Planning a Yoga Teacher Training together with a University - but who is the Yoga Teacher?

The year 2005 started as the year 2004 ended – with visitors coming and going at the Ashram. I also had visitors from Cologne, where I had been in 2004 for the first time, and after some talk and ideas, there was a plan on its way for a great future.

When I had been in Cologne, my host had organized a lecture in the University of Cologne and 70 or 80 students and other people had come to listen. This host, a yoga teacher, was now at the Ashram with the wish to learn a bit more about yoga and especially the scriptures related to it. One day she started talking about a project that we could do together: giving a yoga teacher training. The university had approached her for doing this training and she was interested but said she could not do it on her own. After my lecture there she was convinced that the university administration and also the students would be happy to have me as their teacher. What did I think about this offer?

There were several aspects to think about. The first emotion was of course happiness and enthusiasm. That is simply my nature. Whenever I get a new idea or am presented with one, I like to see it in a positive light and consider what good could come out of it. Obviously, if more people would get to know about yoga, both the physical exercise and the philosophy, it would be good for them and good for the world. I would also have regularly something to do in Germany, a country that I really liked and where I had already made many friends.

I did not however consider myself a yoga teacher. Yoga was not the problem! I had given enough lectures about all kinds of scriptures and had studied the yogic scriptures with the same intensity that I had studied the religious ones. I also had enough physical exercise and had given workshops for yoga exercises, Hatha Yoga, as well. Of course I had just undergone surgery and it might take some time for me to get back to doing as much yoga practice but I was not concerned about that – my knee was recovering quite well and I knew I would not have too many problems with it. No, it was not yoga, it was the thought of being a teacher that I was concerned about. I was not a yoga teacher, I was a yogi.

I have never seen myself as a teacher and I don’t do it until now. I always thought of myself as someone who is still learning himself – and not someone who could teach others. I did not see myself in this light and I did not want others to see me like this. I voiced this concern and thought about it for a while. My friend told me that it would not be an issue, especially with my knowledge about scriptures, I would rather be a guest lecturer. When talking about the asanas, the yoga poses, though, I finally thought I knew the solution: Yashendu, my younger brother, knew the asanas well and had good practice, too. He could be the yoga teacher and while I would take care of the philosophy, he would be responsible for the physical teaching.

We all loved the idea and went right into planning. We decided to spread the training over the course of two years and do about one weekend per month, sometimes adding an intensive week of yoga in Germany and even including a two-week practice time at the Ashram in India. Yes, this is how we would give those teachers-to-be a solid base for spreading the benefits of yoga.