7 Reasons why you and I should promote and earn a living from YOGA

Posted by on Aug 16, 2010 in Ashtanga | 0 comments

As you know Sharath and family opened a new shala in Encinitas which will be managed by a certified student who will have her own line of  ”Jois” clothing.  This got me thinking about the reaction I saw in certain circles, which seemed to be very negative.  And I wonder why I was being pulled into feeling the same thing.  What is wrong with making money and promoting yoga?  What is wrong with change?  Why are we so scared?.   Could it potentially be that secretly, very deep down we are angry we did not think about it first?  just asking, cause if I get really honest, that is what I feel. I also read Grimmly’s recent post who ponders why does this issue winds up some of us, and Bindy’s post where she searches for clarity about promoting yoga, along with some other interesting topics.

Then I go back to Krishnamacharya and his portrayal by his student Mohan in this book.  I have come to the conclusion that if the big K was alive today he would be blogging, touring, and writing books.  He would have videos and websites and thousands of institutes around the world.  You know why? cause he knew what yoga could do for people, and he wanted  everyone to be exposed to the possibility to chose to do so.  Of course he would be generating money too.   So this for me covers the promotion part.  If it is good enough for Krishnamacharya, then it is good enough for me.
Now, would generating money by adding the value of yoga into someone elses’ life be wrong? or would the choice of what to do with it be the real determinant character and of how much one knows the Gita?  
So here is why you and I need to join in:
1 Krishnamacharya says so
If you read Krishnamacharya, his life and teachings, you will get a solid sense of how committed he was to spreading the world.  Almost like those religious people knocking on doors, no kidding.  I reviewed the book recently.

2 Yoga is good for people
Recently Sharath was quoted saying that you know if yoga is working for you if your life is getting better.  Hmmm.  We have walked upon the secret to a better life, how lucky are we?  I am not saying imposing it is good, that is probably the worst thing we can do, but showing it off, oh yes!  it acts as the bait, someone may join, then discover there is a lot more to yoga than just poses, then maybe have a better life.

3 One yogi leads to more yogis
I can tell of about 5 people who started doing yoga just becacuse I did, one specificially who now has a daily practice.  And notice I am not saying because I taught them, I did not teach them anything, hey!, I did not even tell them unsolicited stories, they just saw me with the mat and asked about it, and I shared what it had done for me.

4 More yogis leads to peace
Here is how the chain of events goes, the details may vary but overall something like this.  You take the first yoga class, you kind of like it, so you take another, then another, suddenly you are practicing “on and off”, then you go to a workshop, you hear about “space”, mental and in the body, and about meditation, you stop having violent reactions and take time for one breath before acting in the world, you start to notice other possibilities, you open your inner ear and hear new possibilities, suddenly you are not reacting so much, suddenly you find your self more present, with less clouded thoughts, you have space to make better choices, which leads to better outcomes for you and everyone around, suddenly people around you begin to feel your peace.  Suddenly just for one conversation, because it only works one at the time, there is peace.

5 Asanas are the bait for the nectar behind the poses
Poses or asanas are the “flashy” part.  I bet you if Shiva was looking down he would be laughing. It is said it was him that gave the poses to the world, of course he did, he wants to turn the tables around, and the best way is to give us something so titilating as supta kurmasana.  Genius.  But the asanas are the bait, and yes the body openers, the healers, the purifiers and all that jazz, but for this post sake, they are the bait, what may invite someone to join in… oh the possibilities!  can my body really do that? but I am 33!? 42!?  47?!  89?!.  Yes it can, one day at the time.  Then comes the inner works of yoga, then Patanjali comes along, and Krishna with the Gita, and the Pradipika, then the sweet nectar begins to poor.

6 Asana alchemizes people
Asana starts off as competition cause that is the world we live in.  It takes a while for us to recognize we are all in the same boat, and that it does not matter that you can hold headstand longer than me, but rather the quality of what happens when in it, and how kind I can be to you even though you are more advanced than me.  Kindness is my religion said a rather wise yogi, and yoga takes us there, one practice at the time.

7 There is nothing un-holy about money
Yesterday I was reading the chapter on Tantra from Nine Lives.  This subject fascinates me, specifically how these sadhus or devotees use skulls and every little detail of their lives defies what is conventionally accepted.  For some reason at some point a conventional thought was injected into the life of yogis, that of money being bad.  Yes you can make an argument to how greed gets out of control and can potentiality the effects of ego, but there is another way to see it that is healthy.  I mean, do you eat? cause I do, daily, and as long as the supermarket will take money instead of asanas in exchange for food then money is important.  I believe underneath this there is a fear that money is unholly, that we are not pure enough if we promote or make a living from yoga, that it is much more “cool” to be the “starving yogi”.  Seriously?.  Yes I know that Krishnamacharya would only take what the student could take, well, but he still was paid AND he promoted the heck out of yoga.

Promotion of what we love and money are two energies in our lives, the same kind of energies we want to liberate when we try for some difficult poses, opening the body leads to opening the mind.

How do you feel about promoting and making money from yoga?

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