I have a confession to make.

I am a recovering yoga snob.

This might sound funny to you but it’s a very serious condition.

Since I first got into yoga, my natural inclinations have been towards alignment and joint mechanics.   In 2002 when I found Iyengar Yoga and learned that their central focus was exactly this, I was immediately hooked.  I already practiced near 4 hours a day and when I started receiving more in-depth teachings, I lit up like a rocket ship.  My body got stronger, my flexibility increased and my life efficiency was juiced.

The deeper I got into the practice though, the more self-righteous I became.  I judged other techniques and I formed a team around me who supported my views.

Going to a class outside of the Iyengar system was excruciating!  I would look around the room and see so many misaligned poses.  Poses that would make me cringe.  And while there’s something to be said about teachers letting their students do whatever they are doing and habituating unhealthy movement patterns, my judgment was through the roof.

Judgement is something that is quite natural for me, actually.  It’s part of my childhood wounding of feeling so severely criticized by my father and step-mother.   Those feelings got internalized and have manifested over the years as lack of self-worth and hatred towards others.

I even remember a time in California when I bought a 5 class pass to a local studio just to see how bad the teachers were!  I would do anything to prove my point and feel validated in my perspective.

It’s only now that I’m seeing the error of my ways and doing an about face.

Over the past two years I have opened up to my real yoga family.   Instead of staying in a narrow, dogmatic system my view is much larger.    My dedication is, and has always been, to proper human movement and the development of consciousness.    If you are teacher that is spreading intelligence, kindness, functional movement, not over-stretching joints/ligaments and being compassionate, then I have a lot of respect for what you are doing and we are on the same page.  If that’s not you, if you’re crabby or just in yoga for the glam, I hope that at some point that changes.

And yoga needs some changes.  There are aspects of our practice that need to be flipped around.  Teacher Trainings need more science behind them.  Our standards need to be raised.

I see now that I am committed to making that happen.  I also see that instead of looking at this from a judgmental and frustrated perspective I am going to create a team around me and offer my insights from a place of inclusion, love and education.  Yoga has given so much to me and I am going to do all I can to give back to it.