In just over two decades, since I have been witnessing the unfolding of Yoga in the West, the perception of Yoga and it’s practices have been changing and transforming quite fast. I say perception, because it is not up to us to decide what something which has been defined thousand of years ago is, but rather to see how it can expand, grow and evolve, taking into the account the age we live in and everything available to us today like science and information.
Yoga is and always has been a spiritual discipline and can not be separated from it just because a Westerner or two might not agree. The goal of Yoga, regardless of the lineage, was aways the same - liberation. But, in order to get there, we first need to heal and integrate all levels of our being. We need to free ourselves of misconceptions, false believes, illnesses, anxieties, fears, shames and doubts. And Yoga has a deep chest of tools to help us do that. How we use these powerful tools, and if we use them with understanding, or misuse them, might just determine the future of Yoga in the West.
The Opening
I am sure we have all experienced, on all levels of our being, the transformative power of Yoga. I know I have, and still do, 20+ years later. And this isn’t surprising; Yogic techniques like asana, pranayama and meditation can trigger profound changes in our body/mind; from physical to subtle. The more complex those practices get (what we often call advanced), the greater the potential change.
Yogic techniques are medicine, and just like with any medicine, it can be off the counter, meaning safe and effective for most, or prescribed. Prescribed medicine is stronger and more complex, given to an individual, in an individual dose, and for a specific condition. The stronger and more complex it is, the stronger the reaction with our own body chemistry will be. Advanced yogic techniques are just that - prescribed medicine. It should be given in a right dose, to a right person by someone who understand what it does. If we are offering advanced practices, we need to understand how they affect one’s body/mind and how they interact with the individual. Nothing is good or bad for everyone, there will always be contraindications to every therapy.
The side-effects most of us have experienced on the yoga mat - from pain to involuntary release of emotion have been for too many years labelled with vague terms like ‘opening’ and ‘releasing’, and while this may be true and we are releasing a stuck energy in form of an emotion, we also might be experiencing a dysregulation or re-traumatisation. Just like you might be re-traumatising an injury or a condition with a contraindicated asana, you might be revisiting, consciously or more often unconsciously, a mental/emotional trauma. Trauma remains a fact of life: the majority of us will experience a traumatic event in our lifetime, and some will develop post-traumatic stress. And while this sudden release may appear to be a good thing, a yoga mat is not the best place for dealing with this. Dysregulation needs regulation and hopefully integration, and yoga teachers, for the most part, are not equipped to provide either.
Helplessly watching some of my students break down, and not being able to offer anything but a hug and a vague explanation, especially during masterclasses, workshops, retreats and teacher training courses, was the major reason I decided to study Somatic Psychotherapy and Psychology in general. I wanted to understand what was happening and to be able to create a regulating strategy to bring someone back to the coherent state.
The Spanda Vinyasa Method I created was, since the beginning, about being mindful of what we teach, at what time, where and to whom to avoid imbalances, but I felt I needed to expand on that and teach what do do when something does happen. (We touch upon this in different modules, but mostly during Somatic Awareness and Trauma Sensitive module).
The Cause and Effect
As Yoga teachers, we are often asked the impossible – we are expected to be physiotherapists, psychotherapists, nutritionists, life-coaches and clairvoyant mediums, all while practising what we preach and being in the constant state of balance ourselves. This is a tall order, and an impossible task no one should be imposing on oneself. However, this didn’t just happen for no reason. Our students trust that, if we are teaching a complex sequence of asana, any pranayama, visualisation, meditation, mantra, mudra etc, we know what we are doing and can, thus, answer their questions. And let’s be honest, this is a pretty reasonable expectation. So, we kind of did ourselves a disservice by taking the might of Yogic practices for granted. If we are using these powerful tools, we need to know how to use them. A hammer can help us build a house, as well as do some damage. A more complex piece of machinery can help us build a better and stronger house, but can also, if misused, create greater damage.
