teaching yoga Archives - yogawithpragya

Making Time to Live Your Life

June 5, 2014

I met Louise in Wellington, when I first started teaching yoga. After a couple of months, I held her up as an example of ‘balance’ to the class. She is in her early 40s, has two beautiful childern, a rocking career, wonderful marriage…and she still found time for her yoga, tennis, hiking, reading etc. The credit for making her life so rich and full goes to no one but Louise. After all, she could also sit back and complain that she had wanted a career/tennis/amazing body/(fill in the blank) but had to give it up because of: children are too small/husband has a transferrable and demanding job/has other familial obligations/(fill in the blank). Granted Louise comes from a culture and country different from 95% of my students, and many who are reading this are thinking “well you know in our culture (fill in all the perceived limiting factors of being a married woman with kids in India)”.

Now I have an example of an Indian woman (yes, married to a man who has a demanding and transferrable job; yes, has two growing children who demand/want time/attention; yes, has all the familial obligations that come with being from our culture) who reminds me of Louise. Sharmishta Vardhan has been regular in my class from Day 1. When I got to know her better, I found out that she’s a Bharatnatyam dancer. When there’s no yoga she goes for a walk. She’s an amazing swimmer and has been swimming since she was 8 years old. (Incidentally, she taught me how to swim within 10 days. I’m confident standing on my head on land, but 10 days ago I would list drowning as my biggest fear.) Here’s an Indian woman, in her 40s, married for 9 years, two crazily energetic boys (I’ve seen them in the pool), who defies the ‘Indian woman married with two kids’ convention. She reads, sometimes travels to pursue her hobbies, gets in her daily swim before heading home for dinner, cultivates her own friends circle with whom she goes for movies, exhibitions, fairs etc. You can see the results of daily yoga in her before-after.

So next time you think you don’t have time for yoga remember that there are women like Louise and Sharmishta who are busy living the lives they love, and making time for yoga as well! 🙂

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Enquiries Into Yogic Philosophy

Which Category Are You?

July 31, 2013

Today I concluded the first month of teaching here in Bangalore. When I started the class, there were about 8 enthusiastic people along with 2-3 others who dropped in out of curiosity. Some wanted to see what ‘yoga’ was all about, and some to see if the class was worth the money being charged. After a month of waking up early and trudging to the class braving the cold winds, I have 5 students who come regularly.

I’ve been to numerous yoga classes over the years as a student. And I repeatedly see this trend. Classes start out full and then students begin to drop out. I used to think that it’s the teacher’s responsibility to keep students coming back, to keep the tempo of the class going and to design routines that students will enjoy. After all, a teacher is supposed to provide a class that appeals to students. And if students don’t like the class, well then, the teacher should introspect and do something about it.

However, over the past couple of days I’ve started to think that its as much a student’s responsibility to be wake up and show up, as it is the teacher’s. Sadly, when the temptations and excuses to stay in bed are numerous, and the reasons to show up to class so few, there are not many who possess the self discipline to get to class.

I’ve observed three kinds of students:

1. The lazy bones. Those who will not sustain a regular yoga routine, or, for that matter, ANY kind of routine. Making space for a class in a busy schedule is not easy. You either have to wake up when everyone around you is snuggled comfortably in their warm beds, or trudge to class after a tiring day at work and all you want to do is sleep for the next 2 days. It takes great effort to leave the warmth of your bed, change, pick up the mat and head to class. Even more so when it’s cold and windy outside. I’ve seen that those who don’t come, won’t come despite relatively easy schedules. I feel that a sense of commitment kicks in for these people only when something goes wrong, ie. doc tells them to lose weight. And then they go into weight-loss overdrive and might end up hurting themselves more in the process.

2. Those students who are a bit more aware and enlightened. They do sometimes run out of steam and need encouragement from the teacher, but on the whole they are committed and contribute effectively to the vibe of the class. These students are a great addition to the class because once in class they are attentive and 100% involved.

3. The self-motivated student. These people are committed, aware, and involved. They ask questions, listen very carefully to what the teacher has to say, and at times they have something of their own to contribute. They proactively read up on health and wellness and have a high degree of committment to themselves, their bodies and their mind. They are a delight in class. These students are a motivation to other students as well.

And as I told my students this morning, I’d rather teach a smaller but committed group than a large group of semi-focused people.

Can you classify the people you know in the above categories?

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