Did You Learn More Than Only Asanas Before You Started Teaching?

Group Asana Class

This post is my perspective as a Yoga Teacher who thankfully discovered Rajnath Ji many years ago.

I hear you all (yoga teachers) complaining about what most yoga teachers say:

• "My students do not want me to teach more than asanas to them",

• "Fellow teachers did not go deep on the studies before teaching",

• "People are interested only in losing weight with Yoga",

• Blah blah blah.

Ok. But did YOU go deeper into your studies to have more to teach your students?

Seriously?! Not going to Rishikesh to take a few hours' course (500 hours is a few for Yoga) with a teacher who never belonged to a Yogi Tradition, like the Natha Sampradaya Tradition. The Tradition where Hatha Yoga was born. And by the way, Rishikesh is the worst place to find a good teacher. NO real Yogi teaches in Rishikesh.

Who do YOU think had put this label of being a good option to lose weight on students? Your fellow yoga teachers who came before you, or maybe yourself, who's replicating this online by posting yoga poses to attract more students.

Did you know yoga poses are in the Tradition to be practiced away from other people's eyes? A Yogi in the Natha Sampradaya Tradition, the Tradition created by Shiva himself, is not an online posting of himself in an Asana. And it is not because he's a "caveman" with no internet access. It is because, inside the Traditional teachings given by Shiva, Asanas are to be performed away from people's eyes. It is an introspective practice that cannot be done by anyone else but by yourself. Not even in a Group Class. This is an abomination for a Yogi from any serious Indian Tradition.

You can have as many posts as you want to complain about the way your students behave and how Yoga is seen in the West, but Westerners are the ones to blame.

If you go to India and collect only a PIECE, only a FRACTION of the knowledge of yoga given by a teacher (sometimes even an Indian teacher) who was never really initiated by a real Guru from a Tradition, and who does not know the FULL 4 PARTS of the hatha yoga system, you are not even allowed to complain.

You know a couple of Pranayamas to teach, and the "highest" knowledge you have is the Yamas and Niyamas to give your students besides the Asanas.

Indian Yogis (the Real Ones) keep to themselves and do not teach people who DO NOT become a disciple (meaning giving up and becoming a monk - no money, no sex, no relatives, no drugs. Just meditating and practicing Hatha Yoga and Yoga away from people's eyes). You have to be willing to live in India, washing bathrooms and serving the Ashram for a long while before being worthy of receiving this Full Knowledge, which will take time to be given to you.

And Westerners believe they can go on a 15-day trip to India, make some friends, do 4-5 hours a day of group classes, and take some pictures in front of the Taj Mahal (if in an Asana pose, even better) to "validate" this "knowledge".

Keep reading and be open, because I'm not trying to offend anyone reading this, but if you are offended, you probably did some (or even all) of these things I mentioned here yourself.

Do yourselves a favor and check out this guy (I'm not receiving anything for recommending him). I learned from him, and after the first little course I took with him, I threw out of the window 20+ years of "yoga".

So when I read comments like the ones I read here or on the YouTube channels talking about Yoga, I see myself back in time looking for answers I could never find because I was looking in the wrong place and from the wrong people.

Rajnath is an initiated Sadhu (Yogi) from the Natha Sampradaya Tradition. And if you have never heard the name Natha Sampradaya, you are in trouble, little friend.

This Tradition initiated the whole thing you say you are teaching. So, go back to the basics, humble yourself, and learn the ABCs first.

Visit the Courses he offers and become a REAL Yoga teacher

Peace to you all.

Yoga Natha

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