Reflections on Teaching in the 21 st Century ~

As many of my longtime students can affirm, my teaching and class offerings are grounded in the traditional roots of Yoga’s self inquiry practices. Rather than chasing what is popular or being influenced by what is selling in the marketplace, I continue to source my teaching from both the foundation of my studies, as well as from my own practice and inner experience of Yoga.

In spite of Yoga’s relatively recent growth and mainstream popularity, the trend of Yoga’s popularity is currently waning. Since Covid, the numbers of practitioners have declined, studios have remained closed. People are doing other things and/or taking classes online.

It’s common today in urban Yoga centers to find classes with blended systems, such as Yoga and Weight Training or Yoga for Pelvic Floor Health, or Goat Yoga! This is certainly understandable, not only from a marketing point of view, but also from a personal interest approach to teaching. That one might choose to be creative and present techniques together makes some sense. Perhaps to bolster their Yoga offering or to specialize and find a niche within the field. It’s rare to find a yoga teacher living solely off of their teaching income.

I’ve never been called in this way. My experience is and has been to continue to deepen within my own self practice and inquiry, which to me is the root of the purpose of Yoga and fuels the journey on the Yogic path. Fundamentally, I am interested in and intend to uphold the integrity of Yoga and the Yoga tradition as a way of remembering our innate freedom. As a teacher, I must navigate and respond to the needs of my students as well as the personal impact of current world and societal conditions.

With this said, I’ve chosen to work always within the community in which I live, for the people whom are in front of me. To stay simple— not always easy but less complicated. I’ve chosen to ride the waves of teaching and sustaining a small town yoga center with the ups and the downs, the expanding and contracting class sizes, mostly with humility and an inward inquiry to how I might better serve.

I am very grateful for the vocation of teaching Yoga for the benefits it continues to bring to me as well as to inspire in others. Taking time, a pause in the day for practice, for accommodating whatever is present, for making space to know oneself better… Yoga is not just something to do but essentially it is a way of being. And, the human being is a rich source of yogic self study; for a whole life time!