I hope that the age of Yoga Teachers offering complex asana without a deep understanding of anatomy and physiology, teaching complex pranayama without understanding the physiological changes it triggers almost instantly, teaching meditation like Yoga Nidra or, on the other side Mindfulness techniques without an understanding of how differently they affect the mind, is behind us, and the future of Yoga is less about performance and more about healing and balancing.
The Future of Yoga
The future of Yoga I see and am passionate to help create is merging the traditional which practices which are still relevant to this day and age with other ancient or contemporary disciplines. I see Yoga hand in hand with science, and Yoga Teachers sitting at the table with Doctors, Psychologists, Kinesiologists, Physiotheraphists, Neurologists etc, doing research and creating strategies and practices which will help humanity heal, grow and thrive. But, to be accepted by the scientific community and work together towards a healthier world, we must be more knowledgeable about what we teach. There is no way around it. And we shouldn’t want a way around.
If this made you think, I’m happy it did. We need to rethink, as a community, where we see the future of Yoga, because every one of us plays an intricate roll in how it will unfold. And if you agree with me, and see it as healing, balancing scientific discipline, and not acrobatics, stretching, performance or creativity, what it’s sometimes reduced to, you might want to contemplate on what and how you’re practising and teaching. And, in order not to leave you dysregulated ;), I’ll offer you some advice I hope might help.
If you are a yoga student, think about what you intend to get from your practice, and who can provide that for you. Seek the teachers you trust will guide you there, and give your support to teachers who will create this positive change we all envision.
If you are just starting to teach, keep it simple. Simple practices are also powerful, and will be more beneficial for those who are taking their first steps on a yoga mat. Keep on studying to add complexity to what you teach as you learn more and practice more yourself. If you can’t answer a question about an asana, pranayama or meditation you teach, you should not be teaching it.
If you are teaching for a while and want to move towards teaching workshops, invest in the 300-hour training and choose wisely. Spanda Vinyasa Yoga School offers modules so each of our Advanced Studies students can create, for the most part, their flow of training. Regardless of what you choose or which school you choose, do an Advanced Anatomy module as well as one focused on Trauma Sensitive Yoga. We have one coming up this weekend online, as well as one in-person coming up in October in Portugal, and there will be more in the future. There has never been a time, not in the recent past at least, when the humanity as a whole suffered a global trauma, and needs healing as we do now, and we will in the years to come.
If you are a Teacher Trainer, you have a big responsibility and I hope you know this. Our education never stops and again, if you are like me and see Yoga as science, we need to step up our game and stop pulling the tradition or creativity card. It’s not fair to our students and it doesn’t serve the path of Yoga. There is so much out there, especially now with so much knowledge being available online. Apart from the 800-hour Yoga Therapy training, I am currently doing a Medical Neuroscience course on coursera.org which is FREE (unless you want a certificate which will cost you 40 euro) as well as Anatomy Specialisation which costs 40 euro per month and you can do it in 5 months, or less if you’re more familiar with certain topics. Coursera has been around for almost a decade but has really picked up in the last five years in both the topics and the quality of the teachers. I have done courses with Yale, Harvard and Oxford professors, all from the comfort of my home. There are always inexpensive courses at Udemy as well. Some, more advanced and niche, do cost and rightfully so, but I am never sorry for paying a hefty fee to attend a Tom Myers (anatomytrains.com) or another Anatomy Trains teacher webinar or invest in the continuation of my Somatic Psychology training.
Crossroads
I see us standing at the crossroads. Some will continue down the path which has already taken over so many layers of our society, a path where looks are being celebrated more than knowledge, experience is less important than fame, and how you sell something is more important than the product itself. If we want to build a healthier world, this has to change, and we must choose the path of healing and truth, even though it’s is harder for sure. As well as less Instagramable ;)
I would love to hear your comments and thoughts about this, and am here for you if you have any questions about anything written in this text.
