A Yoga Teacher Does it Anyway – by Cherryl Duncan
Cherryl Duncan | Yoga Teacher Training | Cherryl Duncan yoga | Yoga Teacher | South Africa
People often ask me how I can accept people on a Yoga teacher training program if they have only been doing Yoga for a couple of months. They usually say this with a lot of disdain and an understandable amount of skepticism. Of course, Yoga takes a many years and possibly lifetimes to master, and it seems inconceivable that a person new to Yoga would be ready, after a month, or even three month training course to teach such an ambitious path as a way to eternal happiness, after all, how many of us, including seasoned practitioners and teachers can honestly say we are completely blissed out 100% of the time? But I believe teaching yoga, even if you are an inexperienced practitioner can be a very powerful way to achieving your own yogic goals.
The process that one goes through in becoming and being a Yoga teacher, can be an extremely powerful and dare I say almost essential part of the journey. Teaching yoga forces you to stick with it, no matter what. You are the one who must truly be living and breathing the path because if you are not, quite frankly no on will listen to you. In order to maintain an authentic voice, you are the one that has to continually be seeking out inspiration and asking the hard questions, constantly checking in with what is true. With the responsibility one takes on in teaching others, one is naturally forced to do the work.
It is my solid belief that the reason so many people are seeking out Yoga teacher training courses is that consciousness is evolving. Mother Earth needs us, we are experiencing a global crisis and sensitive souls among us are hearing the call from deep within to join in the Yogic army that is going to fight the trend of consumerism and selfishness, of depleting the Earth’s resources, of the disease of separation and fear. It is the Yogi that will lead the way and the more teachers we have for this revolution the better.
Over the 5 years that I have been teaching, I have had to ask myself over and over again, the motivation for teaching; I have had to question what it is that I really am trying to show others. I have had to search for new ways to inspire and motivate students to keep up the practice and more importantly how to take the teachings into their daily lives. This constant questioning presses me to be continually evolving, continually stripping away that which is not true, and seeking out that which is. Most of the time I feel I know less and less, but what I do have, I know to be true, and that is magnificently powerful and allows me to speak with truth and authenticity. It is in this way that we grow as teachers and more importantly as students.
It is therefore with great joy that I strongly encourage students to become teachers, for their own journey and for the sake of human consciousness. We’ve heard the adage, when the student is ready the teacher will appear, perhaps it works the other way as well, when the teacher is ready the student will appear. I strongly believe that people simply will not listen or not hear what you have to say until you are speaking from a place of understanding and truth, something that comes with experience and going through the process I have been describing. If we all had to wait until we knew everything until we had ‘mastered’ Yoga, we would have very few teachers around, and that means fewer people coming to Yoga, which we as humanity can ill afford.
Living Yoga South Africa
101 Lancaster Village
Corner Lancaster and Clarence Rd
( Entrance on Clarence)
Craighall Park
C: 0741483350 |
info@livingyoga.co.za
http://livingyoga.co.za
Cherryl Duncan is an internationally trained Yoga teacher known for her strong energy, impassioned expressiveness, and inspirational style of teaching that integrates the physical as well as the spiritual aspects of Yoga. She is committed to keeping spirituality an intrinsic part of her classes and she makes no excuses for holding true to the original path of Yoga (Union with the divine source). She is a certified Jivamukti teacher having completed her training in New York under the guidance of her loved teachers Sharon Gannon and David Life, Yogeswari and her mentor Jeffrey Cohen. Her classes are given in a dynamic, flowing style and students are encouraged to engage their minds (as well as their bodies) with specific mental intention. This formula ensures that her classes are both physically and intellectually challenging! Her deepest desire is for the liberation of all beings (liberation from unhappiness, illness, and suffering) and she has dedicated a lot of her energy to raising awareness and campaigning for those beings kept in captivity and used for food. As a global traveler, she has sought teachers from India, America, and Hong Kong and she is especially inspired by Tibetan Heart Yoga and Buddhism. Cherryl has written articles for magazines such as Yoga awakening and is the creator and founder of Living Yoga Johannesburg. She has also posed for a series of Naked Yoga posters in an attempt to raise money for her Animal Liberation cause.
