Looking for yoga school or yoga teacher training course?

Imperfection exists in all and everything including different yoga schools or yoga teacher training courses and the people involving in running the yoga schools and yoga courses.

With an open mind, without expectation, be ready to inquire the truth of everything, including all the teachings and practice presented by the yoga school or in the yoga teacher training course, and without regret towards one's decision of choosing the particular yoga school or yoga teacher training course.

Dealing with all the pros and cons or imperfections existing in the yoga school or the yoga teacher training course with an open mind, and be able to make decision without regret, is indeed the practice.

Follow one's conscience towards finding which lineage of yoga that one would like to explore and experience. It's okay if one finds that after experiencing a particular lineage of yoga, one realizes it doesn't suit oneself. If so, be open to experience some other kind of lineage of yoga, until one finds the most suitable one. In the end, it's not about which lineage of yoga or yoga school that is the best among all, but it's whether the mind is being unattached towards and unidentified with the particular lineage of yoga, the yoga school, the teachers, the yoga teacher training course, and all the desirable/undesirable or agreeable/disagreeable experiences.

Above all, it's not about getting the best 'Internationally recognized yoga teacher certification affiliated with such and such yoga alliance/organization' from the best yoga school and yoga teacher, but it's about being open-minded upon coming in contact with the different kinds of teachings and practice from the different lineage of yoga, to be purifying and quieting the mind, inquire towards the truth of all the teachings, and the truth of 'I' or 'who am I/what is the ego', realizing selflessness/egolessness, be free from ignorance, egoism, impurities, restlessness and suffering.

Attending many yoga teacher training courses in certain yoga schools and attaining many yoga teacher certifications and teaching many hours of yoga classes doesn't determine whether the mind is free from ignorance, egoism, impurities, restlessness and suffering, or not.

In the end, one will realize the greatest teacher and the greatest 'yoga course' is the mind itself upon being rendered pure and quiet through the different kinds of persevered practice, being unattached towards and undisturbed by all the mind perception of names and forms or the activities/modification of the mind, of all the agreeable/disagreeable, pleasant/unpleasant, desirable/undesirable experiences, and be able to see the truth of things as it is, be free from ignorance and the by-products of ignorance.

Those who are free from ignorance and egoism don't need to attend yoga teacher training course or attain 'Internationally recognized yoga teacher certification' to be peaceful and compassionate, or to disseminate the knowledge of yoga to those who are in need of the teachings and practice to be free from ignorance and egoism.

The 'real' Guru/teacher is the one without a 'certificate'/'recognition', without a 'school'/'ashram' and without giving 'certification'/'recognition' to anyone.

Want to learn and practice yoga?

Yoga practice is preparing the mind for self-inquiry, inquire towards "What is yoga?", or "The truth of names and forms.", "What is life/worldly life existence?", "What is suffering/the cause of suffering?", or "Who am 'I', or who/what is this 'I' or self cognition/self-existence/self-identity/individual being?"

People could be talking about yoga according to what the Yoga Scripture stated about yoga - "Yoga is the union of the individual consciousness and the universal consciousness." or, "Yoga is the suspension of the modification of the mind." but without direct experience of knowing Thyself, or knowing Yoga.

When people identify and introduce themselves as "I am an experienced yoga practitioner/yoga teacher", or "I have learned/studied/practiced yoga for how many years under such and such Guru/teacher/school", or "I am 200/500 hours certified yoga teacher." it only shows that they don't really know what is 'yoga'. And there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with being ignorant towards many things under the influence of ignorance. If human beings can be free from ignorance easily, there won't be so much ignorance and the consequences of ignorance in this world.

The realization of selflessness/'I'-lessness/egolessness, or non-duality/oneness/non-separateness/namelessness/formlessness/attributelessness/birthlessness/deathlessness, has nothing to do with whether one had been practicing 'yoga' for how long and how much, or whether one had attended 'yoga teacher training courses' and attained certain 'Internationally recognized/affiliated yoga teacher certification/qualification', or whether one is educated and can converse, read and write in certain language, or not.

Most of the time, when people talk about 'yoga', that they are practicing yoga, that they love yoga, they are talking about the 'yoga' as a form of exercise consists of positions/movements/breath control/concentration/relaxation that gives many physical and mental health benefits, that can help to improve physical and mental health and fitness condition, or talking about some kinds of 'energy channels/centres cleansing technique', or 'sound/vibration/mystical/mantra/energy healing' practice or 'energy exchange', or 'love sharing and hugging', or 'yogic diet', or 'clean eating', or 'organic living', or 'yogic lifestyle', or 'yogic attires and accessories', or 'yoga mats/blocks/straps/cushions/etc'.

When people visualize 'someone practicing yoga', most people would think of someone on a 'yoga mat' wearing certain brand of 'yoga attire' holding a particular 'yoga posture' or doing a set of yoga movements consist of different 'yoga postures' or 'stretches' with or without some yoga accessories such as block and strap, or doing some 'breathing exercises', 'chanting/praying/clapping/dancing/singing with music', or 'meditating in a cross-legged sitting posture holding a particular hand gesture' with incense burning or meditative music background in an out of the world beautiful and peaceful environment, or a group of people happily chatting, cooking and eating 'organic produce', or something to do with 'positive thinking/empowerment'/'relaxation and de-stress methods'/'healthy lifestyle'/'the sense of happiness or meaningfulness', or even, visualizing people with certain appearance such like 'tattooed body', 'dreadlocks' and 'smoking pot'. Just like what people see in the 'yoga videos'/'TV documentary on yoga or yogi'/'yoga posters/advertisements/arts', or in the 'yoga classes' in the 'yoga centres', or on the streets of certain famous 'cities of yoga' in India.

We often hear many 'yoga practitioners' say, "I didn't practice yoga for some time because life was too busy in the past few years/months/weeks/days and I didn't have enough space for the yoga practice. Now that I have more free time and free space, I want to start practicing yoga again." It shows that they have no idea what is yoga and yoga practice even though they might have been doing some 'yoga practice' either by themselves or attending 'yoga classes' for some time.

Yoga and yoga practice is unlimited by name and form, time, space and causation.

Then there are also many 'yoga competitions' that are about 'how good/well one performs some 'yoga postures' or 'yoga movements'. "This person performs the postures/movements better than the others, this person endowed with the strength/the flexibility/the techniques/the artistic/the creativity/the grace/the flow/the endurance/the focus/the effort, and so, this person is the best 'yogi' and the champion/winner of this 'yoga competition'." There are also many 'yoga events', 'yoga festivals', 'yoga shows/performances/demonstrations', or 'yoga international day', and etc.

All these 'names and forms' don't determined that one is practicing yoga, or one knows yoga, or one is a yogi. Those who truly practice yoga, or who know yoga, there's no such idea/identification of "I know yoga", "I practice yoga for how long for how regular", "I meditate for how many years for how many hours/times per day", "I can hold my breath for how long", "I am a yogi", "I am a yoga teacher", "I am a 200/500 hours certified yoga teacher", "I participate in such and such yoga events/festivals/courses/yoga competitions", "I am celebrating yoga international day", "I am a champion of yoga", "I am the best yogi", "This is how a yogi looks like", "Yoga is so good", or "I love yoga."

If someone thinks one knows something about yoga but doesn't really know what is yoga, and wants to approach a teacher asking to be learning and practicing yoga under this teacher, one must 'empty' thyself of what one thinks who/what one is, of what one thinks one had learned/practiced/experienced/known/achieved. Actually, just by 'emptying' thyself, or abandoning the 'self-identification with such and such quality of names and forms', one has already opened the 'door' of yoga, even without a teacher's guidance.

Yoga teacher certification and teaching yoga

If one knows yoga, one doesn't need to attend any 'yoga teachers training course' to attain any 'yoga teacher certification' to 'qualify' or 'authorize' one to share the wisdom/knowledge of yoga with anyone and guide others onto the path of yoga to realize yoga of oneness/non-separateness/selflessness/namelessness/formlessness/attributelessness/unconditional peace.

Those who think and believe that one must attend 'Internationally recognized yoga teachers training course' and attain 'Internationally recognized yoga teacher certification' and be affiliated to or be sanctioned/authorized by such and such 'yoga alliance', 'yoga association', or 'sports council' to be allowed or qualified to 'teach yoga', it shows that the 'yoga' that they know/practice/teach is not about 'Yoga of self-inquiry, self-realization, oneness, non-separateness, selflessness, namelessness, formlessness, attributelessness, birthlessness, deathlessness, beginninglessness, endlessness, silence, liberation from ignorance and suffering, the conquest of mind, or the annihilation of the modification of the mind'.

Attending many 'yoga teachers training course' and attaining many 'yoga teacher certification' and studying/practicing/teaching 'yoga' for such and such period of time also doesn't determine/guarantee that the mind is free or will be free from ignorance, egoism and impurities, or one knows yoga.

One who knows yoga, there's no such idea/identification of "I want to be a yoga teacher. I want to teach yoga. Teaching yoga is so meaningful." or "I am a certified and qualified and experienced yoga teacher. I have attended such and such 'yoga teachers training course' under such and such 'teachers' or 'Gurus', and attained such and such 'yoga teacher certification'. I have been practicing and teaching yoga for such and such years."

One who knows yoga, is not necessarily a 'yoga teacher' who 'teach yoga', or what most people understand as 'conducting or teaching yoga classes/courses', but one might be 'teaching yoga', selflessly, intentionlessly and spontaneously.

One doesn't need any 'yoga teacher certification' to be in the present, to be unattached towards all the mind perception of names and forms, to be free from the desire of craving and aversion.

