Purna Yoga's Impact and How I Became a Teacher

A long time ago (the comment was actually left in April) - before the miscarriage, before Rob had to go to Montana for the summer, before the upstairs remodel began, my grandmother died, and I lost my voice, a reader left a comment with a few questions in it.  I promised her I would address them, and while I did not do it "soon", as I likely believed I would, I am doing it.  Now.

First of all, she wanted to know how yoga has affected me, and my students.  I'll start with my students, and some recent feedback (ultimately I hope to have a "What Students are Saying" link on my studio website).  In a nutshell, most of my students have seen at least one area of their life drastically changed (for the better) because of their Purna Yoga practice.  It is not because of me, or my teaching, it is because they have taken the practice into their hearts and used it for their growth and evolution. 

• One woman shared with me her increased self-esteem and body image, which had been a source of frustration (to say the least) for a long time.  After practicing for awhile she felt more confident in her body's abilities.
• Another student, when asked by friends why she loves this style of yoga, responds with an enthusiastic "...because it totally changed my life" - we are to understand that "for the better" is implied here.  :-)
• Students who are parents tell me of how useful the lessons from yoga classes are in their daily parenting challenges.  They have tools to help them maintain their emotional equilibrium and to respond to their family members from a place of true love, rather than reacting with frustration or impatience out of habit.
• When sharing their birth stories, prenatal yoga students often comment that during their labor/delivery they used breathing tools, relaxation techniques, and lessons about the pelvic floor to help them stay present and "with it".
• Improved recovery from physical injury, healing of emotional wounds, and many more benefits have been shared with me over the years.
• Spiritually, many students feel a deeper connection with the Divine and a greater ability to perceive It's presence and work in and through their lives.

As for myself, my yoga practice has certainly matured over the years.  When I first started practicing I was mostly interested in the physical benefits.  My understanding of Yoga as an art and science was nonexistent, I just thought it was a fun thing to do that made me feel good.  I was seventeen, what can you expect?  During my twenties, especially as I got closer to thirty, I started studying the philosophy and other aspects of yoga.  I began to see that it is a living, breathing practice that gives as much as I put into it - and then some.  My meditation practice deepened, and I learned how to use my asana as a means of moving energy and Light through my body to help it heal and release long-held tension (both physical and emotional).  I started to understand the deeper meaning and purpose of my life, and all its challenged.  I reacquainted myself with God (more on that relationship later), as I understand It, and dedicated myself to opening more and more to Its manifestation in my life.

Secondly, she wanted to know how I decided to start teaching.  When I started getting more serious about yoga, sometime around 2000, I had an inkling that I wanted to teach.  I had for many years felt a calling to help people learn to help themselves.  In college, I pursued passions for language, health and feminism, thinking that I would become a sexuality educator for adolescent girls.  I wanted to help them avoid some of the trauma I had experienced at that age, among other things.  That wasn't quite the path for my calling, however, though I knew that someday, somehow, I was meant to help people change their lives for the better.  It didn't occur to me that I could do this through yoga until after I had already been teaching for a little while. 

I had decided early on that before becoming a teacher I wanted to have five years of "serious practice" under my belt.  I like goal-setting, and felt that this particular goal would give me plenty of time to really soak up the teachings and energetic changes that a yoga practice encourages.  I didn't want to be a dilettante teacher.  I wanted to be a Teacher - with a capital T.

When I was first approached to teach, I had not yet met this goal.  I said, basically, "No way, Jose".  Then I realized that it wasn't just a coincidence that there was a strong need for yoga at a place/time when I was the most qualified person available to do the teaching...whether I had met my goal or not.  So I taught.  And I quickly learned that there's a huge difference between being a student and and being a teacher (i.e.  some actual training in how to teach this stuff is VERY important), so I started looking for a teacher training program.

I started with a week-long teacher training intensive in the Iyengar tradition.  It came to something like 40 or 50 hours, which seemed to me at the time like a pretty good start.  It was not inspiring, but was quite informational.  I set off to teach more.  It wasn't long before I realized that I needed a much more comprehensive teacher training program, and that I was particularly interested in learning more about the esoteric aspects of Yoga.  At this time I still had a year of active duty service left on my Air Force commitment, but we knew we'd be moving to Seattle so I started looking into teacher training programs in the area.

That was when I learned about Aadil Palkhivala, Purna Yoga, and The College of Purna Yoga.  I read Aadil's bio, and thought, "This is who I want to teach me."  I was surprised, delighted, and more than a little  nervous when I received my acceptance letter.  That was the beginning of an awakening that has been so much more than I believed possible!

Comments

[molly.]

Thank you for sharing!