“People who practice yoga and meditation are the most courageous people in the world. They are willing to sit with their pain in order to heal it. I don’t know anyone who’s had an easy life. Do you? Trauma and suffering are part of the human experience. Give yourself over to explore it; go into it. We are so complex and so amazing.” ~ Cheri Clampett, Yoga Therapist and Teacher
At Integral Yoga Institute, Cheri talked with us about the power of guided meditation and how critical it is for us to create a safe space in our classes for all of our students. Yoga, the physical and mental exercise of processing the memories in our bodies and in our minds, can surface power emotions and we have to be so brave to sit with those emotions. I knew I was ready to teach when I had a very powerful experience in final relaxation pose. It started me down the path of reconciling with my father many years after he passed away. Someday I’ll tell you about that story – its very sad beginning, its long and winding path, and its peaceful resolution – that shaped who I am as a teacher and as a human being. Through that experience I learned that when you say a prayer with all your heart, the Universe responds with an immediacy and accuracy that will astound even the greatest skeptics. That is another post for another time. This post is a caution and encouragement for everyone who teaches yoga or hopes to do so. You have no idea just how valuable, loved, and necessary you are to the well-being of everyone you teach.
A word to the wise
In a yoga class you have to be ready for everything. You go right ahead and prepare your sequences, your intention for the class, and maybe even some of your specific comments and remarks. Then be prepared to chuck it all out the window because it’s not going down the way you planned. When you walk into a class, you have to be able to read your students within an instant, and change your plans accordingly. The class is about them and their journey, not yours.
While it’s very nice to have everything all laid out exactly how you’d like it go, what you planned on giving may not be what your students need. They will have mental and physical challenges to contend with. They are under stresses that you didn’t plan for. Your job, and in my opinion your only job, as a teacher is to create a safe space for all of them to just be, in whatever state they are in. They will laugh, they will cry, and they will break down. And no matter what you have to stay with them; you have to keep all of your senses firing on full tilt so you can be supportive and strong without expressing pity. When someone’s drowning, they don’t want to grab the hand of someone else who is drowning, too. They want someone on dry land who possess the strength to help them through. In a yoga class, that someone on dry land is you, the teacher, and it is an awesome and intense responsibility. It is not a job for the faint of heart, but a job for those with the biggest hearts.
You are precious beyond measure
You may not know what a gift this safe space called your class is. Your students spend their whole lives putting on a brave face, soldiering up to be someone playing a very specific role at work, at home, with their friends and family members. And even if they love playing that role, it is an exhausting load to carry around. They spend 99% of their time doing and about 1% of their time just being. That 1% happens in your class, and you can’t let them down. It took a lot of guts for them to walk into your class, leave the world outside, and go within. Within can be a scary place. They need you, even if they don’t know exactly why when they walk into the class.
Our bodies surprise us
That’s the funny thing about emotional and physical releases in yoga. We often don’t know they’re coming, making our seeking them out an even more courageous act. They catch us off guard, and that puts us in an even more fragile state. I know first hand. In my final relaxation posture that made me want to be a teacher, I had no warning of the release I felt. Truth be told, I didn’t even know I was holding on to so much grief, regret, and loss. My teacher could have easily come over to check on me, to give me a hug, to give me some kind of sympathy. She didn’t. She created the safe space to let me work it out on my own so that I could preserve my dignity and get the most from this experience which I clearly needed. In Arturo Peal’s words, she gave me support when I needed it and space when I needed it. I think of her generosity every time I teach a class, and strive to be as giving to my students as she was to me. She was strong when I couldn’t be. I still tear up when I think about that moment, and it’s been 7 years.
You have the ability to have this same kind of effect on someone in your class, everyone in your class. In Cheri’s beautiful words, “We are all healing on some level.” Your students show up so that they can heal in your presence. They have come to you as seekers and they need your support on their self-designed journey. Walk with them; be steady when they can’t be; give them the space to feel their feelings and celebrate wherever they are along the path. You never know just how big a part you can play in the evolution of someone’s spirit. This is powerful, courageous work. Give the very best you’ve got to your students, and they’ll astound you with how much they give in return.
Christa Avampato 