One doesn't need any 'yoga teacher certification' to be undetermined and undisturbed by all the qualities and dualities of pleasantness and unpleasantness, good and bad, right and wrong, positive and negative, success and failure, praise and condemn, enjoyment and suffering, births and deaths.

One doesn't need any 'yoga teacher certification' to forgive and let go what the mind perceives as 'unpleasantness', 'bad', 'wrong', or 'hurtful'.

One doesn't need any 'yoga teacher certification' to be dispassionate and renounce worldly attachment and identification/ideas/thinking/belief/objects/relationships, to free the mind from ignorance, egoism, impurities and restlessness.

One doesn't need any 'yoga teacher certification' to realize peace, selflessness and compassion, as well as guiding others to also realize peace, selflessness and compassion.

One doesn't need any 'yoga teacher certification' to be kind and compassionate towards all without discrimination of good and bad, likes and dislikes, or deserving and undeserving.

One doesn't need any 'yoga teacher certification' to breathe, to eat, to live, to see/hear/smell/taste/touch/think, to be aware, to be in the present, to be peaceful, to let go, or to be confronting death/disintegration in peace.

After all, none need any 'certification of ignorance/unhappiness/misery/suffering' to be ignorant, unhappy, miserable and suffering.

Be free.

Yoga is not determined by any qualities of names and forms

Inquire towards why yoga is unlimited by any thinking and belief, or it's nothing to do with any particular personal/family/cultural/racial/social/religious/national/political identity, or it's not determined by any qualities of names and forms.

Yoga is the realization of unconditional peace, compassion and wisdom, when the mind is free from ignorance, egoism and impurities.

Whether the mind is free from ignorance, egoism and impurities, or not, it's not determined by practicing any particular type/style of yoga practice, how many hours/years or amount of yoga practice have been done, how many yoga certificates attained, who are the yoga teachers and how many yoga teachers one has, which yoga schools that one went to, how healthy, strong and flexible is the physical body, how many yoga asana poses the body can perform and whether the body can perform the yoga asana poses perfectly and beautifully, or not, or whether one knows about the names and the benefits/effects of the yoga asana poses, or not, and etc.

Similarly, yoga is not determined/limited by any particular type of personal identity, personality, gender, sexual orientation, profession, physical health condition, physical appearance, physical ability and disability, physical strength and flexibility, physical life span, physical achievement, food option, state of the mind, cultural/social/religious/political thinking and belief, nationality, location, direction, position, speed, temperature, action and inaction, believing or disbelieving in God, educated or uneducated, knowledgeable or non-knowledgeable, intelligent or unintelligent, talented or untalented, skillful or unskillful, rich or poor, good or bad, right or wrong, positive or negative, happiness or unhappiness, day or night, east or west, young or old, and so on.

Regardless of all the different qualities of names and forms, or thinking and beliefs, the mind can be free and peaceful, when the mind is free from the influence of ignorance, egoism and impurities.

Regardless of all the different qualities of names and forms, or thinking and beliefs, the mind is not free and is restless, when the mind is under the influence of ignorance, egoism and impurities.

Even when some people identify themselves as 'good people' who think they do a lot of 'good actions' and are enjoying many 'consequences of good action' in return, and those who are highly knowledgeable about many things in this world, it's not necessarily that the mind is free from ignorance, egoism and impurities, or is free from disturbed, restlessness and suffering, or is peaceful, compassionate and wise.

Inquire the truth of everything by asking these questions -

Is everyone who have a particular religion and believe in their particular version of 'God' are all peaceful, compassionate and wise, and free from suffering? Not necessarily.
Is everyone who don't have a particular religion and don't believe in a particular version of 'God' are all not peaceful, compassionate and wise, and are not free from suffering? Not necessarily.

Is everyone who eat vegetarian food are all peaceful, compassionate and wise, and free from suffering? Not necessarily.
Is everyone who eat non-vegetarian food are all not peaceful, compassionate and wise, and are not free from suffering? Not necessarily.

Is everyone who practice particular type/style of yoga and possessed certain type/amount of yoga certifications are all peaceful, compassionate and wise, and free from suffering? Not necessarily.
Is everyone who don't practice particular type/style of yoga and don't possessed certain type/amount of yoga certifications are all not peaceful, compassionate and wise, and are not free from suffering? Not necessarily.

Regardless of all the different qualities of names and forms, all minds can be under the influence of ignorance, egoism and impurities, or can be free from ignorance, egoism and impurities.

Whether one is peaceful, compassionate, wise and free from suffering, or not, or, whether one is free from ignorance, egoism and impurities, or not, is nothing to do with any particular quality of name and form.

By understanding this, one will know that yoga is not determined or limited by any quality of names and forms, and doesn't belong/limit to any particular being, race, gender, sexual orientation, personality, physical condition/ability/disability, culture, society, religion, politic, country, action and inaction, state of the mind, time, space, direction, position, location, and etc.

The accumulation of 'yoga certifications' by attending the 200 hours/500 hours yoga teachers training courses and registration with such and such yoga association/alliance, and how many yoga classes/courses one has attended/completed/taught and the ability of holding certain yoga poses for certain length of time, or how much charity/rituals/sacrifices one has performed, it all doesn't determined whether the mind is free from ignorance, egoism and impurities, and is peaceful, compassionate and wise, or not.

Some people might mistake the positive/happy/calmed/contented state of the mind as the unconditional peace of being free from ignorance, egoism and impurities.

The different states of mind (regardless of happy or unhappy, positive or negative, calmed or disturbed, contented or discontented) are also part of the impermanent and selfless modification of the mind being conditioned/determined by different qualities of names and forms, and are subject to change. The positive/happy/calmed/contented state of the mind is not the unconditional peace of being free from ignorance, egoism and impurities, undetermined by qualities of names and forms.

Some people take substances to induce momentary calmness/happiness state of the mind, and that state of calmness/happiness disappears when the effect of the substances is gone. Similarly, performing the yoga asana poses will induce certain degree of calmness/happiness state of the mind, and this calmness/happiness state of the mind is also impermanent and will change and disappear. That is not yoga, or the realization of unconditional peace of being free from ignorance, egoism and impurities.

Yoga, or unconditional peace of oneness, non-separateness, changelessness, namelessness, formlessness, attributelessness, timelessness, beginlessness, endlessness, birthlessness and deathlessness is beyond all the modification of the mind or the different states of the mind.

The world of yoga

People asked us how come we don't run/teach yoga classes and teachers training courses?

Yoga practice is about taming/quieting the restless mind to free the mind from suffering of restlessness and impurities derived from ignorance and egoism by realizing selflessness (birthlessness, deathlessness, attributelessness, namelessness, formlessness) through the practice of dispassion, renunciation, silence, self-inquiry, concentration, meditation, non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion, non-judgment, non-comparison and non-expectation that require a high degree of open-mindedness, right discrimination, intense yearning for liberation, will-power, perseverance, independence, self-control and discipline.

After one learned about the teachings and practice from someone who has direct experience of the teachings and practice, one implements these teachings and practice in everyday life, to free the mind from ignorance and egoism, which is nothing to do with attending regular 'yoga classes' or attending 'yoga teachers training course' to become 'certified professional yoga teacher' to teach/conduct 'yoga classes'.

Most people don't really interested to learn and practice yoga when they are interested in joining 'yoga classes', as they wouldn't/couldn't let go the thinking and belief which they think and believe is who they are (the main hindrance towards the realization of selflessness.) They just want to do some physical exercises to keep fit and be healthy, to feel good and look good. And it's nothing wrong. Everyone has the freedom for what they want and don't want, and what they think and believe.

Most 'yoga classes' are existing mostly as one of the healthy leisure activities for health and fitness enhancement by doing some yoga asana, relaxation and breathing exercises, just like any other personal/group fitness training exercise classes, which is a very healthy activity. It's very good that people would love to do some form of physical exercise regularly for maintaining good health and vitality to enjoy a higher quality of life. And some highly talented people even transformed yoga asana practice into amazing acrobatic performance, it's very inspiring for people to take up some physical fitness training to look good and feel good, and not spending time and energy in unhealthy/unwholesome activities.

The initial objective of 'teachers training courses' is about oneself learning and practicing the teachings of yoga to purify one's mind, to awaken/realize the teacher within to become one's own teacher, to discipline one's mind to be free from ignorance and egoism. It's not about training people who are interested in 'teaching yoga classes' or 'running yoga courses' to become 'certified professional yoga teachers' and issue/authorize them with 'recognized certification' to conduct yoga courses/teach yoga classes according to the different types of teaching style from different types of yoga school. It's training one's own mind to be it's own teacher. Upon self-realization of yoga/oneness/selflessness, one might or might not share the direct experience with others.

'Yoga retreats' are also being 'transformed' into self-pampering/indulgence of the senses getaway that empowers the egoistic desires of carving and aversion, or being 'transformed' into 'mystical healing' camp. Even so, it's neither right nor wrong. That is what most minds like and desire. It really doesn't matter. In the end, yoga is still what it is, whether people are learning and practicing and teaching yoga as it is, or not. The truth won't be affected/contaminated by any add-on/take-out elements, although the creative worldly minded can transform the teachings and practice of yoga into something that they prefer.

