Admittedly when I started yoga I had a healthy mistrust of the entire ‘guru’ culture. I associated it with blind faith, pointless rituals and baseless beliefs. This perception influenced me for a very long time.
It took me years to find my teacher. Even when I found him I actively made it a point to reiterate, “He’s my teacher, not my guru.” Today I don’t even know what that mea
ns!
I feel that over the years I’ve shed a lot of my preconceived notions. This takes a while, and I feel yoga helped me ease up and soften. After almost 6 years with my teacher I’ve come to realize that there is great comfort in allowing someone else to take control for a little while. There is a comfort that comes from allowing yourself to accept that sometimes someone else may know what is best for you.
We need to now own our culture and our spirituality. We need to dissociate the word ‘guru’ with orange robes and nonsensical rituals. Studies have shown that those who consider themselves spiritual and/or religious enjoy higher levels of wellness than those who don’t. Perhaps we need to analyse our beliefs and recognize our unique brand of religion/spirituality. Let’s not try and fit ourselves into a mould, rather, let’s create a mould that fits us well.
If you’ve been going to the same class for years now, consider yourself committed.
If you go to class and find yourself questioning less and accepting more, consider yourself devoted.
If you seek your teacher out for an opinion on a non-yoga dilemma, you might just be on the path to finding your guru.
Heritage Run. Spending time with the super fit sis is always amazing. She’s an enthusiastic member of the Hyderabad Runners (they actually helped in organizing the run). Since it’s difficult to find time to run daily, I try and get a run in 2-3 times a week and try to do
between 5-7 km. I’ve already waxed eloquent about the GHR initiative in 
sister actually goes for Bikram yoga a few times a month and while there I decided to give the style another go. I honestly didn’t think I would make it through the class. The first time I attended a Bikram yoga class, I lay down after the third asana and told the teacher that I would like to leave . This time I got through the class without collapsing, throwing up or passing out! We were famished post class and went to The Waffle House to stuff ourselves with many glorious waffles.
