As June wraps up I have managed a teeny weeny step toward my own yoga journey of learning, sharing and transformation. Baby steps is what it takes sometimes, right?
Even though I have taught several ‘weekend yoga philosophy’ workshops for local PA studios and their yoga teacher trainings for many years, learning to teach the Gita for five days straight is an opportunity that I did not want to miss by a long shot. It was a blessing in disguise as far as I was concerned. It is four and a half years since I was first asked to do the Director in Training program for The Bhagavad Gita with my mentor and teacher Yoganand Michael Carroll at Pranakriya, and I remember accepting the offer with such great joy. It is also now over three years since I first shared stage with Yoganand on how to teach ‘The Gita as a yoga text and its practical applications for a yoga practitioner not only on their mats but also in their own daily life’. Looking back, I have indeed come a long way…
For my first round, I started with teaching a tiny portion of the Gita during the five day program in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was nerve wracking to teach with my teacher present and listening in. But I also remember how satisfactory it felt at the end of the day. I walked away with some wonderful feedback. It definitely boosted my confidence for the following rounds. Each time I learnt some more, I got to teach some more. When the program transitioned online due to the pandemic last year, we had students from all over the world. On this last round when the program ran between June 11th and 15th, we had students attending from the US as well as Canada. And believe it or not, I got to lecture on all days and teach a yoga practice themed from the material that I taught during those lectures. Yoganand’s feedback was amazing and he says I am READY to take on the whole program. Wow! That is simply WOW! No other words really…it still gives me chill bumps.
Even though I shall remain a student of the Bhagavad Gita for a lifetime, I do believe I am ready to share my learnings with my own students. I do believe strongly that in sharing with my students, my own experiential knowledge will increase and thus I will come the full circle.
For this post, I want to express my immense gratitude to Yoganand without whom I would not be where I am today. It was so rewarding to get the literal ‘thumbs up’ from him on the last day of the program. I am also filled with extreme appreciation for this teacher, who has given me so much wisdom and has helped me every step of the way to be the best of who I am. He has taught me by example, he has taught me that the learning never ends on this spiritual path…he has taught me that we can only do our best, give the best of who we are and let go of the rest at any given moment in time. Gratitude to him always, words will always fall short if I have to express how I feel. As I continue my studies with him, I would like to leave you with a verse from the Gita. It is one of the most famous verses, an all time favorite of mine and one I believe contains the essence of the Gita in a nutshell and as always it is one that packs a punch.
“Your right is to action alone; Never to its fruits at any time. Never should the fruits of action be your motive; Never let there be attachment to inaction in you. “
Chapter 2 – Verse 47
The translation is from Winthrop Sargeant’s translation of The Bhagavad Gita.
Happy summer, happy month/week ahead. For all my offerings you can go to https://yogabhyasakalari.com/
My Yoga Journey 