Most of the serious yoga practitioners don't really run/teach 'yoga classes', or 'yoga courses', or 'yoga teachers training courses' although they might be teaching yoga to many others. Sharing the teachings and practice of yoga with others doesn't necessarily has to be in the form of conducting yoga classes/courses/retreats. Some might have been teaching 'yoga classes' in the beginning, but after some time, they renounced the worldly social life and activities to concentrate on their own practice, upon realization that renunciation from worldly affair/interaction/activities/relationships is the greatest compassion towards oneself and all beings. Everyone is responsible for their own practice to look after their own mind, to discipline/quiet/purify their own mind, to deal with the consequences of their own ignorance, to become their own teacher, to free their own mind from ignorance, egoism and impurities via their own effort.

Meanwhile, 'yoga teachers training courses' are no longer about learning and practicing yoga to become one's own teacher to be self-independent, to perform self-inquiry, to silent/annihilate the mind to attain self-realization, but the identity and qualification of a 'yoga teacher'/recognition/authorization/certifications/association/commercial value/career value are the drive for conducting/participating yoga teachers training courses.

This is the world of yoga, and there's nothing wrong or bad with it.

Many people think that they like and love yoga, but not really. When come to serious yoga practice, most people would turn away or justify that it is not yoga (the way that they think it should be.) And there's nothing wrong, as all minds take their own pace and own path to evolve and realize.

In the silent meditation retreat that doesn't charge any fees (donate as you like, or even nothing), quite many people would want to runaway or quit after a few days observing silence, for not being able to talk to other people, can't have physical/eye contact with other people, not able to express as they like, can't do what they usually like to do, can't eat what they usually like to eat, no stimulating entertainment for the mind, sleeping on hard bed in basic accommodation, and they have to sit for meditation for more than 10 hours a day, while lots of physical/mental/emotional discomforts arise and random thoughts bubbling up to the surface of the mind. Some people would stay until the retreat finishes, but they don't really observe silence throughout the entire retreat, such like they are still talking/whispering/making signs/interacting with their friends and keeping their phones with them, even though it's not allowed. But, there's nothing wrong with that either, as it's how most worldly minds would behave, out of loneliness, boredom and meaninglessness derived from being refrained from their usual worldly stimulation/activities.

Most minds would 'cheat' to be comfortable and not to be uncomfortable. It's not about what's right and what's wrong. And it's not about how good is one's yoga practice and meditation experience, but it's the ability to confront/deal with all the things that the mind doesn't familiar with, doesn't like and doesn't agree with, while not coming in contact with the things that the mind familiars with, likes and agrees with, being free from craving and aversion, be able to forbear difficulties and unpleasantness equanimously, and free the mind from restlessness/impurities out of ignorance and egoism, that matters most.

The mind won't evolve/progress and keeps running round and round in the loop of worldly ideas/thinking/belief, if it keeps swaying in between craving and aversion, running away from difficulties and unpleasantness and what it doesn't like (the mind perception of the qualities of bad, negative, wrong, meaninglessness and unhappiness,) and chasing after what it likes and desires (the mind perception of the qualities of good, positive, right, meaningfulness and happiness,) even after many years of attending 'yoga classes' and 'yoga retreats' or doing yoga asana and breathing exercises regularly, or possessed many 'yoga certifications' and given 'yoga classes' to many people.

Be free.

Root out pride and arrogance

For some reasons people are aspired to attain or possess certain qualities in order to be eligible or qualified to feel proud and arrogant towards themselves and/or others.

People are being encouraged to cultivate pride and arrogance as well, as somehow they think it's very good/important to be able to be proud and arrogant about something that they think it deserves to be proud of, that would make them feel somehow more stand out, unique and better than some others.

"Do something and be someone that make yourself and other people feel proud of."

People like to encourage and support other people to stay motivated and to be better by telling people, "I'm so proud of you!" People grew up with the thinking/belief/values/aspiration of need to be attaining or possessing certain qualities to feel proud of themselves and also make other people feel proud of them.

"I want to be proud of myself. I want other people to be proud of me."

People would feel inferior, bad, depressed and disappointed towards themselves when they think they haven't or couldn't attain or possess certain qualities that allow themselves and others to feel proud of.

Those who want to attain liberation must contemplate on all these worldly social cultural thinking/belief/expectation, to see the truth of it. All these are nothing but the play of egoism - It's merely the ego that needs to feel proud and needs others to feel proud of 'I' in order to feel satisfied, loved, motivated, appreciated, acknowledged, good, happy, confident and meaningful.

Meanwhile, some people think and believe that they are not at all proud and arrogant, as they are aware of the downside of pride and arrogance, and they don't want to be associated with pride and arrogance, but they aren't aware of themselves are already being over-powered by pride and arrogance. Without awareness, people can be proud of the thinking of 'I am not a proud and arrogant person. I practice humility. I am very humble.'

In Yoga, pride and arrogance is the by-product of egoism born out of ignorance. It's one of the great obstacles that hinders the mind to be opened to learn and practice yoga and meditation, to inquire the truth.

If we sincerely want to learn and practice yoga and meditation, we need to first learn how to identify pride and arrogance and free the mind from it. But, it's really not easy for people to let go pride and arrogance, as it is a part of their strong identity of themselves.

Even many 'graduated/certified/qualified/experienced yoga teachers' are being proud and arrogant towards themselves for having attended one or many 'yoga teachers training courses' attaining one or many certifications or qualifications in this or that, that they had studied and practiced yoga under one or many 'famous' or 'popular' yoga teachers/Gurus/schools, as well as their years of experience in practicing and teaching yoga, or they have recruited certain numbers of yoga students, or they had taught in certain yoga schools or yoga centres or yoga festivals or yoga conventions, or they had participated in some 'yoga competitions' and won certain awards, or they have done such and such charity works, or they have been contributing articles of yoga or being 'interviewed' in such and such magazine or social media, and so on. Most people would justify that their intention of getting all the attention, admiration and publicity is for promoting yoga to more people in the world. But, how pure and true is that?

Two of the common characteristics of pride and arrogance that exist in many yoga practitioners who already have been practicing certain style(s) of yoga for some time, or 'graduated/certified/qualified/experienced yoga teachers' who have attained many certifications/qualifications/experiences from attending different yoga courses and have been teaching 'yoga classes' or 'yoga courses' for some time :-

"I am experienced/qualified/knowledgeable/advanced yoga practitioner/yoga teacher. I know enough and I have long time experience in practicing/teaching yoga. I don't need someone to lecture me about yoga/yoga practice/teaching yoga, or tell/teach me the many things that I already knew."

"This is different from the yoga that I have been learning/practicing/teaching for many years. I don't agree with this, I don't like this. I don't want this."

When there is such pride and arrogance, the mind is closed, being unable to be opened to inquire/investigate the truth of something that is beyond what the mind thinks it knows, or something that is different from or contradicted with the existing familiar practice, thinking and belief in the mind, that the mind doesn't know or doesn't familiar with. We won't/can't learn anything that we actually didn't know but we think and believe that we already knew very well, even if there's a great teacher or great teaching in front of us.

Be free.

Yoga classes, yoga courses and yoga retreats?

Those (the minds) who are free, who are peaceful, who are free from ignorance, egoism, doubts and impurities, they don't need to learn or practice yoga. They don't need to attend yoga classes, or yoga courses, or yoga retreats.

Those (the minds) who are not free, who are not peaceful, who are not free from ignorance, egoism, doubts and impurities, they might want to learn and practice yoga, by attending yoga classes, or yoga courses, or yoga retreats, to learn and practice yoga under one or a few yoga practitioner(s) (teachers) who know the teachings and practice of yoga.

Somehow, some of those (the minds) who are not free from ignorance and egoism, who are not peaceful, who are interested in attending yoga classes, or yoga courses, or yoga retreats, are ignorant towards oneself is being over-powered by pride and arrogance. They are not really interested in 'learning' and 'practicing' yoga under the guidance of other yoga practitioners. They think they know quite a lot about the teachings and practice. They think they have been doing yoga for quite some time or a long time. They think they are quite 'experienced' and 'qualified' yoga practitioners or yoga teachers, as they have attended one or many yoga workshops, yoga courses, or yoga teachers training courses. They think they are quite 'advanced' on the path of yoga. They are not 'open-minded' to learn and practice yoga under other people's guidance to be free from ignorance, egoism, doubts and impurities. They attached strongly onto their habitual mind behavior pattern and their way of thinking and belief and practice. They cannot be opened to investigate or experience something that is different from their thinking, belief and practice.

They want to interfere with how the people running the yoga schools, the yoga studios, or the yoga retreat centres, and what the teachers teach and how the teachers teach the classes, or courses, or retreats. They criticize the way of the people running and teaching the classes, courses, or retreats, about the format, the schedule, the accommodation, the facilities, the environment, the staff, or anything that they think it's not the way that they like it to be, or not the way that they think or expect it should be. There are many things that they dislike and disagree with, that they cannot tolerate or accommodate. They reluctant to adjust, adapt and accommodate something that is different from their habitual comfort zone, thinking, belief and practice.

They expect/demand the people to run the yoga schools, the yoga studios, or the yoga retreat centres the way that they like it to be, and they expect/demand the teachers to teach what they like and want to practice and don't teach what they don't like or don't want to practice. They expect/demand the teachers to teach the classes, the courses, the retreats the way that they like it to be. They get very annoyed and irritated when the teachers teach something that they don't like and don't want to learn or practice, or the people running the classes, the courses, or the retreats the way that they don't like and don't agree with. They expect/demand everything about the entire space of learning and practicing yoga to be the way that they like it to be, or the way that they think it should be.

