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Creating a Yoga Community

March 18, 2010 •

Guest author, Brook McCarthy, is a part-time yoga teacher in Syd­ney, Aus­tralia. Brook also runs a mar­ket­ing con­sul­tancy that helps busi­nesses in the health and well­be­ing sec­tor improve their com­mu­ni­ca­tions online.

Cul­ti­vat­ing com­mu­nity can be as sim­ple as a friendly yoga class, a shared meal or an inspir­ing work­shop. This can sow seeds towards cre­at­ing a soul-cen­tered kin­ship of yogis who take their com­mu­nity “off the mat” and beyond the stu­dio walls.

Community Begins with the Teacher

For almost a year, I attended a yoga stu­dio in the heart of Syd­ney, Aus­tralia. It was a busy school, packed with work­ers from nearby build­ings, and had a “buzz” of the town out­side. I attended sev­eral classes a week and was often taught by a par­tic­u­lar teacher who, time and again, asked for my name. The first dozen times, I didn’t mind.

Another evening after class, I heard a teacher invite sev­eral stu­dents to the pub for a drink after class. I wasn’t offended by a yoga teacher hav­ing a drink with his stu­dents (Who knows? They may even have been drink­ing soda water.), it was the inclusive/exclusive infer­ence that left me feel­ing on the out­side.

My present yoga teacher cul­ti­vates com­mu­nity in each and every class he teaches. Not only does he have a gift for remem­ber­ing names and the phys­i­cal lim­i­ta­tions of each stu­dent, he gen­tly uses our names to ver­bally adjust stu­dents, which also works to intro­duce us to each other.

Creating Community — One Class at a Time

Each class is made up of a col­lec­tion of indi­vid­u­als who bring with them the emo­tions and pre­oc­cu­pa­tions of their par­tic­u­lar day. I’ve wit­nessed yoga teach­ers change stu­dents’ dif­fer­ing ener­gies, unit­ing the class towards com­mon goals such as mind­ful­ness.

Rather than cre­ate chal­lenges for the more expe­ri­enced yogis in the room, try to teach each class as if all your stu­dents are begin­ners — make your instruc­tions acces­si­ble, your tone wel­com­ing, and your spirit encour­ag­ing. A sense of fun and joy­ful­ness is a pow­er­ful teach­ing tool and helps stu­dents lighten up and smile at their neigh­bors. Ask stu­dents to intro­duce them­selves to the peo­ple next to them in small classes. And lead stu­dents in a Namaste to each other at the end of class.

Humor is most effec­tive at help­ing stu­dents get out of their heads and onto their mats. Crack a joke and see peo­ple relax — most effec­tive after a core strength ses­sion. One of my favorite teach­ers has a gift for crack­ing jokes at oppor­tune moments. Although these jokes can be a bit off-colour at times, they are accom­pa­nied by a charm­ing, open smile; my teacher eas­ily dis­arms new stu­dents of their con­cerns that all yoga teach­ers are seri­ous and holier-than-thou.

Taking the Classroom Outside

Encour­ag­ing stu­dents to linger longer can start with a cup of tea, extend to a meal, and end up with peo­ple vol­un­teer­ing in their com­mu­nity — it’s all in the spirit of inclu­sion.

One suc­cess­ful Syd­ney stu­dio does this with grace as the yoga teacher boils a ket­tle in the recep­tion room and offers stu­dents who linger after class a cup of tea. A meal at a local restau­rant after a yoga work­shop or the com­ple­tion of a course also encour­ages stu­dents to relax and get to know one another out­side of class. Depend­ing on your locale and the stu­dents’ means, either bun­dle the meal into the price of the work­shop or let every­one know it’s “Dutch treat.” Some stu­dios spon­sor annual or sea­sonal group meals, and ask stu­dents who want to par­tic­i­pate to con­tribute some­thing, such as a favorite home-cooked dish, to share with their teach­ers and fel­low yogis.

For stu­dents who are fre­quent vis­i­tors to your yoga stu­dio, offer­ing a vol­un­teer pro­gram can help build a sense of com­mu­nity, and not only among the vol­un­teers. One yoga city stu­dio I have attended has a “karma yoga” pro­gram offer­ing free yoga classes in exchange for clean­ing duties. I began vol­un­teer­ing at another stu­dio giv­ing adjust­ments and cor­rec­tions dur­ing Sat­ur­day classes. I was already an expe­ri­enced yoga stu­dent at that time and much appre­cia­tive of the per­sonal instruc­tions given to me by the yoga teacher. The stu­dio also ben­e­fited from hav­ing an extra set of eyes and hands dur­ing busy classes.

Widening Your Community

Groups tend to be judged by their actions before peo­ple lis­ten to their words. Per­haps the sin­gle most pow­er­ful thing yogis can do to encour­age new peo­ple to expe­ri­ence the ben­e­fits of yoga is to become more involved in com­mu­nity ser­vices. This also allows stu­dents to expe­ri­ence karma yoga, the yoga of action.

Samadhi Yoga in Syd­ney has a for­mal “Yoga in the Com­mu­nity” pro­gram, and offers 16 heav­ily-dis­counted classes per week to any­one who wishes to attend. This orga­ni­za­tion also runs pro­grams in con­junc­tion with drug and alco­hol reha­bil­i­ta­tion cen­ters, at-risk child care ser­vices, clin­ics for patients with AID and juve­nile jus­tice units. While this type of com­mit­ment may be some years off for a fledg­ling stu­dio, a “clean the park” pic­nic day, a free weekly class after school to local teenagers, or a visit to an aged care home is more eas­ily man­age­able.

Each yoga stu­dio has the poten­tial to become a hub of activ­ity for the com­mu­nity beyond its walls. When we gather together with the hope of reach­ing self-real­iza­tion, we are work­ing toward rec­og­niz­ing the uni­ver­sal­ity of all beings, and achiev­ing peace and free­dom not only for our­selves, but also our world­wide com­mu­nity. Tak­ing our yoga prac­tice “off the mat” and into the world.

— Brook McCarthy, Yog­a­Reach, Syd­ney, Aus­tralia

About This Blog

Reflec­tions on life, travel, books, and yoga. Think­ing out loud about the pur­suit of mind­ful­ness and well-being.

Learn­ing how to recover from the loss of a beloved spouse, and then to find a trans­for­ma­tive path for­ward.

About Me

Semi-retired marketing exec, transitioning from a career in high tech. Now "managed" by two Tonkinese cats. Missing travel and friends on the West Coast. Avid reader and foodie. Staying active with long walks, biking, kayaking and yoga.

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