how to teach yogaBy Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500

Recently, I ran into a case in which a Hatha Yoga teacher, who had been teaching for years, was being refused from a Hatha Yoga teacher training course. Before anyone gets stirred up over this and the Act on the Affairs of the Handicapped, in the United States, this story gets better.

His wife is also a Hatha Yoga teacher and they teach Yoga classes as a team. Yet, he was still refused the opportunity for certification as a Hatha Yoga teacher. At this point, you might be thinking of the legality of refusing anyone an equal opportunity. I am not an attorney, but this sounds like a viable case to me.

Do you think that the Yoga organization, which refused this gentleman the right to participate in their Yoga teacher training course, consulted their attorney before making such a decision? Honestly, I doubt it, and the idea of a Yoga organization showing discriminatory judgment goes against the purpose of Yoga.

Yoga means union or unity. Where is the “unity” in discrimination? Discrimination originates from a closed mind. Discrimination works closely with intolerance and can lead to unjustified acceptance of blatant lies or worse.

It is the morality of this issue that should concern us all. It is hard to imagine being blind every day, with so many things that most of us take for granted.

If you want to take a short tour of what it feels like to be blind, close your eyes, and within minutes your other senses will improve. Did you ever notice your hearing improves, when you try to meditate? Try to move around without opening your eyes, but use caution.

When you shut one of your senses off, the rest of your senses will become sharper, as a result of your “handicap.” A blind Yoga teacher will most likely have better cueing skills than most of us. With another Yoga teacher in the room, to assist, a student would get “the best of both worlds.”

This is why we have laws that protect all of us from discrimination. Sometimes, we think that common sense should rule our society, but as you know it does not always work that way. Everyone should make an honest effort to understand others.

We do not have to agree on every issue, but different viewpoints that work together make a healthier and creative world around us. If a blind man has a desire to become a certified Yoga teacher, who has the moral right to refuse him.

 

——————————————–

© Copyright 2005 – Aura Wellness Center – Publications Division

See our testimonials to find out what our graduates have to say about our selection of distance learning yoga teacher certification programs.

If you are teaching a yoga class, a yoga school manager, blogger, e-zine, or website publisher, and are in need of quality content, please feel free to use my blog entries (articles). Please be sure to reprint each article, as is. Namaste!

——————————————–

Related Posts:

Three People Most Unlikely to Become a Yoga Teacher 

Five Methods for Yoga Teacher Progress

Questions about Yoga Teaching and Taking Our Yoga Teacher Training Courses

Has Your Yoga Teacher Certification Expired?

Finding the Best Yoga Teacher Training – Tutoring Limitations

Questions about Yoga Teacher Training Online