These people (the minds) don't just not really learning or practicing yoga, though they think and believe that they are very 'serious and advanced and certified' yoga practitioners and yoga teachers, but they also generate inconvenience, disturbance, doubt and obstacle for others who are interested to learn and practice yoga, those who 'are aware of' or 'know' their minds are not yet completely free from ignorance, egoism, doubts and impurities. The minds that are free, they won't be affected or influenced by the ignorance and impurities of others, but most minds are not free yet, they will still be affected and influenced by the ignorance and impurities of others. But, it doesn't mean that these minds are bad or negative. All minds are free to behave the way that they want to behave and react the way that they want to react, whether they are aware of their own behavior and reaction, or not.

And hence, when one thinks and believes that oneself is an 'experienced' and 'advanced' and 'certified' yoga practitioner or yoga teacher, and one wants to inform/tell other people about how experienced and advanced one is on the path of yoga, then know that one doesn't know what is yoga, yet. Those who know yoga, they have no attachment or identification towards the experiences or levels of their practice, or be proud and arrogant about what they know or realize from their practice. They mind their own practice and they don't need to attend yoga classes, yoga courses, or yoga retreats.

Those who are not sure or have doubts about their practice or what they think they know, and are interested in attending yoga classes, yoga courses, or yoga retreats to learn and practice yoga under the guidance of other people, must learn how to allow the mind to be opened to learn and practice yoga under another person or other people, while not by pushing away or arguing about something that the mind dislikes and disagrees with, but to investigate the truth of everything that the mind comes in contact with through direct experience.

What the mind agrees with and what the mind disagrees with, are not necessarily the truth.

One doesn't need to like and agree with everything, even if it's part of the teachings and practice of yoga, but remain equanimous, being undisturbed or undetermined by what the mind dislikes and disagrees with, is already what yoga practice is about.

Be free.

It's better not to teach yoga than teaching yoga without correct understanding

Yoga and its practice is neither good nor bad. Teaching yoga is also neither good nor bad.

If people practice yoga with the correct understanding, and if people teach yoga to many more other people with the correct understanding, then yoga appears to be something good. There will be more wise people and less ignorant thinking and behavior in the world.

If people practice yoga without the correct understanding, and if people teach yoga to many more other people without the correct understanding, then yoga appears to be something not so good. There will be stronger ignorance in people with ignorant thinking and behavior in the world.

No doubt that there are many people interested in yoga and love to do yoga practice, and many are also interested in teaching yoga, but it's not necessarily a good thing if the people have no correct understanding.

It's normal and understandable that there are many people who think they love yoga are still very much under the influence of ignorance, they are not free from egoism and attachment towards worldly thinking and belief and behavior.

Many existing yoga teachers are teaching yoga to other people with what they think is yoga, that is influenced a lot by their worldly egoistic nature of social and cultural and spiritual thinking and belief and behavior that is full of passionate love and affection and clinging, desires of craving and aversion, personal and worldly identification, attachment and identification towards qualities of names and forms, attachment towards actions and the fruit of actions, and etc. And hence, they are actually feeding the world with deeper ignorance instead of wisdom, and empowering other people's ignorance and egoism with their own ignorance and egoism.

Many yoga practitioners and yoga teachers mistaken worldly egoistic attachment and clinging of passionate love and affection as compassion.

For example, it's normal for most people to fall in love with other people or animals or things. When someone meets another person who has something in common with mutual feelings of similar interest and liking towards each other, and they want to be friends, stay connected, be interacting with one another, see each other, talk to each other and do some activities together, know that it's nothing to do with compassion. It's just egoistic attachment and clinging of passionate love and affection towards something that the mind feels inclined or attracted to. Compassion is nothing to do with falling in love with people or animals or things.

Compassion is nothing to do with passionate love and affection towards people, animals or things that the mind likes and agrees with, that the minds perceives and recognizes as 'cute', 'pretty', 'beautiful', 'adorable', 'friendly', 'lovely', 'good', 'positive', 'right', 'happiness', or 'meaningfulness'.

Compassion is nothing to do with sympathetic feelings towards people, animals or things that the mind thinks and believes as pitiful and sympathy deserving. Those who have lots of sympathy and affection towards certain people or animals that they like and love are not necessarily compassionate. There are people love and be nice to their friends and pets more than their own parents or children. They would treat their friends and pets like king and queen, but yet, they would neglect or abuse or abandon their parents and children.

People can be very kind and loving towards their own particular community but they would have animosity or ill-will towards other communities. People can be very sympathetic and loving towards someone's suffering, and be very violent and hating towards those whom they think and believe are the ones who are responsible for the suffering of that someone. This is the manifestation of passionate love and affection that based on personal likes and dislikes, agreements and disagreements. This is nothing to do with compassion.

Compassionate minds are free from attachment, identification, clinging, desires of craving and aversion, and are free from impurities of anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, dissatisfaction, disappointment, hurt, regret, guilt, fear, worry, offensiveness, defensiveness, aggressiveness, depression, painful sorrow, grief, vengeance, ill-will and ill-thinking towards all and everything without discrimination of good and bad, superiority and inferiority.

Compassion is equanimity towards 'good' and 'bad' qualities, condition and situation. Free from craving or aversion towards 'good' qualities, condition and situation. Free from aversion or craving towards 'bad' qualities, condition and situation. Actions being performed out of compassion is free from ignorance and egoism and impurities. It's not about "I will be nice to you and you will be nice to me." There's no craving or expectation to be receiving love and kindness or friendship and companionship from other beings.

If one thinks one is full of love and kindness towards 'all beings', including animals, and has lots of love and affection towards particular animal, that one is keeping the animal as pet, receiving the pet animal as a family member, accepting all the good and bad of the pet animal as well as taking full responsibility towards the consequences of keeping a pet animal, showing lots of love and affection towards the pet animal and enduring the potential difficulties that may arise due to the pet animal's imperfect nature and behavior, but one couldn't respect other beings for being different from oneself, one couldn't accept and love all human beings as they are, including those whose one's mind perceives, recognizes, thinks and believes as 'wrong', 'selfish', 'bad' and 'evil', one discriminates towards other people whom one doesn't like and doesn't agree with, and being impatient, frustrated, angry and hating towards certain people's imperfection and the consequences of their imperfect thinking and behavior, having ill-will and ill-thinking towards people who inflict problems and troubles and damages to one's life existence, wishing these people to be punished and suffer for their imperfect thinking and behavior, that one doesn't like and doesn't agree with, but then one doesn't mind at all for all the troubles and problems and damages that the pet animal brings into one's life existence, as one has so much love and affection towards the pet animal to tolerate and accommodate the imperfection of the pet animal, then know that this is not what compassion or loving kindness towards all beings is about.

Most people, including many yoga practitioners and yoga teachers would disagree with this teaching and practice of yoga, and generate intense disgust and aversion towards this very important yoga practice of renouncing all kind of worldly attachment and clinging of passionate love and affection. People will give themselves many reasonable excuses to avoid this teaching and practice. There's nothing wrong with people's such reaction and it's everyone's freedom for what they want to do with their life existence and how they want to react and feel about everything.

In yoga, one needs to be able to abandon 'worldly attachment and clinging of passionate love and affection' if one wants to realize unconditional love or compassion. Or else, one couldn't be truly compassionate even one would like to be compassionate, as one ignorantly mistakes 'worldly attachment and clinging of passionate love and affection' as compassion.

Yoga is about dispassion. Dispassion leads to wisdom and compassion. Wisdom and compassion leads to liberation from suffering.

Compassion doesn't bring painful sorrow and suffering, but 'worldly attachment and clinging of passionate love and affection' will lead to painful sorrow and suffering.

In yoga practice, when one is truly and sincerely yearning for liberation, one not just renounces the worldly attachment and clinging of ties and relationships with other human beings and things, and cutting off all kind of social connections, interactions and activities, to retreat into seclusion and solitude to silent the mind, but one also renounces attachment and clinging of passionate love and affection towards all kind of animals, insects or nature.

If one thinks one is practicing yoga of renunciation of seclusion and solitude by staying away from other human beings and worldly connection of social interactions and activities, but one feels so lonely and bored being away from other human beings and social interactions and activities, and wants to keep one or few pet animal in one's life to accompany and entertain oneself so that one doesn't feel so lonely and bored, as well as to feel love and connection with the pet animal, then one isn't practicing yoga at all.

Those who can't bear to see or hear or come in contact with all kind of suffering that exist in the world, and feel very disturbed by one's suffering and other's suffering, and be offended by all kinds of ignorant behaviors that lead to great suffering in oneself and other beings, then know that it's not compassion, but it's mere passionate love and affection.

Not many yoga practitioners are yearning for liberation. They just want to get some good feelings and benefits from doing the yoga practice. And that's their freedom.

Contemplate on this and be free.

People's power?

People's power is no doubt very powerful, of course. There's no doubt that other than the greatest power of nature, it's the people's power that is so powerful and influential that it influences the condition or situation of the world, in a country, in a community, in a company, or in a family, through their thinking and behavior, making the world a better or worse place to be in. But what is influencing the people's thinking and behavior is more powerful. And so, what happen if ignorance, egoism and impurities is the power that influencing many people in the world to think, behave, act and react?

Even those who think they are good people who want to be good, who do good actions and don't do bad actions are not necessarily be free from the influence of ignorance and egoism and impurities. If the mind thinks and feels, "I am disturbed, disappointed, frustrated, threatened, depressed, angered or hurt by something that I think is bad, negative and wrong", know that this is ignorance, though there's nothing wrong with this reaction of thinking and feeling in such way reacting towards certain perceptions of names and forms that the mind believes as bad, negative and wrong. The power of ignorance is so great that the mind doesn't even know it is under the influence of ignorance, thinking that it is wise or smart enough, or it is wiser or smarter than others. And the ego doesn't like to hear or be pointed out that it is the product of ignorance, and would feel offended or humiliated or intimidated.

