Welcome to toddtheyogi.com
I often struggle with the growing diversity of yoga offerings and wonder how I should contribute.
I don't wonder whether I should contribute. Being a contributing member of the yoga community is very important to me. In fact, it is part of my essence and my dharma.
The problem I wonder about is how I should contribute.
I don't wonder whether I should contribute. Being a contributing member of the yoga community is very important to me. In fact, it is part of my essence and my dharma.
The problem I wonder about is how I should contribute.
My path as a teacher has recently shifted. I believe was is most important to me is to provide practices that will serve students in helping them reduce pain in their lives, both in body and in mind. I also hope to, when my students are ready, provide practices that will help them deepen their understanding of their true self.
In the end, I believe, what is most important with respect to how I contribute, and how I teach, is to be authentic. Authentic, both in terms of being myself and in terms of teaching from the longer lineages of yoga. Many types of yoga have sprouted over the last 50 years. Some of these newer forms do infuse new wisdom into the yoga practice (particularly in terms of asana practice) in the 21st Century in the west. Some, however, are not styles that are safely universalized.
By this I mean that many newer yoga styles are for people in particular places, with particular concerns or motivations. Some of these practices are very specifically designed to develop the body (mostly) and the mind (in some ways inadvertently). What is important here is to recognize why you wish to practice and then observe your body/mind/spirit as you practice these styles. Are you reaping the benefits you were seeking?
I believe that yoga should be practiced from a position of joy. This position is critical. It is an intention, or a bhavana, that carries the practice on the mat to a place of lightness, but more then that, it is a bhavana that as we cultivate it in our practice will carry forward off of the mat and into our lives.
I believe that it should make one more aware, each time, of the union between body, mind and breath.
I believe that it should be a practice in being present within the body.
I believe that it should bring the practitioner to a place of vitality and calm.
And finally, I believe that it should be practiced for long term health.
If your practice brings you all of these things then I believe you are practicing yoga. The rest is simply a matter of style and detail.
All photography for the site provided by Melissa Nannini.
