Why can't yoga teachers agree on anything? 😏

Ever notice how yoga teachers can’t agree on anything?

 

One says, “Knee over ankle is fine.” (me) 👳🏾‍♂️Another says, “Never! Knee over toe is a sin.” 😏😳Then someone quotes a YouTube physio who’s never done a yoga class but has 200k followers and a whiteboard.

And somewhere in between, the poor student (you) is just trying to make it through class with a certain level of grace.

It can all be a bit bewildering, can’t it? Everyone at the studio qualified as a yoga teacher through Akram Yoga, yet they’re all different. Each teacher uses different alignment cues and has their own idea of what the “correct” pose looks like.

But who’s right?

I know you expect me to say I’m right and the others are wrong - but that’s not true. Everyone’s right in their own way. When a teacher says, “Do it this way,” what they really mean is, do it this way to get the outcome they want for you.

If I ever contradict what someone else says, it’s not that they’re wrong. I just want you to experience something different from the same pose.

So there is no universal right or wrong - just different outcomes.

Here’s my advice for this week’s practice: Don’t get lost in the rules. Just take each class as one experience at a time. Get lost in that experience.

Feel the cues. Adjust if necessary. Listen if it applies (or ignore me, as most of you do).

And just breathe through the process.

The best alignment cue you’ll ever hear is the one your body whispers back:

“This is the right one for me today.”

A Zen parable to tie things up ↓ (i'm sure you have all heard this one before).

The Blind Men and the Elephant 🐘

Several blind men once felt different parts of an elephant. One touched the trunk and said, “An elephant is like a snake.”Another felt the leg and said, “No, it’s like a tree.”

Another touched the ear and said, “You’re both wrong - it’s like a fan.”

They argued endlessly, each sure he was right.

The truth? They were all describing the same elephant - just from different angles.

Yoga’s a bit like that. Each teacher is describing the same truth - just from their own experience.

Namaskar,

Zahir Akram

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