The wise won't be disturbed nor determined by the ignorance of others of all sorts of ignorant thinking and behavior, or what the mind thinks and believes as bad, negative or wrong. If one will be disturbed and determined by the ignorance of others of their ignorant thinking and behavior, or what the mind thinks and believes as bad, negative and wrong, or be disturbed by the condition and situation of the world that is not how one would like it to be, then this mind is under the influence of ignorance.

One can choose not to be disturbed or determined by the ignorance of others of all sorts of ignorant thinking and behavior, or not.

The wise don't have any intention to change the world. They allow everyone to be free from ignorance, or not, through everyone's own interest and effort. If people are not interested in freeing their mind from ignorance, that's their freedom.

Even the enlightened liberated beings can't change the world or take away the ignorance in others or remove ignorance from the world. If not, the world is already be free from ignorant beings/thinking/behavior. One can only free one's mind from ignorance through self-initiative, self-effort, self-discipline, self-inquiry and self-realization.

If there are people have the great ambition to be 'superhero' to change and save the world, that's their freedom.

The YTTC or Yoga Teachers Training Courses is about being a platform for truth seekers who are interested in attaining liberation from ignorance and suffering to learn and practice yoga to become their own teacher to perform self-practice/Yoga Sadhana, to attain self-realization and independence, and when one is free from ignorance and suffering, the world will have less a being under the influence of ignorance. And one can share one's self-realized knowledge of yoga with others, where yoga asana practice is one of the many practices to purify and quiet the mind to prepare the mind for meditation. But nowadays, many YTTC are not about developing serious self-practice or Yoga Sadhana to free oneself from ignorance and egoism, but, it's mainly about to be equipped with some 'teaching technical information' for 'teaching yoga (asana exercise) classes' to most people who are not really interested in the elimination of egoism through the practice of silence, desireless, dispassion, self-discipline, self-inquiry and self-realization, but more interested in empowering egoism and gratifying their worldly passionate desires of craving and aversion especially towards enhancing physical health and fitness level, physical appearance and ability through performing the yoga asana exercises, while some others are interested towards developing mental psychic power for different reasons or intentions.

"I have been doing some yoga regularly for some time. Now, I want to learn and do more yoga. Can you teach me?"
"Really?"
"Yes! I am really interested to learn to do all the yoga poses that I am still not able to do. I also want to know what are the different muscles groups that we use in the different yoga poses and their specific benefits related to health and fitness. I hope to become a yoga teacher to teach yoga classes someday. I need to make my body healthier, fitter, stronger and more flexible so that I can do lots of the yoga poses to be qualified to join the yoga teacher training course. I also want to feel better about myself, because right now, I am not very happy with myself, my yoga practice, my physical appearance, my health and fitness level, my job, my life and my relationship. Many yoga teachers say yoga can gives us lots of benefits to improve health and fitness, and make us look good and feel good about ourselves, and become superhuman with superpower to do anything that we want to do with our body and mind. They say yoga can make our body stay young and strong, that we won't get sick and we can defy aging. They say by doing yoga we can defy gravity and we can fly. And they say practice yoga can also have all our desires come true. I want a better life, a better body, a better relationship and a better job. I really want to learn and do yoga!"
"I can teach you yoga. But first, you will need to let go all these desires of what you want and don't want."
"This is not the yoga that I want to learn and do."
"Be happy then."

How yoga is being perceived in the world as one type of physical health and fitness exercise

Some people asked us if we teach TTC (Yoga Teachers Training Course). No, we don't.

Anyone who has realized selflessness and unconditional love and peace through self-realization, who knows the path to free the mind from suffering that derived from ignorance and egoism (attachment, identification, worldly desires, craving and aversion), it's not necessarily that one has to be a yoga practitioner and regardless of how long one has been practicing yoga, one can share the knowledge of selflessness and unconditional love and peace with anyone, without the necessity of becoming a 'yoga teacher' to 'teach yoga classes'. One doesn't need to attend TTC to be trained to become 'qualified yoga teacher' to 'teach yoga classes' to share the realization of selflessness and unconditional love and peace with other beings. One doesn't need 'approval', or 'authorization', or 'qualification', or 'certification', or 'affiliation', or 'graduation from TTC with excellent results' to share the knowledge of unconditional love, peace and fearlessness through self-realization with other beings who are in search for liberation from ignorance and suffering.

Attending TTC and graduating with excellent results from TTC doesn't determine that one is, or will be free from ignorance and egoism. Teaching yoga is nothing to do with 'professionalism', or 'teacher training', or 'certification', which is part of the worldly ideas born out of egoism.

TTC are a platform or medium for anyone, including those who have never done any yoga practice before but who have the interest to know about yoga, to be open-minded and be humble to learn about the teachings of yoga, and begin their self-practice with self-discipline to purify the mind to free the mind from egoism and ignorance. Once the mind is purified and has realized selflessness and unconditional love and peace, one can share the knowledge of selflessness and unconditional love and peace with other beings without intention, without identification, without attachment.

Meanwhile many of the 'professional TTC allied with yoga alliance' are about being a platform or medium for people who think they know a lot about yoga and that they are good enough or ready to become 'yoga teachers', and they think they need to attend 'internationally recognized TTC allied with yoga alliance' to be trained 'how to teach/conduct professional, safe, effective, creative, fun and motivative yoga asana exercise classes' to acquire some kind of 'internationally recognized certification allied with yoga alliance' so that they can find a job called 'yoga teacher/instructor' to teach/conduct 'yoga asana exercise classes' in yoga centre or fitness centre or community centre, and lots of these TTC exist to cater to their 'needs' by providing the appropriate 'training' and 'certification' and 'authorization' that they are looking for.

These 'professional' TTC also teach about the teachings or philosophy of yoga but emphasize mainly on training the people about how to teach/conduct 'yoga asana exercise classes under different brands, styles, or levels', about how to give instructions, how to perform the yoga poses, what to do or what not to do, what are the benefits of the different yoga poses, the breathing exercises, the relaxation and some other practices, how to make 'hands-on' physical adjustments, what are the 'correct alignment', general knowledge to share in the class (about diet, lifestyle, positive thinking, anatomy, physiology, health and fitness, stories telling, philosophy, and etc), how to interact 'appropriately' or 'positively', what is a 'good teaching technique', or a 'good practice', or a 'good class', how to make the students or clients happy and satisfied, how to 'touch' people's heart, and etc. It is a great contradiction because during the philosophy class they teach/talk about "perform all your actions without attachment and identification, renounce the fruit of actions and allowing the fruit of actions to be there as it is" but then in the 'yoga asana classes' is mostly about feeding the egoism of both the teachers and the students - empowering the identification and attachment towards the action and the result of the action. Such like, "I am a good yoga teacher who teach/conduct good yoga classes that give good results/improvement," and "I am a good yoga student/practitioner who performs the yoga poses nicely and achieves good results/improvement from the practice."

Love and peace has nothing to do with how a person look or feel while being in particular yoga poses, or what is the physical condition, ability and limitation, or what type and how much benefits coming from the yoga practice. People don't have to put their bodies in any particular yoga poses to be kind and compassionate, or to be peaceful. The impermanent physical condition, ability and limitation doesn't determine a being would be free from ignorance, egoism, impurities and suffering, and be compassionate and peaceful, or not.

If one truly knows what is yoga or has realized selflessness and unconditional love and peace, one doesn't need to attend TTC to learn how to conduct 'yoga classes' to attain 'certification' to be 'authorized' to become 'professional internationally certified yoga teacher' to be teaching or passing the knowledge of yoga to other beings, or to be compassionate towards oneself and all beings.

No doubt that there are 'TTC graduates' who realize yoga through the practice of silence, self-inquiry, dispassion and right discrimination, and they may or may not be teaching 'yoga classes'.

The attachment towards the performance/results/effects/benefits of the yoga practice, and the emphasis on the technical/professional teaching instructions about "the correct body alignment of each yoga pose", or "how a yoga pose/position should look like", and the 'positive' encouraging words, cheering and hand clapping to congratulate or give encouragement, such like 'Well done!', 'You can do it!', 'You did it!', 'That's very good!', 'You're amazing!', 'Awesome!', 'Feel strong!', 'Be strong!', 'Let's boost your confidence and self-esteem!', 'Yoga strengthens your body and mind', 'Yoga elevates your mind!', 'Yoga makes you feel great!', 'You should be proud of yourself!', 'I am so proud of you!', and etc, as the core structure or important qualities of the 'yoga exercise classes' are indeed feeding the egoism (attachment, identification, craving, aversion, judgment, comparison and expectation).

But there is nothing wrong with all these TTC producing 'internationally certified yoga teachers' teaching 'yoga asana exercise classes' because most people who want to attend yoga classes are only interested in doing something that will make them feel good and look good, or give them the benefits/effects/results that they want. Being conditioned by worldly ideas, people evaluate a 'yoga teacher' based on their 'qualification' and 'certification', their 'professionalism', their 'charisma', their 'past accumulated teaching experience', or their 'ability' to give a 'good yoga exercise class' that can make them look good and feel good physically and mentally, or their up-to-date tips/general knowledge on about health and fitness, and updated on the latest yoga brands, styles and techniques. Many people are not interested in the practice of silence, quieting the mind, self-inquiry, dispassion and self-discipline to be free from ignorance and egoism, mainly it's because people don't think their minds are influenced by ignorance, they don't think they need to free the mind from egoism, as they love their ego of who they think they are. They don't see what's wrong with egoism. They enjoy being passionate about worldly life and social activities, and spend most of their effort on gratifying all their desires, and do what will make them feel good and happy as the meanings of life.

