by Nina
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| Ellen Fein, Age 65 Breathe2Change.com |
Here’s the first excerpt, which discusses how to find a good teacher and when you need to walk away.
RR: The teachings are suited to the capacity of the student rather than just give a blanket teaching to a large group of people. That’s one of the reasons why you want your own teacher.
GF: So the teacher who knows you will also know where your boundaries are, where your limitations are and he will constantly prick the balloon. Constantly, if he is a good teacher. At the same time, if he is a good teacher, he will also provide enough nurturing for you to continue with this ordeal. It is a rite of passage.
RR: You can’t just pull out the stops and let the person flounder.
GF: You have to know what you’re doing, and I think the bad teachers, of which there are many in evidence, are the ones who just pull the rug and then say, “oh, tough luck.” And leave the person to their own devices. At the Foundation we get people who have kundalini problems, genuine kundalini problems because it was awakened but then the teacher didn’t see it through. Because they are not capable of seeing it through. It is very easy to do. Awaken something, and then where is the help? This particular danger in teaching has always existed. I translated a little
passage from the Kula-Arnava Tantra which talks all about bad teachers, teachers who cheat, pretend, etc. They are in the majority.
GF: So the teacher who knows you will also know where your boundaries are, where your limitations are and he will constantly prick the balloon. Constantly, if he is a good teacher. At the same time, if he is a good teacher, he will also provide enough nurturing for you to continue with this ordeal. It is a rite of passage.
RR: You can’t just pull out the stops and let the person flounder.
GF: You have to know what you’re doing, and I think the bad teachers, of which there are many in evidence, are the ones who just pull the rug and then say, “oh, tough luck.” And leave the person to their own devices. At the Foundation we get people who have kundalini problems, genuine kundalini problems because it was awakened but then the teacher didn’t see it through. Because they are not capable of seeing it through. It is very easy to do. Awaken something, and then where is the help? This particular danger in teaching has always existed. I translated a little
passage from the Kula-Arnava Tantra which talks all about bad teachers, teachers who cheat, pretend, etc. They are in the majority.
But there is also the misconception I think that we have in the west which I often hear when I go out and talk to students, that there are not enough good teacher. “Where is my good teacher?” “There are so many good students, but not enough good teachers.” My view on that is always the same. Very forcefully I tell them that there are a hundred times more good teachers than there are disciples. But if you don’t see, the teacher could stand right beside you and you wouldn’t know he is your teacher. Your own delusions are in the way. So if we have a bad teacher, who is to blame? Us. No one else.
RR: For not being discriminating.
GF: Exactly. I think to approach a teacher we need to do as we do with everything else. When we buy a car we go through the works, not just look at the color. You find out before you put the money down. Same with a teacher. Find out, and then even when you have committed to a certain degree you find out some more for a period of time to see, okay, how is the teacher responding to me. How am I responding to that teacher? Is there a connection? And so on. And the teacher does the same.
RR: Can you give some criteria people can use to look for a teacher? In deciding on and choosing a good teacher. Are there specific things to look for? Or is it more of a feel?
GF: No, I think people like Wilbur and others have put a list together. Frances Vaughn also I think. Of who are the teachers who qualify as good teachers. I don’t recall all the criteria, but I think one criterion for me personally would be is this teacher part of a recognized tradition and lineage? In other words, who is that teacher’s teacher? Very important. Because, if you have a wild card, you don’t know.
RR: No responsibility to anything.
GF: Yes. There is no environment for them to have to prove themselves. They are only talking to the student, which is a one-way street. So that is one thing. To look at who has made that teacher. Who is he responsible to? The second criterion I would say, what are your instincts about that teacher? What is the gut reaction? If there is doubt about the teacher’s integrity, if there is doubt about ability, why commit? At the same time you have to make sure it is not your own stuff that you are reacting to. It is a very subtle thing.
I would also look at the biblical saying about the fruits, “by their fruits you shall know them.” Talk to others. If there is confusion, chaos and pain around a teacher, it is likely that the teacher is the cause of that pain and confusion.
RR: It all flows from the source.
GF: Yes. Around great teachers there will always be people who are confused and in pain and all that, because they don’t discriminate. They allow people to come in whoever they are if they have the karma to be there. And they help to whatever extent they can, but you will also find in a group, in a community like that, people of worth. Who have passed through the process.
RR: For not being discriminating.
GF: Exactly. I think to approach a teacher we need to do as we do with everything else. When we buy a car we go through the works, not just look at the color. You find out before you put the money down. Same with a teacher. Find out, and then even when you have committed to a certain degree you find out some more for a period of time to see, okay, how is the teacher responding to me. How am I responding to that teacher? Is there a connection? And so on. And the teacher does the same.
