Did you learn about meditation in your teacher training program?
In both of the long programs I attended, we dipped our toes into the practice of meditation. While I have always appreciated why it is important for teachers to be aware of meditation as a practice, none of the styles I learned in my early days truly resonated with me.
Don't get me wrong, it was fascinating to learn about different traditional practices and experience meditation with my Buddhist instructor who infused his beliefs and philosophy into class. It was equally interesting to get lost in hours of chanting practice or learn about the chakra system through visualization.
Even so, I struggled with the myths and philosophies of the various practices that one needed to accept at the outset in order to "get" the meditation. By the end of those long courses, I was always left with a handful of possible directions and ideas about what meditation was for and what path to take.
My experience was that too many options are paralyzing.
I couldn't pick one path or even commit myself to experimenting with a singular form of meditation for any length of time. Instead, I spent years dabbling and eventually stopped trying to practice altogether.
Perhaps you have had a similar experience. Or maybe you had a bland meditation module in your training that turned you off of the exploration permanently.
The question remains:
Is meditation important for yoga teachers?
My opinion is, yes.
In fact, I would say meditation is as integral to teaching as keeping a regular yoga practice is.
But I didn't know it until I began practicing Chinese Medicine. Something my clinical teacher said made an impact on me and changed the way I look at and value meditation. If you don't meditate regularily, I understand why that might be, but I want to share with you a discussion I had with Morgan Dix on The OneMind podcast that might give you the tools and inspiration to help shed light on how make the practice work with your lifestyle.
For teachers in the Hamilton/ Toronto area, I will be leading a workshop with Jeff Carreira on May 10 @ De La Sol Yoga in Waterdown centred on making a greater impact with your classes to keep students coming back. We are also hosting a day-long meditation and yoga retreat the day before and teachers get a special price of $155 if you sign up for both days. Click here for more information and to register.
photo credit: me&her photography