All these TTC graduates are 'good people' who have 'good intention' and hope to 'be qualified' to share yoga with other people, and it makes them feel meaningful and happy when their students look good and feel good about themselves after taking yoga exercise class with them. There's nothing 'wrong' with that.

It's like many children don't like to eat healthy food, the parents or care-taker might give them something that they like in return, such like desserts, to persuade them to eat the healthy food that they don't like to eat. And the parents feel happy seeing their children eating the healthy food and enjoying the desserts afterwards. So everyone is happy. That sounds very 'good'. Eventually, some of the children might start to realize why it is important to eat the healthy food, and even without any desserts in return, they will eat the healthy food out of their own choice. But very few children will have the self-realization, and in the end, they are addicted to the desserts, and they won't be happy unless they have their desserts. Just like people won't do something that is good for them or other people unless they will get something that they like and want in return. This is not yoga.

Imagine when a great 'yogi' who has attained self-realization and is compassionate comes to the yoga centre and offer himself to share the knowledge of yoga to whoever are interested in learning and practice yoga, and the yoga centre staff ask him, "Do you have internationally recognized either 200 hours or 500 hours yoga teacher certification allied with yoga alliance?" The yogi tells them, "No." And they tell him, "Sorry, we only employ 'qualified' professional yoga teacher with internationally recognized yoga teacher certification allied with yoga alliance to conduct yoga classes here."

Everyone has the freedom to choose what they want to do with their life, their bodies and minds. If people are contented with living a restless passionate worldly life full of attachments and identifications, and are okay with being the slave of their desires of cravings and aversions, and enjoying doing some yoga exercise regularly that will make them look good and feel good, that's their freedom.

Be free.

Yoga teachers and teaching yoga?

"Who can teach yoga?"

"Anybody, who knows what is yoga, who is peaceful and compassionate, who knows about impermanence and selflessness, who knows what is the cause of suffering and how to be free from suffering. It's not necessarily someone who has been practicing yoga for a long time, who is strong and flexible to do many of the yoga asana poses, or who had attended 'yoga teachers training course', and obtained or possessed 'internationally recognized' yoga teacher certifications."

"But, isn't that all yoga teachers must have recognized yoga teachers certification to be allowed to teach yoga legally?"

"Do you think someone who is free from ignorance and suffering, who is peaceful and compassionate, has to attend some 'yoga teachers training courses' to be trained to be a 'yoga teacher', to be authorized by some 'authorities' and obtains 'internationally recognized certifications' sanctioned and approved by some 'yoga associations', and be allied to some 'yoga alliances', in order to radiate peace and be compassionate, to share the knowledge of yoga and guiding other beings to be free from ignorance and suffering? Is a person not allowed to be kind to other beings because this person hasn't attended 'kindness training' and doesn't have a recognized 'certification of kindness' sanctioned by a 'kindness association or kindness alliance'?"

"I will not learn yoga from someone who hasn't been through professional yoga teachers training, who doesn't have 'internationally recognized yoga teachers certification'. 'Yoga teachers' who don't have a recognized certification are not allowed to teach yoga classes in many countries. Yoga centres in many countries only employ 'internationally certified' yoga teachers."

"Isn't that true... It's your freedom of thinking and freedom of choice then."

Whether people are well-educated and highly intelligent, or not, many would think that those who teach yoga must go through some forms of professional yoga teachers training to be qualified and certified as 'yoga teachers' before they are allowed to teach yoga, and they also think that only those who have been practicing yoga for quite a long time, who are physically strong and flexible to execute many of the yoga asana poses 'beautifully', or who have the 'qualifications of a yoga teacher', are qualified to attend yoga teachers training courses and be certified as 'yoga teachers' to conduct 'yoga classes' to teach yoga to other people.

These are the worldly ideas and values derived from conditioned thinking and belief under the influence of ignorance.

There are many 'internationally certified and affiliated' yoga teachers or instructors conduct many different types of 'yoga classes' everywhere in the world. Most of them teach yoga (asana) classes with different brand names according to the modules, styles and techniques that they learned from one or different types of 'yoga schools'. Some might even invent their own brands, styles, sequences and techniques of 'yoga'. Most of them even trademarked or copyrighted their new invention of 'yoga' that is adopted, modified and transformed from the traditional yoga practice. It's normal that many people are confused and uncleared about the tradition of yoga of its practice and purpose.

"People tell me that I could do all the yoga poses easily and beautifully, that I am strong and flexible, and they say I should become a yoga teacher. Should I?"
"What do I need to do in order to become a yoga teacher?"
"Is there a minimum years of yoga practice in order to become a yoga teacher?"
"How many and which yoga asana poses that I need to be able to perform in order to become a yoga teacher and teach yoga?"
"Do I need an internationally recognized yoga teachers certification to teach yoga in this country?"
"Do these yoga schools and yoga teachers affiliated with internationally recognized yoga association and yoga alliance?"
"Do these yoga courses issue internationally recognized certifications approved and sanctioned by internationally recognized yoga association and yoga alliance?"

In the commercial world of 'education systems', 'qualifications' and 'certifications', a person is obliged to obtain and possess some sorts of qualifications and certifications issued and recognized by 'internationally recognized' yoga association and yoga alliance to work as a 'yoga teacher' or 'yoga instructor' to conduct yoga (asana) classes to be teaching safe and result orientated 'yoga exercise' to other people. No doubt that those who teach yoga exercise fitness classes are better off being conformed and regulated under certain 'rules and regulations' regulated by 'those who know what they are doing', so that they have the basic knowledge to provide safe and effective physical training for other people by teaching varieties of 'yoga (asana) classes' with different brands, styles, techniques and routines, that have been adopted and modified from the traditional yoga asana practice. But, yoga is not about teaching or participating in yoga asana exercise classes. Yoga poses, or asana practice is just one part of the many yoga practice to help to influence the mind, to render the mind calm and quiet for meditation. It's not necessarily that people have to perform yoga asana practice to be practicing yoga, or to be peaceful and compassionate.

If people think teaching yoga to other people is about becoming a certified 'yoga teacher' by attending internationally recognized 'yoga teachers training courses' to attain 'internationally recognized certification' issued and sanctioned by internationally recognized 'yoga association' and 'yoga alliance', or one needs to go through some sorts of professional yoga teachers training to learn how to teach yoga in order to teach yoga, or how many years of yoga practice will qualify someone to be a yoga teacher, or a yoga teacher needs to have certain level of strength and flexibility to perform and demonstrate the yoga asana poses when teaching yoga classes, or teaching yoga is about training the students to push the body beyond its limitations to achieve maximum strength and flexibility, to be able to perform as many yoga asana poses as possible, and to execute the yoga poses in perfect alignment, or a person needs to have recognized certificate(s) to teach yoga, or teaching yoga means teaching different types of yoga asana classes labeled with different levels, brands and styles, then very obviously they don't know what is yoga, and so, how can they teach yoga, even though they possess 'internationally recognized' yoga teachers certifications?

Teaching yoga is not about teaching yoga asana (fitness exercise) classes. It's nothing to do with becoming a 'yoga teacher' by attending yoga teacher training courses to attain internationally recognized certifications or qualifications issued and sanctioned by 'internationally recognized' yoga association and yoga alliance, so that one can teach yoga exercise classes adopted from traditional yoga asana practice. It's dealing with the mind and its modification, the function of the mind, the perception of names and forms (the worldly life existence), the states of the mind, the habits and behavior of the mind, the actions and reactions of the mind, the impurities of the mind, the ignorance and suffering of the mind, and the liberation of the mind.

Yoga practice is about the elimination of ignorance, egoism and impurities, to free the mind from being conditioned by worldly thinking and beliefs, to realize selflessness and unconditional peace beyond all the impermanent qualities of names and forms.

Unconditional peace and compassion is not determined by how good a person can execute the yoga poses, or how long a person has been performing the yoga asana practice, or what type of qualification or certification a person has obtained and possessed from attending yoga classes or courses from yoga schools.

Whether a being is liberated from ignorance and suffering, and is peaceful and compassionate, or not, it has nothing to do with 'yoga associations', 'yoga alliance', 'yoga schools', 'yoga classes', 'yoga courses', 'yoga teachers training', and 'yoga teachers qualifications and certifications'.

There are some qualities which can determine a yoga aspirant - Viveka, Vairagya, Shat-sampat and Mumukshutva. And all these qualities has nothing to do with being in yoga class, attending yoga class, teaching yoga class, being strong and flexible, performing some yoga poses, yoga schools, yoga association, yoga alliance, yoga teachers training courses, and certifications. Yoga practice is about Vichara, to perform self-inquiry to know the truth of names and forms. One can learn and practice yoga anywhere, anytime. One can teach yoga anywhere, anytime. All the names and forms are teaching us yoga, it's not limited to a human being who identifies himself/herself as 'yoga teacher'. Anything and anyone and all our experiences that can teach us about impermanence and selflessness, that allow us to realize compassion and be compassionate, is our yoga teachers. In the end, both the teacher and the student is the mind itself.

