When I was doing my first yoga teacher training, someone came out with this line that I never forgot:
"I'd rather be a guide by your side than a sage on the stage"
and it really hit home to me at that time that I would gain a certificate at the end of the course that says "Diploma to Teach Yoga" - but what does that even mean?
Though I was a dancer and performer for most of my young life and I'm perfectly happy in the spotlight, when it comes to bringing people into their yoga, I have no desire to be a preacher on a pulpit or a headmaster on a lectern.
Yoga is a continuous journey of learning, unlearning and reflecting on your practice - and teaching yoga is no different! I am always discovering new concepts, having to question what I previously learned and assessing whether things still align with me and my practice, whether they're outdated ideas in terms of scientific and spiritual understanding of the path - and where I am journeying to as a person living this human experience...
So at best, I want to be a facilitator for your curiosity... and I want to walk alongside you as you make your own discoveries - and to support you as you overcome your obstacles (on and off the mat).
So... circles or straight lines... there's no right or wrong way to facilitate a group yoga practice, but I think everyone must have their preference and mine is most definitely to teach in circle.
And here's why:
Modern society favours educating people in these rigid rows with a teacher at the front. This makes the whole experience into a kind of performance - anyone could stand at the front and just by virtue of this position, they assume an air of authority. But it doesn't necessarily mean they are equal to the task of embodying that authority! It never takes into consideration that the "audience" might have more knowledge than the teacher, or have different ideas. It kind of implies a sense of superiority, too - in some way the person at the front is better than me or I am somehow less than they are. It invites an arrogance - that the students have nothing to teach the professor - that the flow of knowledge goes only one way...
I loathe this approach to education, especially given the amount of incompetent teachers I've encountered during my life. I have no respect for a system that discourages inspiration and unique exploration on the part of the learner...
When there's a stage and an audience, there's a barrier. When performing on a big stage, the lights prevent the performer even seeing most of the audience and you end up performing to a faceless collective. But it doesn't have to be this way.
Ancient and indigenous societies seem to favour the circle. Worship, healing, sharing, singing and storytelling, eating, discussion of community matters, even sleeping in same cases - it all happens in circles.
This encourages everyone to be included. No-one gets to hide at the back or force their way towards the front. No-one can be pushed to the back or pulled to the front to demonstrate status or importance.
It's worth remembering that human connection is just that: a connection or energetic circuit where energy has the potential to flow and grow.
In a circle, energy travels around and around and generates ripples and effects far beyond the reach of linear energy transfer. It is self-sustaining in this way, gathering momentum all the time. The circle is building an environment where we connect more deeply as individuals but also creating a new kind of collective in which the teacher becomes part of the energy rather than trying to be the sole creator of it.
Circles create links, shapes and patterns - beauty and strength everywhere you look - nature is all about cycles and circles and even the sciences will reflect the magic of circles when applied in certain ways.
These are not just pretty patterns - they're powerful, mystical offerings of energetic mastery.
Of course there are practical considerations when deciding how to set up a practice, such as people's view of the teacher or fitting large groups of people into a space effectively. There are times when I would opt for a lines and rows layout by necessity. But in my opinion, the added dimensions and benefits of teaching in circles far outweigh the limitations and I choose this approach whenever possible.
BEYOND THE CIRCLE
Even more than all the above, yoga - doing yoga, "teaching" yoga, studying yoga, BEING yoga is more than a circle - the circle is just the beginning...
Yoga is, in fact, a Spiral...
In the practice you will perpetually revisit the same or similar postures, breath practices, mantras, meditations, whatever. But each time, you will appraoch with a different mindset. You will go deeper. You will find something more. You will change and the practice will change with you.
Just like walking along the same path each day and as the weather changes, the seasons shift, the time of day alters, the years go by... each time, the path presents something else - you discover things anew.
The same applies to your internal world - you might practice whilst you're having a bad day (or a great day). You're in a different phase of your life. You step on your mat at a different time of day, in a different place. Maybe you're sick or injured. Maybe you're at the top of your physical game. Perhaps you're noticing you're getting older. Doesn't matter. Your needs change but the practice is always there. The same but subtly different. It evolves with you. Just like arriving at the next coil on the spiral - from one perspective, it looks like you're back at the same place but look from a different angle and you realise you've gone so much deeper.
Gregor Maehle likened the yogic technique to The Mandlebrot Set:
As you zoom deeper and deeper into the fractal, the same or similar patterns are repeated over and over again. The same all-over structure and architecture are repeated in every minute detail. Similarly, the same patterns are repeated on all levels of yogic technique as you zoom deeper and deeper into it. Asana, for example, is only effective if exercised in combination with bandha, yogic breathing, focal point and concentration. We find the same pattern repeated once we zoom deeper into pranayama. [...] Once our zoom has reached the next deeper layer, called pratyahara [...] the same pattern holds true [...] The final two limbs of yoga [...] are again, not seperate practices but deeper zooms into the existing lattice of yogic technique, which reveals the same patterns and details over and over again (Yoga Meditation: Gregor Maehle, Kaivalya Pulications 2013)
So whatever way you want to look at it, being in circle is an ancient magic.
Nature doesn't thrive in rows or lines. Rocks maybe but we as humans don't have much in common with rocks. We don't have time as individuals to evolve over centuries - our human life is short and mobile and we're biological, not geological. We need fluidity: curves, circles and spirals best serve our needs if we want to grow and thrive through this journey called life.
You can be a rock if you want.
I prefer to be a spiral!
with love and light
Cheryl 💞
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