Yoga is simultaneously a goal and a
process. Each and every time you
practice, you bring consciousness and
awareness to areas of the body and
mind that were previously unconscious.
In a physical sense, this may mean
becoming more aware of the abdominal
muscles, or your breathing, or the
rotation of your shoulders, as you build
strength or flexibility in an area.
Mentally and emotionally, this may
mean becoming aware of how you deal
with situations, as you watch yourself
become frustrated or forceful or scared
while learning a new yoga posture and
realize that you have the same reaction
in other situations. As you become more
aware, you can decide which areas you
want to change and which you wish to
sustain.
Yoga encourages you to study yourself,
challenge yourself, and accept yourself.
My intention, as a teacher, is to offer an
opportunity for some of each of these
things to happen.
To do this, I sequence each class to
build strength and flexibility gradually
as we work toward more challenging
postures. I choose words carefully to be
both clear and concise in guiding
students through their practices, and I
supplement these verbal cues with
physical adjustments and assistance.
Throughout each class, I adjust my
sequence and cueing to adapt to the
needs of the students in that particular
room at that particular time, providing
suggestions for how to modify the
postures or intensify them. I encourage
students to stay with the breath cues,
listening to their breathing to gauge
where to go next with the class. When
the breathing stays steady and even
through both "easy" and "difficult"
sections, I know the class is focused.
With beginning students, I will
sometimes demonstrate postures when
students need a visual idea of them.
However, when I work with students
who have been practicing regularly, I
do not demonstrate, and I encourage
them to just listen -- rather than look.
This enables people to stay centered in an
awareness of how their own bodies feel,
rather than focusing on how someone
else's body appears.
The shape of one body is so simple and
unified when looked at from the outside,
yet our internal experiences are complex,
layered, and sometimes contradictory. If
we can immerse ourselves in our
experience of the present moment, then
we can see the interrelations of "inside"
and "outside" -- rather than always
seeing these as separate and comparing
other people's "outsides" to our own
"inside." Analysis and comparison are
useful in some cases, but when they are
chronic, habitual, and inescapable
processes, then we are stuck in a world of
separation. The practices of yoga can take
us beyond those surface borders.
To encourage students to immerse
themselves in each moment's breath, I
use verbal instruction, physical
adjustments, music, and philosophy,
combining these elements to create a
class that offers both difficulty and ease
for each student.
A human being is a part of the whole, called by us ‘Universe,’ a part limited in time
and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated
from the rest--a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind
of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few
persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by
widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of
nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for
such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner
security.
--attributed to Albert Einstein in Howard Eves’ Mathematical Circles Adieu
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Teaching Philosophy
