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The Benefits of Teaching Yoga
As students and practitioners of Yoga we are all
well aware of the benefits Yoga can have on all
levels of our being. Teaching Yoga can be a way of
passing on to others what we have received.
Teaching Yoga gives us an opportunity to serve
others, enabling us to really be of help to others
in improving the quality of their lives. Remember
that service (Sanskrit, seva) is an essential aspect
of Yoga and is fundamental in the process of
deepening our understanding and awakening to a
deeper realisation of the ground of our Being.
Teaching Yoga puts us in touch with people on a
deeper level and gives us the opportunity to respond
creatively and practically to their needs. In
teaching Yoga, we humbly share our personal
experience of Yoga with others – sharing on a
physical level by helping people to improve the
functioning of their body – sharing on a
mental-emotional level by helping people to gain
understanding of how their mind functions – and
sharing on a sublime level, by providing the space
from which students are enabled to see beyond the
veil of conditioned everyday perception.
Teaching Yoga also motivates us to learn more about
Yoga and deepen our own practice. In this way, we
enhance our understanding of Yoga and its vast
repertoire of practices, together with a greater
appreciation of their effects on our body, mind and
emotions. We are obliged to deepen our perception
and self-understanding. Only then can we help others
to do likewise. Through such inner growth, energised
by practice, are we ready to share these practices
with others so that, with guidance, they too may
discover their effects and benefits for themselves.
As teachers, we are required to awaken our intuition
and sensitivity so that we know what is appropriate
for an individual or for the group. We learn to
‘feel’ a situation and know when it is right to
offer guidance and support, when to change tack,
when to step back and when to be silent. In
teaching, moreover, we are required to develop
humility, which is such an important part of going
deeper in Yoga. In this humility, we don’t think
that we know everything or that we are the mine of
yogic knowledge and the students are ignoramuses.
Rather, we are open to exchange with our students,
in which everyone learns something, often the
teacher more than the student. |
Early morning Hatha Yoga session in domaine de Courmettes, France.
One week course organised in february 2006 by Association Yoga Samarpan
Teaching Yoga encourages us to express the positive
side of our personality. This helps to override our
negativity and inhibitions; teaching Yoga gives us
the confidence to express ourselves in public.
By finding inspiration in ourselves, we learn how to
inspire others.
Teaching Yoga obliges us to be honest, open and alive.
* Honest with ourselves and others
* Open to change and our own learning process
* Alive to the cosmos and to the energy that moves through us and others.
Swami Satyananda says: Yoga is the essential need of today and the culture of tomorrow. By teaching Yoga, you will be helping to usher in a better society, now, and also for our children in the future.
Teaching is a privilege and a joy.
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Purpose and aims 
Formation of the ashram
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