The student-teacher relationship

by Judith Lasater

Whether as students or teachers (and most of us are at different times both), we can all benefit by examining our motivations for teaching and practising, as well as the way in which we fulfil our responsibilities to each other.

In order to teach to the best of his or her ability the teacher must strive to be disciplined in several areas of life. The most obvious form of discipline is a consistent and intelligent practice. Naturally, one passes through periods of intense effort, while at other times practising for even thirty minutes is excruciatingly difficult. Yet, over the long run, a teacher must be practising. The commitment to practice creates an inner integrity that cannot be faked and that the students can easily detect. In addition, one does not lack the courage necessary to ask for intense effort and physical progress of the students if one has undertaken similar personal challenges.

Another, more subtle aspect of discipline involves the continual harmonisation of the other parts of one’s life. How can one teach others about inner peace if one’s family, household, business, or relationships are always in chaos? This facet of discipline requires that one attend to other commitments with consciousness. It may mean going to bed early to be rested to teach when one would prefer to stay out late or organising the children’s dinner and bedtime so that they will have a minimum of disruption when one leaves for an evening class. Teaching should not be allowed to become a source of agitation to others or an escape from a chaotic life.

The disciplines of sustained awareness and continual self-examination are also needed to scrutinise one’s attachment to the role of teacher: it is too easy to perceive oneself as the omniscient superior who bestows the favour of knowledge upon the student while most teachers would change at this.

Remember that you are the teacher, not the teaching. Yoga is the teaching.

Extreme attitude, it can spring up in subtle ways. For example, how do your students relate to you before and after class? Do they put you up on a pedestal? Do you encourage it? Teachers should act in a way that earns their pupils’ respect, but should avoid assuming an aloof manner that creates distance. Such remoteness often signals a blind refusal to allow oneself, as teacher, to be subjected to a loving but clear scrutiny that reveals one’s humanness. A humble attitude toward the art of yoga helps to dissolve this form of arrogance and encourages qualities of openness, integrity, and acceptance.

During my first trip to Pune to study at the Institute, I arrived early one day for class and observed Mr Iyengar. He was doing asanas I had only seen in books, but I was even more fascinated by the fact that he was actually practising in front of all of his students. Until this time I had only seen yoga teachers up on stages who told everyone else what to do. In observing Mr Iyengar concentrate and exert himself, I did not lose my respect for him. On the contrary, my respect deepened as I witnessed his profound integrity. Yoga itself absorbed him, not his position as a teacher. This quality we can all strive to emulate.

I taught my first yoga class before I met Mr Iyengar. At the start of class, I was sitting in Padmasana at the front while the students were lying in Savasana. Worried about what I would teach for a whole hour, I remembered to shut my eyes and take several long breaths. As I did this, I received a strong image of my teacher standing behind me, and of her teacher standing behind her, and so on, back in time, teacher after teacher, into eternity. Suddenly I understood that I was not doing anything at all; I was just passing on a message that had been given to me by my teacher, which she had received from her teacher, and so on. I was not so important. I relaxed and began the class, never to worry about teaching again. As long as I remember that I am only a messenger, I feel guided and supported in the work. Remember that you are the teacher, not the teaching. Yoga is the teaching.

One of the important ways that the message of yoga is conveyed is through touch, another area in which teachers need to observe their actions. Touching directly defines a specific area where the student needs to come to life. But how you touch says as much as where you touch. It is my firm conviction that touching should be done to bring the asana out of, not to impose it upon, the student. Inside each person lies the ability to do the pose. I feel best about an adjustment when I am acting as a guide, helping the person to express the beauty of yoga in his or her own way.

One way teachers can inspire students to establish a solid practice is to find a way to help even the very limited student enjoy the asana. If the student feels the personal reward of the pose, he or she will be drawn to it. ( It is the rare student who will persistently attempt asanas he or she suffers in or dislikes.) When teaching or practising, think, ‘How can I help alleviate the suffering of this pose?’ Bringing ease and lightness to the asana while maintaining its precision is one of the most engrossing challenges of teaching and practising.

The student, like the teacher, needs to practice faithfully. The teacher dedicates time and effort in preparing for class and teaching; to receive the maximum benefit, the student must make the same commitment. Of course, life events may interrupt a steady practice.

One may go for days or even weeks without a solid session. But eventually the disciple of regular practice must be established if yoga is to affect one on the deepest level. Mr Iyengar repeats his simple but profound advice again and again, and that is, ‘Practice’.

Only through practice can the understanding come. And from understanding comes insight, from insight, wisdom, and from experience this endlessly evolving process for oneself, it cannot be apprehended through any means other than practice. Part of the teacher’s job is to inspire the student to begin and maintain a regular practice, but the student’s task is to take that energy of inspiration and transform it into the reality of action.

Another of the student’s responsibilities is the maintenance of observation and discrimination. During a class, the student should remain watchful of the instructions and note how they are affecting him or her personally. ‘Is this adjustment right for me? Do I understand the intent of the words’? Would it be correct to apply this principle of movement to other people, or is this meant only for my body? Am I practising in such a way as to harm myself? Is coming out of this pose now the result of listening with intelligence to the body, or is it just giving up?’ Students need to develop a healthy scepticism. The best students are able to hear with the heart, to try the suggestions of the teacher with sincerity, and, most importantly, to keep that which is valuable and drop, for the moment at least, that which does not ‘compute’.

All of us, students and teachers alike, benefit from creating an atmosphere of understanding and openness, forgiveness in times of difficulty, and love in our practice and teaching. For if our practice of yoga does not, in the end, help us to love ourselves our students, our teachers. our family and friends, the world, it has fallen short of its potential.

Love is the highest motivation a teacher can have: love of yoga, love of teaching, and love for the students. Likewise, students can practice for no better reason than loving the art, and wanting to share that love with others by living a whole life. Love is the catalyst that in the end dissolves the separate roles of student and teacher. Each learns from the other, and inspires the other, as both teacher and student, through their practice, travel the same path.

Copyright Judith Lasater. Published with permission of the author.

Judith Lasater is the author of Relax and Renew and Living your Yoga.