With the teacher training starting soon, I am eager to see what personalities sign up and decide to make a change in their lives. But, before I find out who those new personalities are, I wanted to reflect on the past 35 trainees in the past three years and how they have impacted my life so immensely.
When I think back at all the different students who have crossed paths with my training, I can’t help but chuckle a little. I laugh thinking of the crazy, exciting and random memories we created. I laugh because of all the trainees’ dread of the “fun times” aka quizzes. And, I laugh because 35 people have trusted me with teaching them yoga. Not because I don’t think I am not qualified, but to put it best is one of my trainees who shared his first thought when he met me, which was, “What is this little girl going to teach me about yoga?” In fact, he thought I was the owner’s daughter. Now that’s funny!
Regardless, I did teach them a lot about yoga and they taught me a lot, too.
I learned about friendships; both by creating friendships with them and by watching them build their own bonds that are still strong to this day. I have learned to feel unconditional love for each one regardless of their habits such as incessant tardiness or sarcastic remarks, just to name a few. In addition to this unconditional love, I also had to give tough love. And, although it was hard to express this side at times, I knew it was necessary in that moment.
One of the most powerful feelings I experienced during the trainings was a deep level of compassion. Because each trainee lives in her own mind and perception of reality, I had to put myself in her shoes to truly understand where she came from.
Learning how to teach different personalities and perceptions is always a challenge I find rewarding. I have learned that every individual is just that; an individual. And in order to be the most effective teacher, I must be present with that individual’s concerns in that moment. Not a moment before or a moment after. Only then, can I recognize what approach I need to take in order to truly help.
It’s an organic process, which was the original method of teaching yoga many moons ago. From my understanding, it was never meant to be mass-produced even if that’s the way of the west nowadays. In fact, there are so many teachings in the Yoga Sutras that are not meant to be revealed unless the practitioner is ready to hear them. Unfortunately, this personal and tailored approach to learning yoga has been lost in many trainings since the ratio of student to teacher has increased immensely. On my travels to Los Angeles last week, I met a woman who was participating in a teacher training with over 80 people signed up. As a teacher, I can’t imagine remembering all of their names, even if I seem to have mastered that skill pretty well.
I just hope that the essence of yoga isn’t lost in these mass-produced trainings, because participating in a yoga training isn’t just learning how to stretch and strengthen the body. It’s a complete transformational process with the intention of seeing life with a whole new perspective. With these new set of eyes, you start to learn your true yoga…
Thank you to all my previous trainees who have taught me to see life differently. Without you, I couldn’t continue to do my dharma; teaching yoga! 