The one who is free from ignorance and suffering, who is peaceful, wise and compassionate, doesn't need to attend any 'yoga teachers training courses' to be trained to become a 'yoga teacher' to teach yoga. This being doesn't need to be certified, authorized and approved by 'yoga schools', 'yoga associations', or 'yoga alliance' for being peaceful and compassionate, to radiate peace and compassion, and to guide other suffering beings onto the path of selflessness, attributelessness, namelessness and formlessness, to also realize unconditional peace and compassion. This being doesn't need the title of 'yoga teacher', or naming the act of sharing the knowledge of unconditional peace and compassion as 'teaching yoga'. It's free from egoistic attachments and identifications of 'I want to teach yoga', 'I teach yoga or yoga classes', 'I am a yoga teacher', 'I am an internationally qualified and certified yoga teacher', 'I am qualified and certified to teach yoga', 'I am a good and experienced yoga teacher', or 'I have been practicing and teaching yoga for xx years.'

The realization of 'Selflessness' which leads to unconditional peace and compassion is undetermined by all the worldly impermanent qualities of names and forms. It doesn't belong to a particular being, species, gender, sexual orientation, age, social status, intellect, personality, behavior, impermanent states of the mind, physical appearance, physical condition, limitation and ability, worldly education and knowledge, worldly commercial ideas, thinking and beliefs, worldly achievements and contributions, personal belief, cultural belief, religious belief, spiritual practice, yoga class, yoga school, yoga association, yoga alliance, or how many years of yoga practice.

If people want to think and believe that they will only learn and practice 'yoga' under the guidance of a 'yoga teacher' who possesses and advertises 'internationally recognized' qualifications and certifications, and those who want to teach 'yoga' think that they need to possess 'internationally recognized' qualifications and certifications, and be authorized by 'internationally recognized yoga associations and yoga alliance' to teach 'yoga' to other people, then the 'yoga' that they practice and teach will be what they think what it is. There's nothing wrong with that.

Yoga is not about achieving peace and happiness by having the life or the world to be the way that we like it to be, but, it's realizing the unconditional peace being undetermined by all the impermanent good and bad qualities of names and forms, pleasant and unpleasant or desirable and undesirable experiences.

Whether a person is practicing yoga, or not, it's not determined by being content and happy when everything is the way that we desire it to be, but, it is seen whether the mind is able to be peaceful and compassionate under any challenging, difficult, undesirable and discomfortable conditions and situations, being free from all sorts of impurities, ill-will and ill-thinking when everything is not the way that we like it to be.

Be free.

Want to teach yoga? (4)

Teaching yoga is all about – May all be free, be happy, be peaceful, by guiding the impure minds towards purity, or, the suffering minds towards love and peace. But none can free anyone from impurity and suffering, but oneself.

One will be free, be happy and be peaceful, only if one allows oneself to be aware of the ignorance in oneself, which is the cause of suffering, and make an effort to free one’s mind from ignorance.

Yoga and meditation practice is mainly to free the mind from ignorance and egoism. All the other benefits of the yoga and meditation practice are just some impermanent side-effects.

Many say that they love yoga and they like to practice yoga (yoga exercises more precisely), and may have been practicing yoga exercises for years. But, even after many years of practicing yoga exercises, many minds are still under the influence of ignorance and egoism, being restless and peaceless. As they didn’t practice the essence of yoga – the elimination of ignorance and egoism to be free from impurities. The minds are still attached strongly onto worldly qualities of names and forms to be ‘I’ and are influenced by the desires of craving and aversion.

If one doesn’t recognize or is unaware of the ignorance in oneself, none can teach or help one to be free. It’s not easy for many impure minds to be aware of the ignorance in oneself, as ignorance is also the cause of being ignorant towards ignorance itself. One needs certain degrees of self-awareness to be aware of the ignorance in oneself, and be humble enough to work on the elimination of ignorance in oneself.

Compassion and peace is the essential teaching and practice of yoga. Without compassion and peace in oneself, one couldn’t teach yoga to others, even if one has the knowledge of kinesiology, anatomy and biochemistry of the physical body. As one is dealing with impure minds, and at times, dangerous minds that will intentionally generate harmful actions towards oneself and hurting others. Those who are peaceful and compassionate, being free from ignorance, they don’t need to learn yoga or practice yoga. And the impure minds are the ones who need to learn and practice yoga the most, to be free. If the impure minds refuse to practice yoga towards the annihilation of ignorance and egoism, to be free from ill-will and ill-thinking, that’s their freedom.

One must take care of one's mind, before the mind loses its sanity, as minds that are critically 'ill' won't be able to reason or meditate at all, and might generate harmful actions harming oneself and others.

Teaching yoga is not just teaching people to do some asana poses and stretching exercises. But, it’s guiding and allowing people to look into their own minds, be aware of the impurities, to reflect upon the behavior of their own minds, and it is quite an unpleasant experience for many. And most of the time, others are being blamed for the impurities, or restlessness, or unpleasantness that are occupying their own mind.

May all be free, be happy, be peaceful.

Want to teach yoga?

Teaching yoga is not about trying to convince other people to believe in the teachings of yoga, or to persuade other people to like yoga and practice yoga, or recruiting many people to be our yoga students and joining our yoga classes, or to set as an example for others to imitate us, or to build a yoga empire. The students shouldn’t follow or imitate the teacher, or blind-believe in the teachings of yoga or what the teacher taught them. It’s guiding the students to be free from egoism, and allowing them to be free from attachment and identification towards any thinking and beliefs including the teachings of yoga, but to investigate into the truth of everything, to attain self-realization.

 

Everyone may or may not need some guidance, but it’s up to everyone’s free will to change their own thinking and behavior by developing self-control and self-discipline over their own thinking, actions and speech, and attain self-realization be free from ignorance, and realize unconditional love and peace, and stopped hurting themselves and others. The teacher doesn’t and can’t control or change the students, but can only give them guidance and encouragement. The teacher and the student will meet at the right time and the right place naturally when the time has come, without the influence of egoistic selfish desires.

There’s nothing wrong when people think that when they feel unhappy or angry, feel hurt and disappointed, it’s nothing to do with their own ignorance and egoism, but instead, it’s everyone and everything out there that are bad and wrong that give them unhappiness and suffering. There’s nothing wrong when people believe in God or disbelieve in God. It is everyone’s freedom of thought, actions and speech. But when people start to have strong attachment and identification towards what they think and believe, there arise separateness, discrimination, prejudice, hatred, violence, fear and unrest in their minds towards others who are different from them. Some people even enjoy being angry and violent. They won’t feel good unless they get angry and violent.

If people don’t like to practice yoga about letting go of the ego, attachment and identification, no one can force them. The teachings of yoga teach about everyone purifying their own thinking, actions and speech, but respecting others' freedom of thinking, actions and speech, for what they want to do with themselves, their lives, their bodies and minds. Everyone takes the responsibility for the consequences of their own actions and inactions, for what they believe and disbelieve, for what they want and don’t want. No one can control or purify other’s mind. It is up to each one’s effort and free will to control and purify one’s mind. There's no condemn in Yoga towards anyone who doesn’t like the teachings of yoga, or who doesn’t want to practice yoga as it is, or who misunderstands about yoga, or who criticizes yoga. Anyone can take up any yoga practice and practice anyway that they like, or do whatever they like with yoga, or they can stop practicing yoga for any reasons. There’s no condemn, or sin, or punishment.

Those who practice yoga, they don’t condemn nor criticize. Vice versa, those who condemn and criticize, they don’t practice yoga. We share yoga out of compassion, not out of egoism thinking that “Yoga is good for everyone. Everyone should practice yoga, and practice properly in a particular way, or else they are insulting the sacredness and purity of yoga.” One type of medicine may cure a person’s illness but may not necessarily has the same effect on another with the same illness, or would it cure some other form of illnesses. People react differently towards the same medicine and have different tolerance towards certain side-effects of that medicine which appear differently on different people. Some people may be a good friend for many others, but may not be a good partner or good parent. 

 

There are people dislike and disagree with the teaching and practice of yoga. That is their freedom. We can’t expect or force everyone to like yoga and practice yoga as it is. There are people who never heard about the teachings of yoga and don’t do any yoga practice in a particular name and form, but they are selfless, compassionate and peaceful beings. And if yoga is something sacred and pure, how can it be insulted or contaminated by anything at all?

Some people kept modifying the traditional yoga practices into many different new styles and versions to suit the preferences of what people like and don't like, what they want and don't want. Though there's nothing wrong with that in terms of business marketing strategy and customer service and value, but then the yoga teachers are not really teaching yoga, and the students are not really practicing yoga. Instead it is empowering the egoism, attachment, identification, worldly thinking, ideas and habits, and empowering the desires of craving and aversion of the egoistic mind. 

 

When we practice yoga, we stop giving the egoistic mind what it likes and wants. No doubt that sharing yoga is about sharing love and happiness. Yoga teachers are there to guide the yoga students on how to attain unconditional love and happiness by letting go of the egoistic desires of craving and aversion. It's not about giving them what they like and want, or don't give them what they don't like and don't want, to gratified their desires of craving and aversion, to make them feel loved and happy. They feel loved and happy is because they are getting something that they like and want, and/or are not getting anything that they don't like and don't want. It doesn't help them to be free from the desires of craving and aversion, to realize unconditional love and happiness. When they are not getting what they like and want, and are getting something that they don't like and don't want, they will feel dissatisfied, disappointed, angry, resent, unhappy or miserable. This is moving away from what yoga is about.

