The Importance of Sangha

By Michelle Cordero

 

“A sangha is a community of friends practicing the dharma together in order to bring about and to maintain awareness. The essence of a sangha is awareness, understanding, acceptance, harmony and love. When you do not see these in a community, it is not a true sangha, and you should have the courage to say so. But when you find these elements are present in a community, you know that you have the happiness and fortune of being in a real sangha.”  - Thich Nhat Hahn

 

This quote from Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hahn speaks to me of one of the greatest gifts I’ve received in my lifetime: like minded community. Whether I’m in my sangha that practices Forrest Yoga, or dances, or teaches; when I am in these communities, I feel understood and supported. As a student, I’ve made lifelong friendships in my yoga teacher trainings. As a Lead Trainer, I get to act as mentor to new teachers and share what I hold most dear.  Not just the art of teaching yoga, but the art of being human.

 

Yoga teacher training gives you tools to become the best human being that you can be and a sangha in which to safely explore your vulnerability. Stellarflow Yoga Teacher Training could rightfully be called Stellarflow Sangha as you will be joining a circle of colleagues willing to give you honest feedback; friends who will put down their cell phones and listen to you; a community who will understand when you need to speak your truth or ask for help; and a group who will not freak out and try to feed you cake just because you start crying. Moreover, this sangha will hold space and stay present to allow you to do the hard work of healing whatever is coming up. You will forge lifelong friendships - being human is hard and you need others to walk the path with you.  

 

When you make a commitment like this, you invest in yourself and catalyze your own transformation. We coach you around the delicate experience of being human and how to hold other humans as well as yourself with empathy and love. In order to stay grounded as leaders in challenging times we must learn to love ourselves better than ever.  

Self-love, self-awareness, compassion, and empathy are critical skills for a yoga teacher to possess.  They are also basic principles of yoga philosophy. I’m proud to say that we have built a teacher training which will increase all of these skills, in a very calculated progression over the course of ten weekends together. We have created special processes including things like one-on-one and group teaching, healing injuries, how to make skillful hands on assists, “seeing” and running energy. We practice speaking truth, from the heart, every day of this training so that it becomes second nature. I have cultivated my specialty course in Yoga Philosophy over the past five years, bringing lofty ideas down to the ground as simple yet effective tools for living a good life in our hectic modern .  

 

I remember when I didn’t have such a wealth of support and friendship. When I first started teaching in the Bay Area in 2003, I was the only Forrest Yoga teacher in the East Bay. I quickly became known as “that teacher who does hard abs”, and I embraced my title with a vengeance. I was like, "ok so let me give you a little something to remember me by..." (read: sore abs). I got to know other teachers, but I really missed having a community of like minded folks interested in sequencing and practicing in a certain way. Communities share a language, and it’s so sweet to speak about esoteric things and feel immediately heard and understood. Before Kiki started teaching in the East Bay, I’d been teaching Forrest Yoga (FY)  inspired classes around town for about 5 years. Then suddenly there was this sounding board, a resonance. I could feel it before I ever met Kiki in person because students would come in and they’d breathe deeply, feeling their way through the practice with relaxed necks and they’d come into all of our weird FY poses without much instruction. As more FY teachers started to join our merry East Bay band, we helped each other cultivate a community of students. I didn’t have to work so hard to help people understand the weird things I offered from “turbo dog” to the f-word, “feeling”.

 

So now, fast forward fourteen years from when I started: the Innerstellar community is thriving, and there are enough different teachers to hold up an entire weekly schedule.  My students cheer when I say it’s time for abs. I get to do my practice and feel everything, even tears or rage. I feel supported, seen, and my experience is honored.  

As I sat down to write this article about the importance of yoga teacher training, at first I felt I had nothing constructive to write down. I felt stunned, overwhelmed with emotion, anger and fear for what is happening in this country. I balked at the seeming triviality of speaking about yoga teacher training when people are being banned from returning to their homes, and basic human rights are on the line. As I wrote, I unwrapped a truth that I hold dear to my heart - teaching yoga is my dharma. It’s what I was meant to do with my one precious life, and I embrace my ability to touch the lives of other humans.  I look forward to working with you if feel the call to join our sangha.