I often read elephantjournal. I like many of the contributors, and enjoy keeping up on yoga news. Every so often, I rad something that just doesn't quite resonate with me. Today it was an article about yoga and marketing. How that is not what the path of yoga is. While on a very basic level I agree, I was compelled to post my thoughts.
Here is a link to the article:
http://www.elephantjournal.com/2013/03/moving-beyond-the-business-of-yoga-harmony-lichty/
and here are my comments:
Harmony, while I agree with your ideas , I also realize that each of us has our
own path. For one, we were born into the culture we are in, and from there we
make our way forward. Forward, meaning the starting point is different for
everyone. Not everyone is ready to enter into the discipline of the yogic path
as you describe it. For those who are not ready, marketing in just the right way
can guide them to the right teacher for them. Once they have outgrown that
teacher they will seek more. Our culture is (fortunately or unfortunately)
inundated with marketing, which should guide us to places that resonates with
us. Careful marketing (or equally, lack of marketing, for lack of marketing can
speak just as loudly as flashy marketing) by yoga teachers should help guide the
right students to us. You and your husband have a thriving studio, but what does
the individual yoga teacher have to earn a living from? Our classes. And the
more people we can draw into our classes, the better living we can make. This is
the paradigm the studios have set for us. Yoga also teaches us not to judge, not
to be attached to the ideas of right and wrong. That includes not judging the
path of others. If a student wants to practice yoga under the flashiest neon
sign, that is where they are on their path, I am glad they found yoga in some
form, and I acknowledge that their path is not mine, so I remain unattached.
Equally, I trust that the students who find their way to your studio are there
because that is what they are ready for. There is enough judgment in this world
already. I prefer to allow the growth of everyone, right where they are.
Here is a link to the article:
http://www.elephantjournal.com/2013/03/moving-beyond-the-business-of-yoga-harmony-lichty/
and here are my comments:
Harmony, while I agree with your ideas , I also realize that each of us has our
own path. For one, we were born into the culture we are in, and from there we
make our way forward. Forward, meaning the starting point is different for
everyone. Not everyone is ready to enter into the discipline of the yogic path
as you describe it. For those who are not ready, marketing in just the right way
can guide them to the right teacher for them. Once they have outgrown that
teacher they will seek more. Our culture is (fortunately or unfortunately)
inundated with marketing, which should guide us to places that resonates with
us. Careful marketing (or equally, lack of marketing, for lack of marketing can
speak just as loudly as flashy marketing) by yoga teachers should help guide the
right students to us. You and your husband have a thriving studio, but what does
the individual yoga teacher have to earn a living from? Our classes. And the
more people we can draw into our classes, the better living we can make. This is
the paradigm the studios have set for us. Yoga also teaches us not to judge, not
to be attached to the ideas of right and wrong. That includes not judging the
path of others. If a student wants to practice yoga under the flashiest neon
sign, that is where they are on their path, I am glad they found yoga in some
form, and I acknowledge that their path is not mine, so I remain unattached.
Equally, I trust that the students who find their way to your studio are there
because that is what they are ready for. There is enough judgment in this world
already. I prefer to allow the growth of everyone, right where they are.
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