Is it appropriate to correct or add to what teacher is saying in class?

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Well… by the “teacher” I mean yoga teacher, instructors, etc… everyone who bring yoga to people in any form.

I ran it to situation at the yoga teaching camps when people (techers) got completely wrong on definitions, purpose or contradiction of the mudras, purpose of the pose, inarticulate in dates and facts about yoga, making up staff about anatomy and physiology … Also, I went to the medical school and know quite a bit about human body… [U]I’m not talking about differences in traditions and schools, but when someone says absolute nonsense. [/U]

Is it appropriate to put my 5 cents in this kind of situation? I did few times and I can tell than those GURUS now hate me…should I do it again?

What would you do?

#2

After class… not during

#3

[QUOTE=Yulaw;61176]After class… not during[/QUOTE]

you are right … they maybe would hate me a little less if i correct them after the class;)
I’m talking more about teacher training, rather than a simple yoga class. i do not care about class, but teacher training … hm… they better teach people right things;)

#4

It is better to correct them after class, rather than during. This shows respect. If you challenge a teacher while they are teaching, and I learned this the hard way, you may come across as undermining them and this will lead to them resenting you.

#5

When you think you’re green, you’re ripening. When you think you’re ripe, you’re rotten.

#6

[QUOTE=InnerAthlete;61201]When you think you’re green, you’re ripening. When you think you’re ripe, you’re rotten.[/QUOTE]

OH… that is so GOOD. I LOVE it. Did you just think that up or is it a quote from somewhere?

Thanks

#7

Could you share with us what misinformation they were spreading? I am curious about it.

In college we are supposed to correct the teacher immediately after he makes a mistake. This is in the benefit of everyone in the class. Only when we want to criticise their teaching style it is adviced to do so in private, but not when correcting basic facts. The sole reason for going to any class is to learn things properly and questions/corrections from students should not be discouraged. Ironically, yoga teachers of all people seem to have a big ego and won’t easily admit mistakes or lack of knowledge.

#8

“It is better to correct them after class, rather than during. This shows respect. If you challenge a teacher while they are teaching, and I learned this the hard way, you may come across as undermining them and this will lead to them resenting you.”

Then they are simply teachers, not masters. Otherwise, it is the very function of a master to assist oneself in functioning out of ones own intelligence. That includes even having doubt towards the master himself. If you are just, perhaps out of admiration, or fascination, or just simple gullibility - accepting everything that the master is saying, then it is only going to strengthen your conditioning and dull your intelligence.

Nothing should be accepted without question, and if there is a burning and sincere desire to learn, with a deep receptivity - then no formalities whatsoever are needed in a direct encounter between master and disciple. That is when the situation becomes alive, with a transmission which is fresh and spontaneous. Only one who has enough courage to set all formalities aside is capable of facing a master - who is going to do whatever is necessary, regardless of ones likes and dislikes, to assist you towards your liberation. If the disciple has a desire to “correct” the master or disagree with him, if it is truly out of a desire to seek the Truth, then rather than becoming upset, on the contrary he will feel enormous gratitude for such a sincere spirit of inquiry. Because to come across somebody who truly has ones own questions, who has awakened the thirst of seeking, is a rare quality which needs to be nurtured.

But, if one is simply being argumentative for the sake of ones own egoistic entertainment, then that is an entirely different matter. Such students should not be tolerated, and in the first place they should not have been accepted as students. The Way is not a childs play, and only those who are willing to leap off the edge of a mountain and into an bottomless abyss, even come to know of the freedom which is theirs from first to last.

#9

[QUOTE=CityMonk;61175] Is it appropriate to correct or add to what teacher is saying in class?[/QUOTE]

It’s not necessary to protect anyone’s ego when intentions are true and ones awareness of ego engaged. It will be accepted, refuted or clarified; the response may help determine teacher’s limitations.

“Why not upset the apple cart? If you don’t, the apples will rot anyway” ~Frank Howard Clark

#10

“Then they are simply teachers, not masters”

Yeah, umm, and we are talking about teachers - “Is it appropriate to correct or add to what the teacher is saying”

Some teachers are open to having interactive dialogue in class and some prefer to give a discourse and have Q/A period at the end. One teacher once made the mistake of having interactive dialogue and the result was that we had loads of arguments in class, disagreements and went off on many tangents. He paid for it dearly especially with me because I would challenge all the blatantly incorrect things he was saying. However, I thought I was allowed to do that, because he said it was ok. Obviously, it was not OK and his ego got severely bruised.

