Namasté

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Marianne Williamson

Wait a minute, why do you keep referring to yourself as an instructor?  Aren't Yoga teachers called gurus?  A guru is a person of great wisdom and knowledge who uses that knowledge and wisdom to guide others.  Guru is not a title that can be claimed, it can only be given.  Be wary of anyone who calls themself a guru.

Namasté

Now for a bit of a critique:  Class was in the aerobics room, this was a bad choice for a number of reasons.  The echo in that room is horrific and even those without old ears had a hard time understanding what I was saying at times.  There is no tempurature control and the air conditioning vent blew cool air throughout the class.  One wall is lined with mirrors, highly distracting and even I had trouble in vrksasana because I had no easy point to fix my gaze.  I'm moving the class to the multi-purpose room on the main floor.  It has no echo, a slightly padded floor and is not constantly cooled—there are fans in there if it is too hot.

Class started a little stilted and I had a hard time eliciting anything other than silence from the students most of the time.  I am sure it was mainly due to us being a group of strangers that had never really met until class started.  Toward the end, however, I got a bit more response.  One won't be coming back for a while, she enjoyed what she could do but her joints just gave her too much pain.  Her goal is to lose some weight and give it another go.  I hope I can get her back in class sooner as bidalasana and marjariasana both helped to relieve her sacroilliac joint pain.  Her workout buddy won't be attending Wednesday classes as she's in therapy for her shoulder.

Things I'll work on improving tomorrow:  Try to get more student involvement.  Ask why they're taking the class and if they have any favorite poses.  Ask for names . . . I have no idea why I didn't do that last night!  There's a question for you, dear reader, if you have taught a yoga or similar group class what have you done to help break the ice?

Just a quick update on Wellsphere.  Each of my posts here at Everyday Yoga also show up on the Wellsphere; so, if you're reading this over at Wellsphere be forewarned that I'll copy comments to my posts over to my blog at Everyday Yoga so my regular readers can see what you folks have to say.

Namasté

I have a question.  I'm a yoga therapist (& RN) at a psychiatric hospital.  I remember, maybe 7 or 8 years ago, I invited a new client to yoga and she said it was against her religion.  I said something like, “Oh, we don't do anything that would interfere with anyone's religion; nor do you have to have a religion at all.”  She was quite sure though and said she would sent me a pamphlet about it after she left the hospital.  She did—I thought it was from a Mormon group.  It said a lot of stuff...devil worship, secret organization meant to promote Hinduism, etc.  Could it have been Mormon??  I'm confused now.

First, we need to do a little defining here:  What is a Mormon?  Mormons are generally accepted as being members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; however, that is not strictly true.  There are other groups that are currently or have been previously called Mormons.  I will refer to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as Latter-day Saints and to the church as the Church of Jesus Christ or the Church through the rest of this post to avoid any ambiguity.  Lastly, I am not an official representative of the Church.  What I am writing here is my personal understanding of Chruch doctrine and practices.

The biggest flag, to me as a Latter-day Saint, that something is amiss is that the Church strongly discourages attacking any other group¹ and the pamphlet in question sounds very much like an attack on Yoga and Hinduism.  Latter-day Saints have long been maligned for what we believe; so, learning that another Latter-day Saint might have done the same to any group, even if truly deserved, is very disheartening.  That alone makes me confident in saying that at the very least this was not an official Church of Jesus Christ pamphlet.

Now the doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ does take a very well defined stance on the different religions around the world.  This is often interpreted, both inside and outside the Church, as a We are right and everyone else is wrong stance.  Modern revelation does state that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth . . . ”² and while that does seem to draw a line in the sand, it doesn't tell the whole story as this sounds like Latter-day Saints believe we are the only ones with the truth and everyone else is heading to hell.  The doctrine of the Church does teach that the Church of Jesus Christ is the only church with all the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the authority to act upon that truth.  We do not claim that other groups are completely wrong, only that they do not have the entire truth.  To be honest, we don't even hold or teach that we have all the truth just that we have all that is required for one to become a joint-heir with Christ.³

So, where does that leave the rest of Christianity?  Yoga?  Hinduism?  You-Name-It-Ites?  We believe that most religions, the vast majority of religions, have nuggets of truth and that those treasures are worth having and knowing.  With regard to the many religions of the world, it is my personal belief that over the ages pure truth has been given by God to His prophets and that over time individuals have taken a little here and a little there and called it the whole truth, when in reality it was only a few pieces.  God has restored the whole truth through Joseph Smith, a modern day prophet.  Beyond finding pieces of the truth in the world's many religions, we believe that there are many other good things to be learned and it is our sacred duty to find them, to learn them and to share them.⁴  Yoga lies, in my view, somewhere between the pieces of truth about God and these other good things just as it lies somewhere between religion and science.

As a final proof that the Church is not against Yoga, there is no official proclamation against it and there are Yoga classes available at the Church's private university in Provo, Brigham Young University, not to mention that KBYU—a PBS television station at Brigham Young University—broadcasts and even produces a Yoga show.

So, where does that leave the woman that gave you the pamphlet?  It is possible that she was a Latter-day Saint and that the pamphlet was created by some of her local leaders.  It is also possible that she was from a breakoff of the Church that does indeed teach that.  She might even have been someone with an axe to grind that was seizing a propaganda moment—yes, I know that sounds far fetched but it has, sadly, happened before.  Regardless, I can assure you that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has never spoken officially against the practice of Yoga.  In fact, I have not even been able to find anything informal speaking for or against the practice of Yoga coming from the General Authorities⁵ of the Church.

Namasté

Endnotes

1.  Articles of Faith 1:11, We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.

2.  Doctrine & Covenants 1:30, And also those to whom these commandments were given, might have power to lay the foundation of this church, and to bring it forth out of obscurity and out of darkness, the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well pleased, speaking unto the church collectively and not individually—

3.  Romans 8:16, 17, The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

4.  Articles of Faith 1:13, We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul*—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things. * see Phillipians 4:8

5.  Mormon.org, “A priesthood leader over the general Church.  This term can refer to prophets, apostles, and seventies.”

Namasté

Just out of curiosity, I decided to see what other instructors around the United States are earning.  Imagine my shock when I found forums stating that all instructors should be demanding $75-$100+ per hour!  I have heard many stories of Yoga becoming too expensive for the everyday man to afford and with such an attitude among some instructors, it is no wonder!  Thankfully, the walk-in cost for classes at the community center is $3.00 for non-members and free for members.  Honestly, I would rather be a part time teacher sharing something I love in a way just about anyone can afford than to be an affluent instructor to the stars!

Namasté