| Many people ask me if I can recommend where they | | | | Yoga came into my life in a fairly traditional |
| should study yoga on their travels to the birthplace | | | | (American) way. I started going to classes during |
| of this ancient Indian philosophy. I humbly admit to | | | | college simply for health reasons, which is the way |
| them that I have never been to India. My gurus are | | | | most people enter into a yoga practice. Something |
| in New York?and they are American. | | | | very strong took hold, and I?ve been an avid |
| Most people are surprised at this admission. They | | | | practitioner since. A nagging desire sent me to study |
| question me regarding this. After all, if I am a yogi, | | | | with Sharon Gannon and David Life, and my whole |
| shouldn?t my guru be an Indian man? Well, the gurus | | | | world turned upside down. In their presence, I |
| of my gurus are Indian men, but in my case, I look | | | | learned what the term ?guru? meant. In short, I |
| into the soft brown eyes and pale skin of my gurus | | | | learned to surrender to another being who could |
| when I bow before them. | | | | show me my true Light. |
| It?s funny. yoga has taken such a hold in America, | | | | I know what you?re thinking, Wow, that?s some |
| yet some misconceptions are still etched in the | | | | pretty esoteric, frou frou talk for a western girl! |
| practice. For example, we think yoga is practiced in | | | | Believe me, I would have thought so myself before I |
| hot rooms just because it is hot in India; we have | | | | stood in their presence, but something in me shifted |
| this image in our minds of ancient yogis practicing | | | | as I listened to them talk at my teacher training. I |
| warrior two and sun salutations, and we think that in | | | | felt that strong sense of individuality that Americans |
| order to be a true guru, your nationality matters. | | | | prize so highly start to slip away. Suddenly, life |
| In this day and age of yoga, its evolution has taken a | | | | wasn?t all about me anymore, and for the first time, |
| major turn, one towards the west. More westerners | | | | I didn?t feel alone. To put it bluntly, loneliness is nasty. |
| are doing yoga today, at least the practice we define | | | | A study by the National Institute of Aging says that, |
| as yoga, than Indians. There is a saying now that | | | | ?People who feel lonely have more health problems |
| there is more yoga on the lower east side of | | | | and a shorter life expectancy than those who do not |
| Manhattan than there is in all of India. Westerners | | | | feel lonely.? Loneliness plagues Americans; it causes |
| have taken yoga to the next level?a level of fitness, | | | | stress, shortens our lives, and, in general, makes us a |
| industry, and fashion?yet many yogis still try to | | | | despondent and sorrowful lot. |
| remain close to the roots of yoga. | | | | Well, I?ve found the cure for this common American |
| One of the ways that yogis strive to remain closely | | | | disease called loneliness, and it?s a guru. Yes, finding |
| tied to the true purpose of the practice is by | | | | someone who will ?ru? (remove) your ?gu? (darkness |
| tightening their grip on what they think is most | | | | or muck) is a surefire way to find peace and a |
| ?classical,? the finding of a guru. This is, in my opinion, | | | | release from the ills that plague you. You see, we are |
| the most important piece of yogic philosophical | | | | all like tiny drops of the ocean wandering around, and |
| principles. While the west has shaped yoga and | | | | until we get back, we don?t have the great vast sea |
| turned it into an amazing practice that many people | | | | of knowledge or bliss from which to draw. One of |
| need right now, the one thing that hasn?t seemed to | | | | the quickest ways to get back to the ocean is to |
| catch up with this tidal wave is the idea of a guru. | | | | find yourself a guru, a person or group of people, |
| Many practitioners think that it?s not important. In | | | | who can teach you life?s greatest lessons without |
| truth, some think that guru is a bad word, and those | | | | your protest and without your ego saying, ?I?m |
| who get over the stigma of what a guru tends to | | | | going to do it my way.? Some people think that |
| represent think a practitioner has to go to India to | | | | surrender to a guru makes you bland and |
| find one. This is simply not true. Yoga, as we know it, | | | | uninteresting, but by adding your drop of the ocean |
| is largely a western phenomenon, and it is western | | | | back into the voluminous sea, you actually have more |
| yogis who have created it and helped it to evolve | | | | to draw from and can become a much more rich and |
| into the practice we know today. It is they who | | | | vibrant individual. |
| have crafted the practical application of yoga for | | | | You don?t have to travel to India; you don?t even |
| modern day living, so why should we not turn to | | | | have to be Indian. You don?t even have to practice |
| them to learn all we can of their designs? Whether it | | | | yoga very much to find a guru. The great thing is |
| is Ashtanga, Iyengar, Kripalu, Jivamukti, Viniyoga, | | | | about this tradition is that ?when the student is |
| Power yoga, or any of the other multitudinous | | | | ready, the teacher will appear,? so, sit back, relax, be |
| options, all these practices have very strong roots in | | | | receptive to all the lessons life brings to you, and get |
| the west and truly adroit western yogis at their | | | | ready to discover yoga?s untapped resource?the |
| respective helms. | | | | tremendous power of surrender to a guru. |