What is a Yoga teacher?
“Vera, can I practice with you, and go take classes with another teacher outside of Ashtanga Cascais?”
I looked at her, and took a deeper breath to have time to reflect for a few moments, and be able to articulate clearly and directly. After I told her that she could do whatever she wanted, that she could practice with A, B, C, at João, Maria and Joaquina’s school. Nowadays there are Yoga teachers on every corner, and only she will know who she wants to practice with. The choice will be hers, it’s something personal, but generally this decision comes from the feeling we identify when we are close to that person. And so out of respect for him/her, we don´t jump from school to school. The choice can be immediate and spontaneous, or we need time to understand what his/ her skills are, his/her teaching history, who with him/her learned from, him/her ethics and how lead his/her life.
I also told her that the teacher is not our best friend, but he/she is someone close to us who shows genuine compassion for the phases of life we go through, and at the same time, encourages us to overcome laziness, conditioning, doubts and fears. He/She is someone who inspires us to trust that we can make the path from the impossible to the possible. The teacher is not someone who flirts with us, or who gives more attention to an experienced student, or just those who bend backwards like a “pretzel”, he/she supports everyone in the room, regardless of experience level or flexibility. The teacher has the ability to be present, and make us feel protected, but at the same time, gives us the space to explore, try and find our own solutions.
“But then Vera, that’s not a teacher, it’s like a Guru?”
I breath deeper again, took a few more seconds to reflect on what answer I should give, and continued to remember my dear teacher. So I firmly stated that Guru means one who removes darkness. The problem is that nowadays, after a year of teacher training’s, we are all teachers. So she would have to be the one to discover hers, and understand who make sense to be a reference on her path.
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