I have been gifted a life that has supported study with many of the best yoga teachers in Southern California and I can’t help but be amazed by the amount of growth I experience when I take the risk of working with resistance. What we resist persists, so we may as well just lean into it when it comes up. That’s my new motto.

It’s obvious that time and experience lead to a better practice. I mean let’s say you study for 30 plus years… you will not only be exposed to a plethora of asana and alignment, but also to the philosophy of yoga and the physiology of the human body. I love Yogic philosophy; it’s changed my life. I’m still working with the body. And boy does it get worked.

That being said, if you are expanding your awareness through a history of linear time related experience, you will be much better off studying with a teacher who has been teaching and studying yoga for 30 years, than if you were spending your valuable time in a class lead by someone who has less than a decade of experience under their belt, or should I say, on their mat. I would never study martial arts with a novice teacher. Have you ever thought to ask how much experience your yoga teacher has?

To make another important point, if you are going to teach yoga but are not continuing your own studies with more seasoned, knowledgeable teachers, should you really be teaching? I’m not attaching attitude or some far out ideal to this topic but I am witness to many teachers with very little experience who are not involved in a continual education while attempting to teach this ancient healing art. This is telltale sign of how we’ve all become convenience junkies. We portray ourselves as connoisseurs of quality but when it comes to our own personal enlightenment we’re just fine with a number 3 super sized with a coke!

Many of these teachers are actually only certified in one practice by one teacher. How can you teach a vast complex science like yoga with such limited exposure? These folks are missing the whole point of the expansion of awareness and its continuous organic flowering. If you got hooked enough to teach, why stop now? Your growth has only just begun little sprout, you have yet to flower and bloom.

I guess if you are practicing yoga of some sort it is better than none. However it does remind me of an individual who graduates from high school and then postures themselves as the dean of a high level Ivy League university. Leaving behind all of the necessary preparation and schooling to really be what they are destined to be in its fullness and entirety. Do we really want to represent a practice that teaches growth and expansion while we lay dormant and stagnant in our own sadhana? Seems like a façade of self-importance to lead without also being active in practicing as the follower. If this piece rubs you the wrong way, it’s all you baby. If you spot it, you got it!

I’ll get to the point. We live in a region where yoga has blossomed and brought many of us into awareness and love beyond what simple words can describe. There are literally teachers on every corner who can lead you through vinyasa and then finish with a heartfelt and truly connected Namaste. But…are they growing in their own practices? Are they really qualified to even be teaching at all? Your life…your path, your decision.

If you were to travel to India, would you seek study with a student or would you go straight to the lotus feet of the master to bathe in divinity. In Los Angeles it’s a wash. There are very few master teachers, however there are some worth studying with if you are going to put your practice into actual practice. Don’t kid yourself. There is monumental difference emotionally, physically and energetically when your karma yoga practice is upgraded to the highest level possible. One question…why settle for less?

Chad Hamrin is one of the few, the elite and the well… not so proud. As a matter of fact he is quite humble, and very understated for a guy with just short of a half-century of yogic study and practice in his bio. When you enter his class you have no idea of his true expertise until after his subtle humor filled instruction starts to educate the sleeping places in your system like you have never felt before. He will not even move into teaching beyond downward dog in his weekend workshops until the students learn the right way to lubricate and prepare the system for the pose. A true master leaves no trace. You would never know had you not been told that Chad taught the founders of the first and arguably most successful yoga studio and teacher training course in the United States.

Studying with Chad is the real deal and after sharing space with him for a very brief time, I’ve learned that a three hour class that exposes the students to philosophy, and the proper way to get into and out of maybe just one pose, right down to acknowledging blood flow in the finger tips, is like 2 years of studying with a teacher who does no continuing education or work on themselves. I also see Chad out studying with teachers like Doug Keller when they come to town as Chad’s practice and expanding awareness is always on the rise not only for himself but also for those who commit to coming to his classes. He is completely committed to his students and the evolution of universal consciousness and the proof is in the pudding. I love pudding.

This is not advanced yoga. Anyone and everyone, “especially active yoga teachers” should be studying with Chad or someone close by who really has the experience to be leading a yoga class. Again if you get it…get it for real. Put down the weed and stop dicking around. The snooze button on your alarm clock is busted and it’s time to get out of bed.

After all, yoga or “integrated union with ones self” is a complete, sometimes seemingly complex system combining Yani “Mind”, Karma “Body” and Bhakti “Devotional” practices which provide and guarantee a blue print for liberation and well being “Moksha”. I’ll have some of what they are having.

I don’t want to risk getting the wrong advice or instruction when it comes to a refined science like yoga. It can cause damage to the central nervous system, injury and can in some cases, even be a waste of time. I’m not going to give specific class times to study with Chad. When the student is ready the teacher will appear. Check out Yoga Works, the Hub and Google.

In the movie “Enlighten Up”, B.K.S Iyengar has this moment where he is asked something to the effect of why yoga is important and he bursts out filled with passion saying humans are innately flawed. That we must practice discipline and follow a path that leads to health and well-being or we are doomed if left to our own devices. I think he might be on to something there…anyone else?
Bueller?...

In Service