“96% of the world do not practice yoga because they think it’s too boring.” True!
Maybe “Happy-Speak” Has Something To Do With It
Years ago a yoga teacher told me that if I believed I could, I would, so I jumped into a handstand. Ouch! Big mistake. This dalliance with unbridled optimism ended with me crashing to the floor, and in a big heap. that’s why it needs motivation for yoga.
Overall, I am not a fan of only “MAGICAL THINKING”. But I do believe in angels. I don’t mind daydreaming (meditating) and positive encouragement, but in my world, yoga is for motivation, and embracing reality ALONG WITH rationality along with magical thinking will get you farther than just “following your bliss”. Follow your bliss if you want to party, eat one too many slices of chocolate cake, and end up in bed with a married person. Harsh? No, not really.
There is the right side of the brain and the left side of the brain. Each performing its own important and clearly defined functions. The opportunity exists through yoga, to bring these two lobes together and to make things happen.
For true harmony, it is much more useful to combine the left side and the right side of the brain and not just predominantly one side or the other. Nothing in the extreme. Yoga is the perfect bridge for the union of both sides of your brain for motivation.
Would you believe that according to a slew of recent research,
the ability to get things done is often a result of negative thinking
Not positive thinking? Bizarre right!?
One study, conducted by New York University (which turned into the book Rethinking Positive Thinking: Inside the New Science of Motivation),
found that people who just visualized what they desired—say a new job, a happier relationship, or even something as simple as a glass of water—didn’t feel motivated to get off their butts and take the real-life steps to attain it. Aha.
Then, after they didn’t manifest what they wanted because they were just sat still chanting OM, they were disappointed. Shocking! I know.
You see it’s not that simple. You can sit on the beach all day and chanting OM, thinking you’re cool, whilst “manifesting” your pot of gold. But in fact, the opposite is the reality. Desiring something without doing any work to achieve it is a fairy tale.?♀️
You Actually Have To Do The Work
In the world of yoga, there is a tendency toward “happy-speak”. Every other sentence can be “You are perfect, be happy, be the light, be Shri, be the love, shine on, blessings to everyone if it’s meant to be …” and on and on and on. There is a name for this fairy-tale thinking.
According to an article in Scientific American, when a person lacks the ability to think rationally, they suffer from “dysrationalia.”. A cause of dysrationalia is that people tend to be lazy, cognitive misers, meaning that they always tend to blame others for their own life shortcomings, and take the easy way out when trying to solve problems.?
This can only lead to solutions that are based upon no desire to succeed, or better oneself. It’s the classic self-sabotage, where you set the opportunity up for failure. And then say to everyone, “You see, I was right, it’s all their fault“.
If it happened to you…you created it
If you seriously believe that all your dreams are going to come true by clicking your heels like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. Then stay where you are, Our YogaFX Teacher Training is probably not the best place for you.
However, if you possess both magical thinkings and have THE COMMITMENT to manifesting your desires by taking action, then we would love to see you in Bali.?
Now, I’m not an unhappy person. In fact the opposite.
I am happy.?
But of course your cynical you ask how can you BE HAPPY?
What makes you so happy?
Well maybe the fact that I am an International Yoga Teacher at the same time operating The World’s Greatest Yoga Teaching Academy, teaching people like you in Bali, may have something to do with it.
But of course, if that’s not enough of an answer for the cynic inside you, then maybe happiness boils down to one very simple sentence.
It’s your ability to adapt to your present environment Where ever you might be?
And if that’s not enough, because it never is. Try this one.
Happiness Very Simply Is Where Your Life Meets Your Expectations!
In other words, if your life’s expectations are up there, and your life is down there at the other end, the chances are that you are going to be reasonably peeved off. The closer that you can bring this gap together, the less SAID (stress, insomnia, anxiety, depression) you will experience. Conversely, more happiness will find you. Think about it for a second. We go through this during our yoga course.
YOU MAY BE SURPRISED to know that a lot of yoga teachers often encourage unhappy students to pretend to be happy. Quite honestly this is nonsense especially when you are feeling stressed out or sad.?
What if someone close to you just passed away or you lost your job, IS IT NOT OK to be sad? Of course, it is. Don’t get into the habit of avoiding what you think or feel, and when you graduate, try not to ask your students to pretend to be happy either. It’s a mind-body-spirit by-pass.
The reality of what you feel is always okay. In fact, it is very okay.
As a graduate yoga teacher, please do not leave the teacher training, and go back to your community believing that somehow because of your time spent in an excellent teaching environment and learning lots, that you are now in some way an enlightened being. You will fall over so fast. Your students will find you out, and this attitude is certainly not the yoga way.
Your responsibility as the new yoga teacher is to sit back, listen, learn, and slowly follow the process, taking the steps that you need to become a great yoga teacher. Be absolutely positive enthusiastic and motivated, but remember you CAN NOT MAKE EVERYONE HAPPY and fix everyone’s problems. Do not take on other people’s problems and make them your own, it is exhausting.?
The best thing to do is to take your time, work on yourself first, feel good in your mind-body, and spirit, and then by your own demonstration of life, your students will approach you with their questions.
This is a much more organic and authentic evolution of your yoga teaching career.?