Though there is a very significant teaching of yoga about seeing God in all and everything, that God exists in all and everything, but one doesn’t need to believe in God or spirituality to practice the teachings of yoga. For those who don’t believe in God, this teaching can be taught as seeing the one same universal consciousness of all and everything, which is the truth of impermanence and selflessness, that there’s no ‘I’ or individual existence exists in everything or in all the impermanent changes. For those who don’t believe in God or the one same universal consciousness, this teaching can be taught as seeing the element of teacher in all and everything to teach us something for realizing higher understanding about worldly life existence, and be grateful and thankful for all kinds of good and bad experiences. Those who truly implement this teaching in everyday life wouldn’t be disturbed or determined by all the pleasant and unpleasant experiences, and wouldn’t generate anger or hatred towards anyone or anything, but they would respect the law of impermanence in all the different qualities of names and forms, and respect all the different types of thinking, beliefs and behaviors that exist in the worldly community as they are. This teaching leads us to peace and harmony in ourselves and not generating violence, anger and hatred in ourselves and into the world. But if our minds are over-powered by strong egoism and have pride and arrogance about ourselves and our thinking and belief, we would find this practice impossible or very difficult, unless we are ready to let go of our ego, pride and arrogance.

Peacelessness and disharmony manifest and exist in our minds are deriving from the strong egoism, pride and arrogance, attachment and identification, desire of craving and aversion, greed and discontentment, fear and worry, and all kinds of impurities empowered by ignorance or corrupted thinking and belief in the mind. One also generates unrest and disharmony into the surrounding environment when one isn’t peaceful and harmony.

 

If every being is free from ignorance, egoism and impurities, naturally the society will be free from separateness, discrimination, prejudice, hatred, violence, fear and unrest. If we want peace in the world, we must have peace in ourselves. Having peace and harmony in oneself is the only effective way to help the world to be in peace and harmony among all the different qualities and diversities. By being violent, angry and hating others and happenings that we don’t like and disagree with, and provoke anger and hatred in other people to also be angry and hate those whom we think they are bad and wrong, it wouldn’t help the world to be peaceful and harmony as how we would like it to be, but instead, we contribute so much unrest and disharmony into the world, it doesn’t matter how good and right we think we are.

When we know what is yoga, we will know that teaching yoga has very little to do with qualification and certification coming from attending 'internationally recognized' yoga teachers training courses. Yoga teachers training courses are for people to learn to become their own teacher. When one realizes the teacher within oneself, one will know that everything and everyone are teachers to teach everyone something. One will be free from discrimination and hatred towards anyone and anything, and will respect everyone and everything as they are. And naturally, one can also guide other people to become their own teachers out of self-realized unconditional love and peace, without the need of any certifications or acknowledgement from anyone or any 'internationally recognized' organizations.

It doesn’t matter whether we know the names of the yoga poses in English or Sanskrit, or not, or what are the benefits of the yoga exercises, or what particular type of yoga that we practice, because yoga practice is not about gaining the benefits from the yoga exercises at all, and by knowing the names of the yoga poses and performing what particular type of yoga have nothing to do with the realization of unconditional love and peace. It’s about letting go of attachment, identification, expectation, craving and aversion towards all our actions and the fruit of actions, or towards the yoga practice and the result of the yoga practice.

Yoga is about realizing compassion and selflessness through the practice of dispassion and renunciation towards worldly objects, values and ideas, discrimination of what is real and unreal, eliminating the ego and quieting one's restless modification of the mind, and be free from all kinds of attachments, identifications, desires of craving and aversion, and impurities. And all these practices have nothing to do with the impermanent condition and ability of the physical body to perform the yoga poses, or how many years we have been doing yoga exercises, or how much yoga exercises we had done, or how many yoga poses we can perform and whether we can perform the yoga poses in perfect alignment, or not. It’s also nothing to do with all the physical health and fitness benefits that come along as side-effects from the yoga practice. All these names and forms cannot guarantee or determine whether we know about yoga or not, whether we are practicing yoga or not, whether we can teach yoga or not, and whether we are free from ignorance and egoism, and be liberated from suffering, or not.

Many people including many yoga enthusiasts don’t like to hear about the practice of dispassion and renunciation. They give themselves many reasons to justify themselves that they don’t need to be dispassionate, instead they promote passionate way of thinking and living. They said follow all our desires and live passionately. There’s nothing wrong with having desires and being passionate towards worldly life existence, self-image, ideas, ambitions and social activities, and everyone has the freedom to choose what they want to do with their life existence, but then it isn’t what yoga practice is about.

Dispassion towards worldly objects, ideas and activities helps to render the mind calm and quiet to be able to perform self-inquiry to know the truth of 'I', or what the mind thinks and believes as 'who I am'. Passion invigorates strong attachment and identification towards worldly life existence, the function and ability of the body and mind, and passionate desires of craving and aversion. Instead of quieting the mind, annihilating the worldly ideas, and eliminating the ego, it is stimulating the mind, strengthening the worldly ideas and empowering the ego. Passion hinders the mind to see the truth of things as they are. But if people enjoy being passionate and don’t mind being restless constantly swaying between satisfaction and dissatisfaction, that’s their freedom.

Dispassion doesn’t mean that we have no love or feelings. It is respecting and loving the world and everyone as they are, without selfish desires or expectations, discrimination of likes and dislikes/agreements and disagreements, without attachment, identification, craving and aversion, where the world and everyone are not necessarily the way that 'I' would like it to be, or the way that the mind thinks and believes how it should be.

Passion is loving the world and everyone with selfish desires and expectations, discrimination of likes and dislikes/agreements and disagreements, attachment, identification, craving and aversion. It’s 'I' love my world to be the way that 'I' would like it to be, or the way that the mind thinks and believes how it should be.

When one is free from ignorance and egoism, then there’s no difference between passion and dispassion. One can live and perform actions passionately in the world, but is undisturbed and undetermined by one’s actions and the fruit of actions.

The realization of selflessness will allow us to be undisturbed or undetermined by whatever the mind perceives through the senses, and remain equanimous and be at peace unconditionally. When one has realized unconditional love and peace, one won’t be intentionally generating thoughts, actions and speech that will hurt oneself and others under any circumstances, which is compassion. And the realization of unconditional love and peace has nothing to do with the knowledge about anatomy and physiology, or the physical condition and ability and alignment to do the yoga poses.

Everyone can practice yoga and share the wisdom of yoga and its practice with anybody, when they are free from ignorance and egoism and have realized unconditional love and peace through their own persist and sincere practice. They don’t need a piece of commercialized paper to allow them to share love and peace with others. Those who haven’t realized unconditional love and peace in themselves, they can’t share love and peace with others even if they have been attending many yoga courses and possess many pieces of 'internationally recognized' certifications. Those who think and believe that they need to attend professional yoga courses and acquire a few pieces of paper to accumulate credits to allow them to share love and peace with other people, then they don’t really know what is yoga, where their minds are still being influenced very much by the worldly egoistic objects, values and ideas, and being determined by the qualities of names and forms.

May all be happy, be peaceful, be free.

Om shanti.

Yoga, the teachings, the practice and teaching yoga...

There were some people suggested to us that we should be teaching 'yoga teachers training course'.

There were some people asked us whether our yoga studio issues any 'Internationally recognized certification', if they participated in our yoga retreats and workshops.

There was 'Yoga Alliance' wrote to us whether we want to pay them some member fees so that we can put some 'logos' on our website and be affiliated and registered with their organization.

I don't disagree nor criticize anyone or any organization to think and do what they want to think and do.  Everyone has the rights and freedom to think and act the way that they want to think and act.

There's nothing wrong with all these worldly qualities of names and forms.

Most people are conditioned to think in certain ways, to believe in certain 'commercial' or 'worldly' values and qualities of names and forms. There's nothing wrong with that. And it's okay if some people cannot go beyond those conditioned thinking and beliefs, no matter how hard they try to understand what is beyond their thinking and beliefs.

Just that, Yoga and teaching yoga, or self-inquiry and self-realization, or to develop mindfulness, insight, self-awareness and self-control, or the practice of non-attachment and non-identification, or the truth of names and forms, or transcending qualities of names and forms, or the elimination of the egoism, or selflessness, or be free from ignorance and suffering, or the realization of unconditional peace and compassion, or sharing wisdom, love and peace with other beings, or be compassionate towards other beings, or be free from anger and hatred, greed and jealousy, dissatisfaction and disappointment, craving and aversion, fear and worry, really has nothing to do with all these organization, certification and qualification.

It means nothing if a 'wandering yogi' hangs a few certificates issued by some yoga schools around his neck, going around with a statement of his personal profile about how many years, months and days he has been practicing yoga, where he has been learning and practicing yoga, who are his Gurus and teachers, what he has achieved from his practice and self-inquiry, since when he has started sharing his wisdom and unconditional love and peace with other beings, how many people have been learning and practicing yoga under his guidance, or what sorts of certifications he will issue to those who practice yoga under his guidance, and etc.

We don't even display our 'Internationally recognized yoga teachers training certifications' anywhere in the yoga studio or at home. We respect everyone for their personal freedom of thinking, speech and actions, and we are really grateful and thankful for all the teachers and the Ashrams to provide us with the opportunity to learn and practice yoga, as well as the 'Internationally recognized' certifications. But whether by attaining and displaying these certifications, or not, really doesn't determine anything about 'who we are' and 'what we do', and it has nothing to do with the teachings of yoga about transcending the body and mind, the modifications of the mind, the worldly existence, all the qualities of names and forms, be free from egoism, ignorance and suffering, realize unconditional love and peace, and rest in ones nature as it is.

We don't mention about what type of certification or qualification that we have in our website, as it doesn't determine anything.

If some people are looking for all these qualities of names and forms to find a teacher or a school to learn and practice yoga, then let them be.

If people didn't find what they are looking for in our website or in our classes, retreats or workshops, and are not interested in what we share, let them be.

May all find their own way, their own path, their own realization.

May all be free, be peaceful, be happy.