Why Would A Doctor Become a Yoga Teacher?
The short version is:
To be the change you want to see.
Yoga and mindfulness and coaching are ways of healing and are opportunities to improve health in a totally different way than in the exam room, by email, or on the phone. And they are important for healers as well. Incorporating yoga and mindfulness into the culture of traditional healthcare would change health and healthcare for the better.
There are many evidence based studies showing the positive impact of yoga and mindfulness on both chronic conditions and as forms of preventive health.
Teaching yoga is an opportunity to change lives and promote longevity and quality of life. It helps lessen depression and anxiety and helps parents and partners respond rather than react. When taught to children and adolescents, yoga and mindfulness is a way to create lifelong healthy habits.
The movement, stretching, and strengthening in yoga is good for your body. The breathing and chanting is also good for you —especially your nervous system. Once you notice and experience the power and healing effects of your breath you can bring this tool with you anywhere and everywhere. Except in the most dire of medical situations, your breath is always available to you.
Yoga feels good. After class people feel so good they express gratitude. Everyone on our world benefits from more gratitude.
The yogic philosophy of ahimsa - do no harm - is just like medicine. In yoga though it is clearly delineated that ahimsa applies to all beings - yourself, others, and even the world. In yoga there isn’t supposed to be any judgement of oneself or others. It is about acceptance, allowing, pause and presence. Self compassion is a key component of yoga.
Yoga is also about building community. We know that community and connections are key to happiness, health and longevity. A strong community is also critical to a well functioning healthcare system.
Yoga and mindfulness are a way to heal the healers, the caregivers, and the “givers” in our world. Not just doctors and nurses and techs and MAs, but also moms, dads, daughters and sons, friends, teachers... Yoga and mindfulness are a chance to nourish oneself so that you can show up in the world as a better version of yourself. This makes the world a better place for everyone.
As my favorite yoga teacher says, practicing yoga creates space. In the crazy busy world we live in, space is a gift for both the one receiving it and everyone that person comes into contact with. What could be better than that?
The only thing with a similar positive impact to yoga is coaching and coaching is actually also a form of mindfulness just much more directed.
Teaching yoga all over the world to doctors, healers, givers and the community is a way for me to heal, teach, improve health, and work to make the world a better place for all.