🧘♀️ Last chance!
Monday, Oct. 30th, 6:30pm Sky Ting + BSGT tee shirt launch class
⚡ Teaching tips from Mingyur Rinpoche
Last week I took part in an event celebrating the life of the artist Lou Reed, on the 10th anniversary of his passing. Lou's meditation teacher, Mingyur Rinpoche, was sharing memories of Lou at the celebration, and at the end of his talk, he shared the five things that he abides when he teaches. I liked them, and wanted to share them with you:
- Teach what you've learned from your own experience
- Stories help illustrate spiritual teachings
- Keep it simple
- Be clear in your mind what you wish to say before you say
it
- How does it relate to life?
At the surface these look fairly mundane, perhaps even overly obvious. But this is precisely what I like about these points. For example, I had to give a lecture the night after the event for somewhat of a large
audience, and I kept Rinpoche's points in mind as I prepared my presentation. When I gave my talk—and though it goes without saying that I love teaching—using Rinpoche's simple structure made my talk became even more enjoyable to give. It struck me that we don't have to apply all five points to every single thing we teach, we can apply these ideas in different ways, and at different times we might emphasize different points. For some ideas we can stress simplicity, others share a story, at other
times, see how the teaching relates to life—especially for asanas and pranayamas. However, at all times, it seems clear that we should teach from our experience. At all times, we can be clear in ourselves about what we are trying to convey.
For all of use who are teachers (and we are all teachers of something at some point in our
lives), if we pass on the purpose of something along with the knowledge or technique of how to do it, then those two things correlate to each other and there is a lasting impression of both the how and why. A student may be able to more readily absorb that teaching, use it, have their own experience, and eventually pass it on.
But if
the reason behind a practice and the effect it gives do not correlate, or over time they are shown to not consistently work, then we have to rethink what we are practicing, teaching, and/or how we are teaching it. It's a growth process. Somethings work forever because they are so simple, and some things need to be adjusted over time, especially when it comes to practices that are physical in nature.
That's all for now! Thanks for reading, and hope to see you in class.
Best,
Eddie