Why I Teach Yoga

I have retired from teaching yoga twice. And then, in very little time, I always came back. So I’m clearer now: I want to teach yoga as long as I am able and students still want to learn.

Now that I’m building a new yoga program at Root Whole Body, I’ve been thinking a lot about why I love to teach yoga, which has reinforced why I love to practice yoga and made me consider where I want to aim my practice as I head into this last stage of life.

Yoga practice has changed my life. Not that yoga itself is some unique magic bullet, but the (more or less) daily engagement of practice has worked on me like water on stone, constantly shaping me in ways that more closely reflect my values. With the more rapid changes that come after the age of sixty-five, I am even more grateful for the physical, mental, and spiritual skills the practice teaches. I can’t know what I would have been without yoga—probably arthritic, maybe alcoholic, almost certainly neurotic. Under those circumstances, aging might have scared me, but it doesn’t. The wisdom of experience can only come with the accumulation of years. Time is hard on the body, but wisdom is worth it.

Yoga has taught me that my aches and pains, my bad habits and compulsions, are, truly, beloved teachers. Without the friction of discomfort, how could I know where I was and where I wanted to go? Physically, my practice has fixed my lower back, saved my hips and knees, and actually corrected my bowed legs (after 30 years but I never thought it possible at all). Mentally, I practice concentration, patience, and perseverance. Spiritually, I have been introduced to faith and now, finally, I am beginning to understand humility and surrender.

A personal practice is personal.  You will learn exactly what you need to learn from the slow shaping of your own practice. You don’t need to direct the process, you just need to engage. This is mostly what I want to share with students. You can go to the club and get a lovely yoga workout and maybe learn a little about nonviolence or compassion, but a weekly workout won’t do too much to help you discover who you are beneath the habits, the fear, and desires. I aim to give my students the skills to maintain a meaningful home practice.

Specifically, the skills I teach encompass a basic understanding of asanas and their effects, (including the rich iconography of the chakra system), how to develop a meditation practice, and familiarity with Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras to use as a guide to full self-realization. When I list it, it doesn’t seem like much, and yet those investigations can fill a life—richly and with the joy of discovery.

A home practice doesn’t have to take much time to start. Try fifteen minutes a day. Repetition is more important than duration. Try it. Come to class for guidance and community. It is my great pleasure to help you find your way.