It’s natural for us to seek out teachers in life. And as the yoga culture around the world has evolved, we seem to be more and more drawn to our yoga teachers, or the yoga ‘masters’, to learn more about spirituality, love and ultimately, life.
And as a consequence of social media, there has been a wave of influence from yoga masters, gurus, experts, etc. from all over the world.
While there’s nothing wrong with teachers expressing their values on social media, or in person, it seems to have started a trend of seeking out these gurus to learn how to live our lives.
Within the yoga world especially, there is often over-deference to yoga teachers. We’ve put them up on a pedestal, one that creates grand expectations and a loss of our own sense of self.
Oftentimes, students see these yoga masters as someone who knows more and knows better than they do. These masters become sought-after teachers for the rights and wrongs in life.
But the truth of it is, there is nobody in this world that knows what’s best for you, more than you yourself.
We need to shift our focus on these spiritual teachers and take them from ‘master’ to ‘guide’.
A lot of times we hear of specific teachings from someone we respect and regardless of what we believe as truth, we take their teachings and beliefs and place them above our own.
This isn’t to say that the yoga masters of today and throughout history don’t provide value. They do. But they won’t hold value in our own lives unless we approach these teachings with a grain of salt.
You are the greatest teacher for your own life. You can be your own guru.
And it begins with learning how to see yourself clearly and accept yourself just as you are.
It’s not easy, but sometimes we need to hold a mirror up in front ourselves and be willing to look at everything. The good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful. We all have a little bit of everything within us.
We must figure out how to love ourselves wholly and completely.
When we seek out advice from others—whether in person or online—we are willingly giving our inner power away. We’re saying to ourselves, I don’t know enough to figure this out, somebody else must know better than I do.
We’re essentially telling ourselves we are not enough.
The thing is, though, you are so enough. You always have been.
Nobody else has experienced life exactly as you have. And that’s why nobody else can tell you the right or wrong way to do your life.
All we have is what we’ve experienced.
Start by figuring out what you want. What do you think is right? What do you want to do in your life?
This is the beauty of being alive in this world today. We get to make our own choices, create our own opportunities. And the best part about it is it doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks.
So find your teachers. Love them. Respect them. Listen to them. Hang out with them in person or online.
But don’t let their voice drown yours out.
We must learn how to trust ourselves if we want to find peace in this life. A lot of the time we listen to spiritual masters on the basis that they’re wiser than we are, but then we never get to call on our own wisdom.
We trust the masters more than ourselves because we’re afraid of making mistakes.
And we’re afraid of making mistakes because we never learned how to trust ourselves to know what’s best for us in the first place.
We’re going to make mistakes. You’re going to make mistakes. It is the beautiful tragedy of being human. It’s also the way we learn the most and find our greatest strength.
It takes courage to take the reins on your own life. It takes responsibility and vulnerability. And it’s not easy. But you know what they say, Nothing easy is ever worth doing.
So find your truth and live in it, day in and day out.
Be your own teacher. Find your guides and give them love.
And then live a life you love. Because when it’s all said and done, the only person’s opinion that matters is yours.
Take Away
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