Yoga in Asia

Home

Sign Up for Our News:
Name :
Email:

Information provided in www.yogainasia.com is solely for educational purposes only and should not and can not be used as a substitute for a consultation or visit with your family physician or other health care provider. Please read this important legal information.

Copyright © 2007.
All Rights Reserved.

LUCAS: Michel, you’ve been practicing and teaching yoga longer than anyone I know personally. Can you tell me what you think is the single most-important goal that any yoga teacher should have when he/she comes into class?

MICHEL: This is a difficult question, Lucas, and four things come to mind: attitude, confidence, compassion, and awareness.


•	Attitude: a teacher must have the right attitude
•	Confidence: a teacher must inspire confidence in his or her students and that confidence comes from knowing—and a teacher develops confidence through personal practice and self study
•	Compassion: it’s important that a teacher can connect to the students and be understanding
•	Awareness: to develop an acute sense of “observation,” awareness of yourself, and awareness of the students. When you walk into a class, you need to be in tune with where your students are coming from by watching their body language so you can guide students mindfully

MICHEL BESNARD is one of Asia’s most senior yoga teachers and teacher trainers. He is the founder of Yogasana in Hong Kong and leads workshops, teacher trainings, and classes all over the world. To learn more about Michel, please visit: www.Yogasana.com.hk

LUCAS: You’ve studied with two of the most-influential modern yoga teachers of our time: B.K.S. Iyengar and Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. Can you tell me about your experiences (both good and bad) with these two men?

MICHEL: When I first started with Iyengar, people practicing any other form of Yoga would say that Iyengar was not real yoga: it was too physical so on and so forth… however, 15 years later when I switched to Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, people were said the same thing: that Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga was not real yoga! Now, for me, both have their strengths and weaknesses in their approaches.

B.K.S. Iyengar was very intense then, very demanding, giving instruction with a fiery force and expecting a lot from his students—and sometimes I could feel anger and impatience coming out of him. You never ever got encouragement, and it was never good enough; however, outside of the yoga practice, I found him to be a kind, gentle, jovial person.

When I went for the first time to Mysore to study with Pattabhi Jois, he was very encouraging and never raised his voice. He was more like a father figure; however, I felt his adjustments were very strong and not focused on alignment—only strong adjustments. I felt that if someone had a difficult body to work with that person might get injured.

Bringing the two together [Iyengar & Ashtanga], I feel very strongly that you have the best of both worlds. If you practicing alignment (without overdoing it) with the breath and flow of Ashtanga Yoga, you then have the best combination in my mind.

LUCAS: Yoga is growing and changing so quickly, and as someone who’s been deep in the yoga world for so long, I wonder what you think all these changes will mean for students who want to become yoga teachers in the future?

MICHEL: When I started yoga about thirty years ago, teaching yoga was not a mainstream thing, so it was the lifestyle that attracted me, and having time for my own practice as well. I started teaching yoga after practicing for five years. So when I started teaching, I was teaching seven classes per week maximum and that was enough money to pay my everyday expenses and some surplus to go to India once a year.

Yoga has now gone mainstream, so there are more opportunities for yoga teachers; however; teachers now need to be more professional and business-minded—and competent with a computer! [Laughs]

Education in yoga has always been very important, and I feel it’s even more important now. New teachers have to realize that education in yoga philosophy, anatomy, and so on must be on-going.

You know, Lucas, there is nothing new under the sky. Yoga re-invents itself. You can say yoga is like a diamond that has many different faces. When you look at one of its faces then look again from another angle, you’ll find there are differences. It is beneficial to know yoga from the inside out. It’s good to learn how others see yoga from the face that you are not familiar with it. Be open, and you’ll enjoy and experience yoga from others’ new discoveries.

LUCAS: Almost every teacher I’ve met tells the story of their first “ah-ha” moment with yoga, the moment when they knew that yoga was going to change their life. Did you have an experience like this?

MICHEL: Not really, well, at least I don’t remember. I was a runner, and I wanted to improve my flexibility, so I enrolled in my first ten-week intro, beginners’ yoga class. I was suffering due to my inflexible body, but I enjoyed it and could feel the benefit of doing it. During that time I found Light On Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar, and I read the introduction several times. I got immersed in it. So I continued to go to classes once or twice a week at the studio, and I started practicing at home by myself following the Light on Yoga. Within that year, I stopped running and put all my energy in yoga.

In 1983, B.K.S. Iyengar came to Australia, and I had the chance to spend some personal time with him during his stay. I was so inspired by him that I decided I would dedicate my life to yoga. I quit my job, sold my house, and bought a ticket to India. So maybe that was my first “ah-ah.” Following the Yoga path has been quite an amazing experience for me. Life is a miracle! It is amazing. When you have the least expectations, everything falls into place.