.

In this way it’s like saying not to waste your valuable energy on minds that have no capacity or will or desire to understand it or appreciate it. It also reads to me that you should be mindful of whom you teach to because there is also the possibility that the teachings can be exploited and used for ill purposes. This feels and seems evident today.

It’s not to say that all the Yogis who only teach asanas are evil or bad but it does often feel like the heart of the foundation is missing. Understandably, as I mentioned above, most do not want it therefore it’s not absolutely necessary to teach it and probably better that they do not. From my understanding through experience, those who enlighten themselves through becoming attune in their practice will journey on their way in the teachings. That IS very good. So it isn’t necessary.

However, a lot of the time what I hear when some do try to teach more than just asanas is something superficial (just at the surface) and while it can be meaningful, sometimes it feels like there is so much missing when it comes to expanding the mind or seeing in a new light or pushing the boundaries of thought to release themselves from their own personal bondage. Again, this isn’t to say I don’t appreciate what they are saying, it’s that it is usually only the surface. Like wiping a dirty window and then driving back into the storm. I feel like that just leads to repeating the same things over and over again. It’s good for a time but it doesn’t do much to help a person liberate themselves from the storm. It’s like treating a symptom because they haven’t yet understood the cause EVEN when the cause is so obvious.

I do want to start to begin teaching more than just asanas because my foundation was build differently and I only know how to teach what I know and this ends up being through the spiritual practice that uses asanas to help cultivate and focus, use and utilize energy, transform and stay the same… to unify.

Part of me is always hesitant to do so BECAUSE life has shown me that there are so many people who believe that what we teach is evil and will pursue you with diligent venom because they simply hate what you teach and practice. I wonder, “can I handle that?” My truth is that those things do still hurt. It’s not like I am a perfected lotus where all that challenges me just rolls of my leaves. No, I am not that divinely perfected. I feel everyone like an Empath does. However, regardless of how often this has been the “rule”, I still find myself on the same path because it still is the ones that rings true to me personally.

I know that not everything I say is “kind” even though it is not meant to be malice. I know that not everything I say is a quote from any of the hundreds of religious or philosophical texts or works that I have read. I know that I don’t fit the mold of what a Buddhist should be or what a Yogi teaches. I fit only myself and can only teach what I found to be true in my practice and be honest with my thoughts as I teach them to others.

I am not a guru from India given special privileges to teach the sacred text and I don’t want to be either. I have always felt like I need to be on my own way and that I need to understand the teachings as they pertain to me. I have been a self willed student of many different religions and philosophies for as long as I can remember because it really is my nature to dabble into thoughts or other worlds or other schools. It’s like this intense will of me must seek it out like I am searching from that missing piece and that piece I know will never be found here and yet, like a maniac, I still feel the gravity, the attraction pulling me that way.

So I might not be hard as nails when it comes to the not so nice things people say or do but I don’t want to hide anymore. I don’t want to feel like my truths are stupid because others don’t understand or see what I am saying. It’s not like I don’t know that some of the ideas I try to tackle are easy to understand. There’s a reason why people still keep trying to transmit this knowledge. If it was really that easy, everyone would know and the world we live in and how we see ourselves would look a whole lot different.

Anyways. I don’t know if there are other Yoga teachers reading my blog but I would really love to hear what you have to say about this as well. I do honor all the practices so I do hope that anything I said isn’t taken as a criticism because I know that if you became a teacher, that you did it because you understand certain things about it that you want to share. I know some do it only for the money but even then, I understand that there are ends that need to also be met in the reality of the world that we live in.

I also wonder if when I do teach in the spiritual aspects or knowledge aspects etc., is the perception of me the same as I see in others? Not of all course. I have met some very unlikely people who have enlightened AND humbled me. Likewise I have been beside myself believing some to be ‘good’ stewards of the practice all to find that they are more like poison.