The biggest thing I see people striving for is their authenticity. They want to be completely themselves. So what is it that is standing in the way? Judgement from loved ones, fear of reprisal, loss of love from partners and on and on. Here is where the confusion comes in. Do they really love you or the you that you are pretending to be?
I often hear, " I would totally do that but my partner would think it's weird." So are you living your life for them or you?I love the authors and advisors and life coaches that are so wise to tell how to live our lives. That's awesome. Why should I listen to you when your shit is all over the place. You are not grounded, secure and have no idea who you are yet. Stop being so anxious to show the world who you are when you have no idea who you are. Recently people have been attacking others for their opinions. I try to speak from a yogic perspective of being on the path. Authentic yoga is such yoga which moves along the thread of the Yoga Sutra and other important texts such as the Bhagavad Gita, the Yoga Yajnavalkya and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika to name just a few. These ancient texts are valuable in the fact that humans are going to be humans, so let's love and spread peace. We make a face at the ancestors primitive thinking but for thousands of years these elders were much more in tune with living in harmony with nature and all beings. I think we can learn from them a lot and it is in fact urgent that we do so. So I ask, are you going down the path to find yourself or are you caught up in the notion of what society deems prevalent in your life? From a teaching perspective, are you teaching authentically or just showing up and putting on a show. Have you ever been to a class where you could feel the plastic nature of the process. Maybe the teacher had a bad day or maybe they have already taught 20 classes and are burning out. There is no connection. Silvia Mordini, yoga teacher and author,said "we do the profession of sharing the sacred study of yoga a disservice when we show up to "play the role" of yoga teacher — no different than accepting an acting role and playing a character." If you are only going through the poses then you are not teaching yoga. Just asana (poses). Oh, you added breathing in the beginning of your class? You are teaching pranayama (breathing practice) and asana, not yoga. Yoga is all of it. From the time you wake in the morning to closing your eyes at night. It's the entire tree, not one limb.Yoga really is for everyone. But if you are not teaching everything along the yogic path, you are just a fitness instructor. The true challenge of yoga is to look at the ugliest parts of ourselves and walk the path to improve ourselves. Unhealthy? You have to eat the good foods. No, it's not easy to balance our bodies nutritional needs but that's part of the path. Body is not opening? You have to take the next step to open it. If you continually prop up during half splits then you are not challenging yourself to move forward in your practice. You are content to stay stagnant. That is not the yogic path. Constantly challenging yourself and if you fall off the path, getting back on, working toward samadhi, then the higher classes of yoga. It's a path. You are on it. So be on it.