As teachers, we must encourage our students to understand themselves based on their internal reference points rather than those of the external world. This practice will modify our teaching in both practical and subtle ways.
Guiding others is an art of infinite subtlety, although it is rarely appreciated as such. As our understanding and mastery of the art of teaching develops, so will the well-being of our students. Deepening that understanding means recognizing that all of our instruction and guidance must rest on one particular foundation: helping our students become “insiders.”
We understand who we are based on our perceptions of the world around us. We learn to compare ourselves with others and to value ourselves according to how we compare ourselves to them. Through this process, we become “externally referential”: we make sense of ourselves by referring to external standards. By the time we become adults, our conceptions of ourselves are largely borrowed from what our parents, family, friends, teachers, and the commercial media have told us. We do things to look good or be popular, not necessarily because they are our soul’s desire or our true life purpose. Compounding the problem, advertisers incessantly bombard us with messages that say, deep down, “You are falling short of everyone else. You better buy your way out of this embarrassing situation.”
Defining ourselves in terms of external references is a dead end because it means ignoring the desires of the soul. As yoga teachers, we must work to help our students understand this. In fact, one of our main jobs is to change the paradigm from external reference to one of internal reference. Our job is to help our students, particularly beginners, become aware of who they are as opposed to what they have been told they are. One way to do this is to challenge common practice and not tell our students what they are. Instead of putting them into categories and destroying their uniqueness with labels, we can tell our students what they can do to change, grow, and find themselves.
Here’s an example of this philosophy in action: Teachers commonly tell students, “You are very stiff, so don’t do this pose or you could hurt yourself.” Instead, tell the student, “I’d rather you did this variation of the pose for now.” In this case, the student does not have a label set by the teacher and is not limited by the teacher’s perception of who he is. The role of the teacher is to know the difference between someone rigid and someone flexible and how to help both students to be more balanced. We must find ways to do this without creating or reinforcing a negative or diminishing belief.
As another example, I regularly see students who are unable to do certain poses due to illness or stiffness. I say, “I want you to prepare yourself to do the pose that others are doing by using the wall or wearing a belt. And after practicing it for a short time, your body will flourish and you won’t need the support. Not anymore.” method by which they can remove stiffness without reinforcing the fact that they are stiff and incapable. Most students already feel incapable, so confirming it out loud only makes it a bigger obstacle. In some cases, they will be doomed to fight the rigidity of their bodies and minds for the rest of their lives.
© Aadil Palkhivala 2008