Friday, July 2, 2010

Karma Yoga


According to Swami Sivananda Karma Yoga is doing selfless service. OK, well, what does that mean to me? :) It means that I teach yoga without the expectation of getting paid with money. I am paid by helping the world and community reap the benefits of yoga. This is the type of yoga that I have been doing lately.

When studying for my yoga teacher training final in Whole Foods with Ruth, Courtney and Wendi this man came up to us and asked us if we were talking about yoga. We said that we were and he introduced himself as Lal, the owner of Vastu Yoga in Lauderhill. He explained that his studio is a donation only studio and nobody is ever turned away because of their inability to pay for class. The teachers donate their time without the expectation of being paid. You know, Karma Yoga.

When you are a new yoga teacher you just want to teach and if you don't get paid that's OK too so I called Lal the next day to set up a date to teach. I taught at his studio that next Friday and it was really a wonderful experience. I brought most of the students with me but it was still fun to teach in this lovely space.

When I started teacher training with Juliana she made it quite clear to me that she expected me to give back. In other words to do Karma Yoga. I am glad I was able to have the opportunity to keep the promise that I made to my beloved Guru.

Today it was Ruth's turn to perform Karma Yoga at the Vastu studio. She gave a rocking great class that was appropriate for beginners and more advanced students as well. She actually had 3 people in her class that had never practiced yoga before and she did a wonderful job guiding them through a new experience. They were lucky to have her.

So we have both done Karma Yoga. We are better teachers for it.

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