In a talk I gave one time I said I preferred interactive dialogue. As a result as I was speaking, I had people constantly intefering in my talk and doing their own talks. As a good and friendly gesture I allowed it to be open, and people took advantage of this. I have seen other teachers who adopted the open dialogue approach also crash and burn.

I think the best approach is to let the teacher finish their discourse/class. Then at the very end to give your criticism/suggestions. This way you do not get people constantly chiming in throughout the class criticising every word they say and making their job difficult for them and may even find by the end of the class your criticism was not worth saying. It could be something minor as “Sir, you used this word wrong”

A student should be attentive and respectful to their teacher.

#11

Fortune cookie say

“in west ego cherished far more than east.”

I hate those things.

Consideration of context is appropriate I would imagine.

Such blatant missteps would give me pause - for contemplation - at some time.

Who am I? What Am I doing here? What does it all mean?

Seems now a days everyone and their uncles are YOGA teachers. But are they Maha purush?

Does that even matter?

#12

[QUOTE=Sarvamaṅgalamaṅgalā;61208]Could you share with us what misinformation they were spreading? I am curious about it.

In college we are supposed to correct the teacher immediately after he makes a mistake. This is in the benefit of everyone in the class. Only when we want to criticise their teaching style it is adviced to do so in private, but not when correcting basic facts. The sole reason for going to any class is to learn things properly and questions/corrections from students should not be discouraged. Ironically, yoga teachers of all people seem to have a big ego and won’t easily admit mistakes or lack of knowledge.[/QUOTE]

oh, thank you, it is always easier to look at some particular examples.

hmmm…i do not dwell on this things so It is going to be not to easy to recall… lets see if I can recall some interesting cases…

  1. I do not concerned to much about historical facts… thought Yoga Sutras was not written 5000 tears ago and neither was Hatha yoga pradipika. I could survive this one… not too important.

  2. “You should not drink cold water since it absorbs from the mouth right into the kidneys”. Wow! I could not hold myself here and exclaimed: REALLY!?..discussion resulted…

  3. Very harsh and incorrect pronunciation of yoga terms is not quite forgivable for “advanced” yoga teachers …the least fall I can see here - just a laziness to discover how to say correct… I always let my indian students to correct me - they know better!

  4. “I do not advise you to do basti kriya since it can tear the colon”.

  5. “Christians tend to get sick more sick than hindus, because the body is considered holly in hinduism …”

  6. “There are seven koshas”… I exclaimed: Oh, I missed something and i remember just five. I really thoughts that I missed something, because HE IS A TEACHER AND HE KNOWS BETTER!:slight_smile: he got mad at me because he thought that I trying to show off or something…

  7. In general: getting information from ONE single source and manifest it as an ultimate truth…

  8. In general: trying to make something up when dont have an answer.

I think as a teacher one has to have a courage to admit that he got the info from just one source, or he possibly is incorrect and will find out more about it. One must have a courage to accept discussion in front of other students.

And yes, I like to challenge the teacher. What’s the point to stick with the person who does not possess knowledge?

#13

one more thing…

Where people get wrong facts? Probably from other teachers, because someone thoughts that it is embarrassing to correct teacher in the class.

My grandfather told me not to sleep on the left side because I can smash my heart:) I slept 17 year on one side! Now I now that this is not truth and that sleeping on the left side is ok… but somewhere in my subconsciousness I would still prefer to sleep on the right side, since I afraid to pinch the heart with my ribs:))

#14

[QUOTE=CityMonk;61293]1. I do not concerned to much about historical facts… thought Yoga Sutras was not written 5000 tears ago and neither was Hatha yoga pradipika. I could survive this one… not too important. [/quote]That is indeed wrong. Traditional Indian dates for patanjali are given for around 200 B.C. But the science of yoga already existed and goes back to Hiranyagarbha.

  1. “You should not drink cold water since it absorbs from the mouth right into the kidneys”. Wow! I could not hold myself here and exclaimed: REALLY!?..discussion resulted…
    LOL :roll:
  1. Very harsh and incorrect pronunciation of yoga terms is not quite forgivable for “advanced” yoga teachers …the least fall I can see here - just a laziness to discover how to say correct… I always let my indian students to correct me - they know better!
    Indian students will be able to pronounce it correctly, since they’ll have a better diction of the devnagri alphabet. In my opinion it is part of the teacher’s job to learn to pronounce the names correctly, there is no excuse for pramada.
  1. “I do not advise you to do basti kriya since it can tear the colon”.
    Maybe if done correctly.
  1. "Christians tend to get sick more sick than hindus, because the body is considered holly in hinduism …"
    This is quite a generalisations and not really true after the invention of modern medicine. But before modern medicine, Indians were able to ward of plagues of bacteria, because of their practice of ritual purity. Life expectancy was around a 100 years, while in the west it was around 30 years.
  1. “There are seven koshas”… I exclaimed: Oh, I missed something and i remember just five. I really thoughts that I missed something, because HE IS A TEACHER AND HE KNOWS BETTER!:slight_smile: he got mad at me because he thought that I trying to show off or something…

