Teaching Through Tough Times

Learn how to use your personal challenges to find your authentic voice, fortify your teachings, and inspire your students.
By Sara Avant Stover
Amy Ippoliti, a senior certified Anusara Yoga teacher based in Boulder, Colorado, felt vulnerable and fragile as she attempted to pull herself together to teach in New York City following September 11, 2001.
"Despite my own grief, I tried to acknowledge the pain everyone felt and uplift them in the face of such madness," she says.
At the end of the day when she returned to her apartment, Ippoliti would fall onto the floor and cry.  The experience helped her learn to integrate grieving with teaching. "The more I experience the full spectrum of life, the easier it gets to hold the polarity of despair along with the ecstatic moments," she says.
Whether it's the experience of a death, divorce, or health complication, everyone has to deal with a crisis at sometime.  There's no way a yoga teacher can escape the challenge of teaching during difficult times. How can you use your suffering to fuel your teachings? How can your own life challenges inspire your students to face theirs? And is it ever appropriate  to throw your hands up, step out of your role as a teacher, and just take care of yourself?
Download the full text article at Fourmermaids.com