To be An Expert Takes 10,000 hours.
Our YogaFX International Yoga Teaching Academy in Bali will give you the best start possible.
Too many teachers are completely unprepared for life as yoga teachers as a result of their very inadequate RYT experience. They will fly off saying and doing stuff that can be actually quite harmful. We will take you through “what happens next” and prepare you for life after your Yoga Teacher Training has finished.
GREAT TEACHERS HAVE GREAT LIVES. It is from working on yourself first, getting your stuff sorted, and making good demonstrations in the way that you run your own life first, that qualifies you to talk to people about their stuff. Makes sense yea??
Yoga will give you an identity and respect
The chance to be in a defined place in an uncertain world. Take care of it.
Maybe your Yoga Teacher Training Course in Bali is your first step.?
Great yoga teachers don’t rely upon hollow clichés and platitudes. Great yoga teachers have a firm plan of action to execute in helping their students towards achieving their spiritual and worldly goals. We don’t ask them to rely upon happy talk.
Does the following sound familiar to you? if yes, then it is no wonder 96% of the world’s population will not come to a yoga class if their teacher only believes in fairy tales.
Examples of yoga happy-speak:
◾• “Yoga is a cure for everything.” Really!! Perhaps not. The practice of yoga for motivation is wonderful and has enormous benefits mentally, physically, and spiritually, but it is not everything for everything. If symptoms persist please see your favorite doc.
◾• “You are perfect, just as you are.” How can I say be happy the way you are, when obviously you are not happy with the way you are. Because if you were (happy the way you are) then I wouldn’t need to say be happy the way that you are. Phew! you would of course just be happy.
◾•Self-esteem and confidence are important to every human being, and not having it can lead to depression. A great yoga teacher will guide you through the process of building your confidence and self-esteem during every yoga class.
But guess what? you still have to do the work and slowly you will self-heal and evolve.
◾• “Choose kind words in a soft and compassionate tone.” I love this one. Of course, be compassionate, it’s yoga. But truthfully, to teach all the time in that melancholic, monotone, dulcet-sounding, repetitive almost non-dialogue teaching style is grossly inadequate for any teacher wanting a successful career and respect in yoga or motivation them. If you aspire to run a 4-day Healing Yoga Retreat in Tibet then it’s probably fine.
THERE WILL BE TIME however when you’ll need to stand up for what is right, have an opinion, trust your instincts and your beliefs. Don’t be afraid of expressing the voice of your authentic self.
A great yoga teacher cannot please everyone all the time
BUT A GREAT YOGA TEACHER will appeal to many instead of just a few.
However many of us yoga teachers preach the fairy tale to students because it’s easier; Surprising, yet true. They tend to WEAR THE MASK and play the part of the all-happy-one. Head in the clouds mythical unicorns who feel the universe will always save them.?♀️
I don’t want to discourage anyone from following their dream or believing in possibility. It is necessary. I wouldn’t be here in front of you now without a dream, passion, and desire and that’s why there is yoga for motivation. But if your dream is to nail a handstand like it was for me, you’ll have to first build upper body strength and refine your sense of balance—otherwise, you’ll just end up on your butt.
It’s all about building your solid foundation
Visualization Is Only One Step Of Many?
The art of visualizing can be very useful more many people. I use it often. I conceive it, believe it, design it, and I execute it. It for an encouraging, even necessary, first step toward building a positive attitude toward life and motivation of yoga.
Perhaps this could be the new yoga rational-speak?
◾• “If you dream it, you can probably only do some of it right away. The rest will take some time and a little bit more hard work.”
◾•”If you use a vision-board, then you can probably follow a plan. Use that plan to make your dreams a reality. Step by step connect one to the other and fill in the gaps..”
If you are not yet successful at something try try try again?
But if trying isn’t working, then maybe stop and do something different.
Fairy tale thoughts may be encouraging, but realistic thoughts can motivate us to transform our lives for the better. If something isn’t working out for you, then it isn’t working out for you. There is zero success without failure. And failure only exists if you keep repeating the same first mistake that you made. Others call this insanity.
Yoga Practice is Not an Escape From Reality.
At its best, yoga helps us deal with reality!
As a practicing yoga teacher, I’ve come to understand that pleasure is an instant but striving for perfection takes time. There’s no rush, you will get there, but you must do the work, and for the motivation of yoga, there are no shortcuts, believe me, I’ve tried them all.
For example, I cannot do all of the advanced postures, and to be honest I have no real desire about perfecting all of the advanced yoga postures. You see performing advanced postures takes a lot of time and practice. It is absolutely not a necessity if you want to be a great yoga teacher.
Great yoga teaching skills and techniques along with a command of great yoga dialogue will make you a great yoga teacher.?
However, if you would like to master advanced postures and post them on Instagram then go ahead be my guest.
To dream is massively important I have many
But I also have a plan. My left brain talks to my right brain in a perfect union and comes up with an actionable plan.?
This is Yoga for motivation. I am motivated to make an effort to learn what I can, to do what I can, and to let go. I also learned very quickly to delete all of the useless noise from the dream stealers.✨
Next time your teacher tells you “just believe“ you know what to do.
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Freedom is not being afraid❗
