September 6

by Donna Farhi

“The carefully curated richness of the Art of Teaching has nourished my whole Being and awakened in me a life-time of curiosity, learning and possibility. The course content has supported me to fine-tune what kind of Yoga teacher I want to be and has been an investment in the rest of my life. I have found the course stimulating, inspiring, and powerfully informative.”

~ Zoe Watson, New Zealand // live participant

A barren strip of non-agrigrable land transformed into a riparian native planting.

A barren strip of non-agrigrable land transformed into a riparian native planting.

My best thinking often comes not when I am in front of my computer but while I am deeply absorbed in the repetitive tasks of gardening.  Whether raking, weeding, digging, or planting;. It is then that my mind seemingly stops its endless circumnavigation around the obstacles and challenges of life, and the clearest insights emerge.  With 30 acres of land to tend to there is no shortage of opportunity for these moments!

Yesterday, while inspecting The Woodland; a reclaimed area of pasture that began as a bog surrounded by impenetrable bramble and sticky weed which is gradually being transformed into a perennial bed of rhododendrons, flower bulbs and native shelter, I was sad to see that an entire bank of Golden Margarum and Bear’s Breach had died back. A result, undoubtedly, of the previous summer’s harsh drought. 

But, as I looked more closely into the litter of plant debris, I saw hundreds of seeds: the promise of the regeneration to come after the spring rains.

This made me think about how in the last few decades.  Yoga itself seemed to have died back as it was gradually stripped of its spiritual roots and reconstituted for the commercial market.  During the shift into the new millennium, it appeared that the very heart and spirit of the tradition had been lost.  How many of us felt alienated by the shift towards faster and faster-paced classes offered in shorter and shorter timeframes?  Or the seemingly endless performative images used to shore-up the social capital of the yoga virtuosos when, for so many of us, yoga had been a humble ritual carried out in private solitude.  Perhaps the question left unsaid was whether there was still a place for the potency of an inwardly-directed yoga class?  Was there still a place for teachers like you and me?

What I sense is that the DNA of this tradition has been protected and nurtured by sincere practitioners and teachers who have quietly continued their work: those precious latent seeds await the possibility of renewal.  Despite (or maybe because of ) the trends of the last three decades, yoga teachers have been doggedly continuing to study, practice, experiment, archive, and hold steady to the original intent of the practice; to bring about a deeper connection between oneself and the humming aliveness of the world.

It feels strange to be living in a time with the foreboding specter of climate change and worldwide unrest to also feel a burgeoning sense of hope, faith, and promise.  Perhaps this is the ultimate gift that nature bestows to those who tend her: In the depths of winter’s darkness lies the fertile soil of spring.

That also reflects the sense of quiet expectation I feel building, as we approach registration for our second The Art of Teaching course. And the potential it provides for organic transformation, and the re-awakening of teachers whose influence will grow and prosper as surely as the seeds in The Woodlands. 

“Profuse thanks for the exceptional course you have created–seamless logistics with respect to technology, clarity of instruction and communication over new release of content & access to course materials, the emails inviting advance webinar questions and of course, the content and delivery of the course itself which is just such a joy to immerse myself in. I love the webinars and especially the break-out room, and am so impressed with the way that you have embraced the reality of our new ’normal’ with respect to online learning whilst retaining a sense of ‘tangibility’ and immediacy so that the learning process is interactive and genuinely engaging.”

~ Wendy Millyard, Australia // online participant

“It is absolute gold having the interactive classes. In a course about the art of teaching, it's just fantastic being able to watch Donna teach and interact with real students in a Yoga class. It adds a whole extra level of insight and value.”

~ Tiffany Bown, Great Britain // online participant

Our first course filled quickly with a long waiting list. If you wish to explore this new (old) future of yoga in all its richness, please join us. Find out more and register your interest here.

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