It’s amazing that yoga is SO popular and that so many people are getting benefit. It is also fantastic that some of us get to earn a living sharing yoga, healing, teaching, and transforming lives! I am a big fan of people doing good in the world earning a living doing so! And fame? Sure, why not. Better to be famous for teaching yoga than for showing off your butt {although, unfortunately, sometimes these are one and the same}… so here’s a list I wrote that explains why {though I LOVE teaching yoga and am pretty darn good at it}, I am unlikely to be a “Yogalebrity”…
- I will tell you the Truth.
- I will never say “my teachings”
- I will defer to and bow to supremely wise texts and teachers.
- I will not encourage you to be attached to me (I will not encourage you to be attached to anything – not even yoga)
- I will resist temptation to become attached to you.
- I will not use students to fulfill my emotional needs.
- I will not let our financial arrangement as teacher-student cause me to hold back the teachings out of fear that you no longer like me.
- I will not let “yoga teacher” become an identity that I must support. I will not build “community” as a means of division from others.
- I will encourage you to look within, not at me.
- I will not make a show of myself, my life, my personality, my physical appearance.
- I will push you at times to resolve the tendencies that hold you back – though I know this may be uncomfortable and you may not like me for it.
- I will not be afraid of your pain
- I will encourage you to study with other teachers. I will not lead you to believe that the only place you can get the teachings I share is with me.
- I will not trademark wisdom, which is timeless, nameless, and belongs to everyone.
- I will say “I don’t know” when I don’t know – and hope to have students who ask me questions for which I do not have the answer!
- I will encourage in myself what I encourage of you.
- I will discourage you from being infatuated with me… for it is a sign of instability and easily leads to hatred.
- I will learn from my mistakes.
- I will not promote myself when you are in a deep state, which comes from your own Self, or lead you to believe that I am the cause of any of your inner experiences.
- I will point out that YOU are ALL that you seek.