This month our featured offering is part of a series of discussions offered by Senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher, John Schumacher. Each quarter John hosts a free discussion at his Unity Woods Yoga Center in Bethesda, Maryland. This month the topic of discussion is the prevalence of Yoga Teacher Trainings and how to navigate these potentially murky waters. John references his own journey to become a teacher as well as a rather egregious example of a 5 hour workshop he came across which claimed to teach you everything there is to know about yoga and yoga therapy. John's examples remind us of how precious this gift of yoga is as it offers us an avenue for self-discovery.
In John's most recent newsletter, he mentions the Yoga Sutra "sa tu dirghakala nairantarya satkara asevitah drdhabhumih: Long, uninterrupted, alert practice is the firm foundation for restraining the fluctuations of the mind (I:14)." This ultimately is the path of first the student and then the teacher. Some may be able to train to become teachers in a weekend, but the true teachers will make the practice and teachings of yoga a lifelong pursuit. May these teachers, like John, help guide us all on our own path of self discovery towards peace.
For more of John's quarterly discussions, please visit his iHanuman teacher page. For downloads of his live yoga classes, please visit the iHanuman Download Store.