I would like to draw the attention of YOGA ALLIANCE, on the inherent problems that are and will be connected to your asking the students to "judge" the school.
I recently had two issues:
- one is from a student of another, very famous, yoga teacher, who functions like a guru, and is very persuasive toward his students that HE is the one, and only one, who can teach yoga. The young man, after taking a 200 hour TTC with him, went to my 300 hour TTC and judged me from the very first day of the TTC, with a sort of obstinate refusal to learn anything from anyone else but his beloved guru; young man, immature, but very strong and flexible... so his fantastic physical practice has led him to believe he is a great yogi.
Twice I asked him to leave, Twice he said he'd be a good boy...
He put a judgment on me, and his friend, who doesn't speak a word of English, copied and pasted the same judgment on me.
- one is from a vietnamese student, whose English is very, very limited. To your question "do you think the yoga teacher was present...." she understood exactly the opposite of what s asked, and replied, “no, I'm not sure.”
You can ask to ALL my students, from ALL my TTCs, I AM PRESENT 200-HOURS in my TTCs.
She has apologized to me. She would love to correct her judgment, now that she measures what she has written.
1. Can she do so?
2. You ask anyone, not necessarily people who have any capacity or comparison-elements to give a judgment. To give an appreciation, one must have elements of comparison, elements to evaluate... I am sorry that I teach mostly in countries where young people are maintained immature, have no culture whatsoever. This is a joke to ask such people to judge!
3. The answer is pre-established:
- I think so or
- I don't think so.
But, when a teacher is here for 200 hours, the answer cannot be "I think so", it YES or it is NO!
I am going to ask the yoga community about this issue, which, from the inception, I knew would lead to difficulties and misunderstandings.
My bio is more easily displayed and explained on my website, www.yogayantra.com. I absolutely do not believe that a 200-hour TTC can make anyone a yoga teacher, but it does open many doors to further studies. The only way to be and remain a yoga teacher is to remain updated in all fields: physical, energetical, and studies. And hours and hours of practice. With the elements I give to my students, they should be able to find their own path, and travel their own journey. Yoga is an ongoing process of unprocessing who we think we are.
I feel sorry that YA neglects the sanskrit name for what I teach: VINYASA style (they call it "flow")
www.yogayantra.com Everything is there