In the midst of personal struggle, I’ve realized that my awareness of the spiritual element in my own life has slowly faded in the past few years. It happened so slowly that I didn’t even notice it slipping away until one day I had a nagging feeling like something was missing. As I explored that feeling more deeply, I gave voice to an important fact. When I began practicing yoga, it was my spiritual practice. When I began teaching yoga, it became my job. Of course these things don’t need to be mutually exclusive, but it seems like a sticky situation to have your spiritual practice rubbing elbows with concerns about financial stability and feelings of commitment & obligation. As much as every yoga teacher loves what they do, I know that we all occasionally just don’t feel like teaching a class; just like anyone in any profession occasionally just doesn’t feel like going to work that day. In that situation, it’s tough to draw the line between spiritual & mundane.
That led me to thinking about how much of yoga in the west really is about spirituality? We’ve all seen countless images of models & Hollywood movie stars looking serene on the cover of a certain magazine that shall remain nameless. I’ve heard more than one roomful of frustrated yoginis disgustingly list the many examples of how yoga has been commercialized and reduced to simple exercise. But anyone who has probed deeper into the definition of yoga will profess that asana (the physical postures) is only a fraction of what it means to really practice yoga. The depth of yogic philosophy spans thousands of years with potentially millions of teachers & scholars who have each provided their own commentary & interpretation.
Many teachers will try to downplay the role of asana, but then why is it that most yoga students encounter very little yoga philosophy until they enroll in a teacher training? As a teacher, there is the practical challenge of how to squeeze in unfamiliar intellectual concepts into a 60-90 minute class when you know that most students are there because they want to move their bodies and relieve their stress. Then there is the insecurity of knowing that I’ve barely touched the surface on most of this philosophy myself, and I could spend years -even lifetimes- and still not grasp the intricacies of these concepts. But maybe it’s because of the very real concern of not wanting to scare anyone away.
As a teacher, you can play it safe by just sticking with the body. Everyone comes to a yoga class expecting to stretch their muscles, and no one is really offended if you start to talk to them about their hamstrings or introduce them to their psoas. I’ve gotten a few funny looks when I start telling students to press their thumbs into the outside of the right nostril, inhale through the left, etc., but they’re usually willing to give me the benefit of the doubt on that one. As we get to more unfamiliar territory, I’ve discovered that anything that is perceived as spiritual can strike a chord of disgust in someone who has deep disdain of religion. And someone who is devoutly religious can feel threatened by an unfamiliar practice.
This has actually become a hot topic in the media. Some Christian leaders profess that yoga is part of a false religion and caution their fellow Christians that it will lead them astray. If you’re curious about their perspective check out this segment from CNN \”Does God Approve of Yoga\”. In response, some Christians have developed their own “christian yoga” to ensure that they can practice calming their bodies and quieting their minds without threatening their faith. Check out some examples of this phenomenon: Christian Yoga and Holy Yoga.
Of course, this brings up passionate responses from across the spectrum of the yoga community. My question is what does it bring up for you? Is yoga a spiritual practice or just another form of exercise in your life? Where is the line between spirituality and religion? Where is the line between yoga & Hinduism? Is this Christian yoga a creative solution to relieving ethical discomfort, or is it a blasphemous perversion of the tradition of yoga? And for other yoga teachers how much “spirituality” makes its way into your classes? Does the fear of turning students off hold you back? Has teaching yoga affected the role that it plays in your life (positively, negatively, or both)?