RR: Can you give some criteria people can use to look for a teacher? In deciding on and choosing a good teacher. Are there specific things to look for? Or is it more of a feel?
GF: No, I think people like Wilbur and others have put a list together. Frances Vaughn also I think. Of who are the teachers who qualify as good teachers. I don’t recall all the criteria, but I think one criterion for me personally would be is this teacher part of a recognized tradition and lineage? In other words, who is that teacher’s teacher? Very important. Because, if you have a wild card, you don’t know.
RR: No responsibility to anything.
GF: Yes. There is no environment for them to have to prove themselves. They are only talking to the student, which is a one-way street. So that is one thing. To look at who has made that teacher. Who is he responsible to? The second criterion I would say, what are your instincts about that teacher? What is the gut reaction? If there is doubt about the teacher’s integrity, if there is doubt about ability, why commit? At the same time you have to make sure it is not your own stuff that you are reacting to. It is a very subtle thing.
I would also look at the biblical saying about the fruits, “by their fruits you shall know them.” Talk to others. If there is confusion, chaos and pain around a teacher, it is likely that the teacher is the cause of that pain and confusion.
RR: It all flows from the source.
GF: Yes. Around great teachers there will always be people who are confused and in pain and all that, because they don’t discriminate. They allow people to come in whoever they are if they have the karma to be there. And they help to whatever extent they can, but you will also find in a group, in a community like that, people of worth. Who have passed through the process.
The other thing I have done—my whole experience with Da Free John, before I set out on this adventure, which I knew was totally crazy because it would challenge me in every conceivable way—but I entered it open-eyed. I understood I was doing this for a very specific reason, in my case. I wanted to have this confrontation with a very strong teacher who would challenge me in ways that no one has challenged me before. But I made a deal with myself that after a certain period of time, a number of years, whatever, you look at the situation.
If there is a sense of basically feeling good about the involvement, even if there is pain, you decide to renew your contract with yourself in a way. But if you find it has just become a nightmare or you feel you haven’t grown in the preceding period, it is time to leave, say goodbye, it’s not for me. This is what happened in my case. I felt I wasn’t growing anymore. I had grown for four or five years and then I felt I reached a plateau having to do with my perception of the teacher. There was a level of trust I couldn’t reach.
So when that happens, when you can’t open up to the teacher on that deep inner level, there is no way that relationship can flourish. No way. Transmission will not continue. I realized that this is what was happening. I had to say goodbye. I think anyone who is wise will look at their life after a period of time and say, “how am I doing?” Rather than just go with the status quo and hope for the best. There has to be an intelligent process of self-examination, which has to be continuous anyway.
RR: Although difficult to sustain in an environment like that. When you get close to someone like that, it is easy to give yourself up and give yourself over and stop thinking for yourself.
GF: That then is the childish response. A good teacher will not tolerate it. Because you always have to think for yourself. Always. You always have to make your own mistakes. The teacher can point out to you that you are about to make a mistake but if you feel you have to make it, to find out for yourself, you have to do it.
RR: Although difficult to sustain in an environment like that. When you get close to someone like that, it is easy to give yourself up and give yourself over and stop thinking for yourself.
GF: That then is the childish response. A good teacher will not tolerate it. Because you always have to think for yourself. Always. You always have to make your own mistakes. The teacher can point out to you that you are about to make a mistake but if you feel you have to make it, to find out for yourself, you have to do it.
To read more of this interview, see Interview with Georg Feuerstein.
Richard Rosen is a yoga teacher and writer from Berkeley, California. He is President of the board of the Yoga Dana Foundation, which supports Northern California teachers bringing yoga to underserved communities. Richard has written three books for Shambhala: The Yoga of Breath: A Step-by-Step Guide to Pranayama (2002), Pranayama: Beyond the Fundamentals (2006), and Original Yoga: Rediscovering Traditional Practices of Hatha Yoga (2012). He also recorded a 7-disc set of instructional CDs for Shambhala titled The Practice of Pranayama: An In-Depth Guide to the Yoga of Breath (2010). For more information about Richard and the workshops he teaches internationally, see http://www.richardrosenyoga.com/.
Georg Feuerstein, Ph.D. became interested in Yoga in his early teens and studied Yoga philosophy and history ever after that . He did his postgraduate studies in England and authored over 50 books—not all on Yoga. His major works are: The Encyclopedia of Yoga and Tantra (Shambhala 2011), The Yoga Tradition (Hohm Press 2008), Yoga Morality (Hohm Press, 2007), The Deeper Dimension of Yoga (Shambhala), and The Bhagavad-Gītā: A New Translation (Shambhala 2011). For more about Georg and the work that is continued by Brenda Feuerstein, see traditionalyogastudies.com.
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