Contemplating My Guru

 

A Guru is a person who dispels another person of darkness, or put differently, someone who carries someone else from darkness into light. A Guru is also a part of a lineage and serves to pass down that lineage to those who will continue to spread it to others with him. Today, in the West, yoga has seen a displacement of Gurus by yoga celebrities. Yoga celebrities have a lot to offer: sweaty asana classes, the belief that we can enhance our physical bodies and well-being beyond what we ever could have imagined, and classic universal knowledge about yoga. What I find star yogis lack however, is a certain depth of insight and awareness about the true teachings of yoga. And often, they appear more concerned about guiding themselves up the staircase to stardom then about focusing on their students to help them better their lives.

 

ISHTA is a Guru based system. An authentic Guru, Alan, gets to know his students inside and out. He does not  just  make an appearance, teach from a script, and then leave to move on to the next show. He is dedicated and unconditionally supportive. His knowledge is a deeply ingrained encyclopedic data base that flows out into the universe and to his students spontaneously. He is flawed like all other humans and very aware of his shortcomings.

 

It is neither easy to find a Guru nor to develop a long standing relationship with one. It is even harder to truly and seriously adhere to the teachings of a yoga lineage, which are never designed to be challenge-free. As Georg Feurstein points out in Tantra: The Path to Ecstasy, a student and Guru must take at least twelve years to determine whether or not they are right for each other. During that time, both will be confronted with many trials. It is only through complete trust, dedication, perseverance, and the ability to confront adversity, that two such people can move forward together.

 

The ISHTA community is  extremely lucky to have a Guru based system that harks back to the past because so much of the traditional way that yoga was taught, has been lost to modern times. Many of you often comment on how unique ISHTA teachers and teachings are--and therefore our classes and our teacher trainings. This is because Alan has passed onto teachers and students alike, the same ancient and unadulterated knowledge that yogis throughout time have shared with each other. Remarkably, while doing so, he has honored our individuality and each personal journey through darkness towards light.