Humans are typically very willing to give away their power if they think a person can help them. This dynamic creates an imbalance of power within the relationship. This imbalance is magnified in a relationship with a yoga teacher, therapist, or spiritual leader because of the greater degree of...

Students may naturally have a desire to please or to not displease their yoga teachers. This desire contributes to the “power imbalance” that is inherent in all student-teacher relationships. The vast majority of yoga teachers are respectful of the ethics around such imbalance and maintain professional relationships with their students. This...

Turning the teaching of yoga into a successful business venture can be a complex art to master in and of itself… and deciding one’s philosophical and ethical views about developing an entrepreneurial yoga platform can open up many challenging questions. Viewpoints around service, .e.g, what to give and what...

What is a yoga standard? As we continue to explore how pedagogy evolves in yoga traditions, we can keep in mind that apprenticeship or disciple traditions of India do not fit neatly into the “square pegs” or accreditation models of education in the Western world. There are many steps...

The art of teaching evolves The yoga world in the West has seen many changes in professional standards and teaching styles since its early years, as the relationship of the student to the teacher has undergone significant scrutiny. This is especially so, as in the last decade central gurus/spiritual...

“Safety has to be everyone’s responsibility… everyone needs to know that they are empowered to speak up if there’s an issue.”  Captain Scott Kelly   This article examines the ways people can respond if complaints arise in their community and why retaliation is never the right way to respond....