What is a Good Teacher? – Part 01
These were probably the two questions, apart from a few other things that drove me back. To India. China as well. However, I will focus on India for now. You might wonder why “back“ to India. Well, you see my childhood and the overall growing phase. Was not. The standard you might expect. Since my two years of age, my life has been one of constant motion and this hasn’t changed until now.
The first time I. Feet step. On Indian soil, it was at the age of 5. We spend unforgettable five years. Returning after exactly 30 years, I really felt. Like going. Home. Everything felt familiar, the smells, the sounds, the taste, the heat. The people and all the other peculiarities of this special country. This was despite my going to Kerala which lies in the South of India, whereas before my life was connected to the north to New Delhi.
In Sanskrit, Kerala means the Land of the coconut and you can be sure the coconuts are really a refreshing there. However, my true destination was the Varkala town. Why did I pick this destination. Well, there are. A few reasons. And coconut was not one of them. I chose it due to the course being headed by a woman that studied. Naturopathy together with yoga, meaning it appeared to be the perfect combination. For what I am trying to achieve.
Little did I know that Varkala is actually a very famous spiritual spot in India, for it is said that Vishnu. In one of his. 9 Reincarnation unearthed this region with his axe so he could find the perfect meditation spot. As you can imagine, the whole area is packed with temples and the locals take their religion very seriously. I need to add that not all the churches here are for the Hindu religion, there are many mosques and Christian churches as well.
From the first moment, it felt like a good decision. To come and immerse myself. In the study of yoga. Since I was practicing yoga for almost three years, five to six times daily. Was that it? It’ll be a piece of cake and only a matter of getting the paper at the end. Looking back, it is hard to believe someone can be so delusional but is our. Host and main instructor said: “ everything you will experience throughout your time, whether inside or outside the ashram, is part of the yoga course and you should use it as an opportunity to learn.“
Everyone has a different journey, but to experience it we need to live in the present moment. This is almost impossible for the modern individual who always lives either in the past or worries about the future. Very rarely, if ever, do we live In the very moment. Especially people from the “west“
Let me try to relay a few memorable moments that shaped my experience while during the course. Let us start at the beginning. My arrival was a few weeks. Before. The course start. This was planned to get acclimatized. And everything was perfect until the last day before the. Begin of the course. Immediately after waking up, I felt a sharp pain. In my left lower back. Going towards the buttocks, about halfway from the spine towards the left side. It was really painful and my concern was that this won’t allow me to participate in the course. Muscle injuries were the reason why my very promising football career crumbled like a house of cards, turned to melancholy and apprehension.
However, every failure. Also brings many benefits and learnings. If only we can recognize them. In my case it was the ability to manage my body so every day. My alarm started an hour earlier to provide me with the time to prepare my body for practice. Our class started at 6:00 AM, so you do the math. Also, it is important to bear in mind that in yoga, we perform asanas (i.e. poses) and we need to be able to relax and be steady while performing them. Essentially, we you need to be consciously aware of the whole body. If not, we are only doing exercise, but that is not yoga.
The first day was very painful, but my determination was to complete the course at all costs. At 1 moment during the second or third day, I approached our ashtanga yoga instructor, we all referred to as Elvis due to his crazy hairstyle. He was a weird fellow but studied under the son of the Patabi Jois and if you know anything about Ashtanga yoga this is an absolute privilege.
Imagine you study. Basketball with the son of Michael Jordan or football with the son of Maradona? Etc. In any case, he didn’t like to talk during practice, but said we should let him know at the end of the class if we have any limitations. After telling him about my pain, he looked at me sideways, waved his hand nonchalantly and simply said: “Just continue doing yoga and it’ll go away.“
I was not sure what to say. So my only reaction was to nod thankfully and leave. Thoughts were swirling in my mind. It was not like I was a stranger to muscle problems. The first thing you learned is for a muscle to recover, it has to be left in peace and here was a person telling me I should continue practicing. It simply didn’t add up, so I started to look for a solution that worked for me in the past.
After that, my morning routine was embellished with cream’s massages, swimming and all sorts of Ayurveda herbs. After almost two weeks of trying all sorts of things, with a choice either to continue with all these additional activities that robbed me of time or simply fully adhering to what my instructor recommended. That was the only thing I haven’t done. Hence, my focus turned toward yoga 100% and even today it is still unclear to me when exactly the pain left me, but already my last week was pain free.
Left us due to personal reasons before the end of the course I was not able to. Show my gratitude to him. In the appropriate way. But I. Promise to myself. At the decision point, I mentioned beforehand that should the pain lead me by only practicing yoga, I would return to India in the short future to continue my yoga journey. More on that later, but it was after exactly 6 months that I returned to Kerala and this time for a period of 3 months to be able to learn as much as possible and encounter new instructors, that could show me what it means to be a good teacher.