The taittiriya upanishad indeed speaks of five koshas. But B.K.S. Iyengar speaks of seven koshas. He also counts the chittamaya kosha and atmamaya koshas. These are indeed seperate from the other five koshas.
http://www.yarravilleyoga.com.au/htm/reading/reading-Iyengar-6.htm
http://www.iyengaryoga.in/be_a_sadhaka.html

  1. In general: getting information from ONE single source and manifest it as an ultimate truth…
  1. In general: trying to make something up when dont have an answer.

I think as a teacher one has to have a courage to admit that he got the info from just one source, or he possibly is incorrect and will find out more about it. One must have a courage to accept discussion in front of other students.

And yes, I like to challenge the teacher. What’s the point to stick with the person who does not possess knowledge?
It is better to admit that one doesn’t know, it shows that someone has integrity and a willingness to educate themselves further.

#15

[QUOTE=Sarvamaṅgalamaṅgalā;61312]That is indeed wrong. Traditional Indian dates for patanjali are given for around 200 B.C. But the science of yoga already existed and goes back to Hiranyagarbha.

LOL :roll:

Indian students will be able to pronounce it correctly, since they’ll have a better diction of the devnagri alphabet. In my opinion it is part of the teacher’s job to learn to pronounce the names correctly, there is no excuse for pramada.

Maybe if done correctly.

This is quite a generalisations and not really true after the invention of modern medicine. But before modern medicine, Indians were able to ward of plagues of bacteria, because of their practice of ritual purity. Life expectancy was around a 100 years, while in the west it was around 30 years.

The taittiriya upanishad indeed speaks of five koshas. But B.K.S. Iyengar speaks of seven koshas. He also counts the chittamaya kosha and atmamaya koshas. These are indeed seperate from the other five koshas.
http://www.yarravilleyoga.com.au/htm/reading/reading-Iyengar-6.htm
http://www.iyengaryoga.in/be_a_sadhaka.html

It is better to admit that one doesn’t know, it shows that someone has integrity and a willingness to educate themselves further.[/QUOTE]

It is unusual in a Teacher Training Class. Usually such courses have well defined course texts/course material which are closely followed just to avoid individual interpretations. Perhaps you should have put in a bit more research into your choice of TTC schools. No Offence intended.:wink:

#16

But the point still remains the same… should we correct a teacher when he or she spreads false info in class…well not rudely interrupt the class, but just wonder: oh…I have heard different info…lets figure out why…

I think as a teacher one has to have a courage to admit that he got the info from just one source, or he possibly is incorrect and will find out more about it. One must have a courage to accept discussion in front of other students.

And yes, I like to challenge the teacher. What’s the point to stick with the person who does not possess knowledge

#17

[QUOTE=Sarvamaṅgalamaṅgalā;61312]Indian students will be able to pronounce it correctly, since they’ll have a better diction of the devnagri alphabet. In my opinion it is part of the teacher’s job to learn to pronounce the names correctly, there is no excuse for pramada. [/QUOTE]

I’m guessing you didn’t actually mean there is no excuse for joy (pramada, प्रमद) ,but instead meant there is no excuse for carelessness (pramaada, प्रमाद)

I wouldn’t normally correct someone else’s spelling especially of Devanagari spelled out in english but because of the nature of the post I couldn’t help myself:)

#18

[QUOTE=LapsedSolipsist;62033]I’m guessing you didn’t actually mean there is no excuse for joy (pramada, प्रमद) ,but instead meant there is no excuse for carelessness (pramaada, प्रमाद)

I wouldn’t normally correct someone else’s spelling especially of Devanagari spelled out in english but because of the nature of the post I couldn’t help myself:)[/QUOTE]

oh…no, I’m not talking about such complicated things, but absolute mispronunciation of some yamas-niyamas… i remember one calling aparighata instead of aparigraha … not a bid g deal…but if one makes no research and effort in such minor things…maybe one is not competent in other important questions…

#19

Sarva,

“That is indeed wrong. Traditional Indian dates for patanjali are given for around 200 B.C. But the science of yoga already existed and goes back to Hiranyagarbha”

More parroting of borrowed knowledge rather than speaking out of one’s own intelligence. One should understand that the kind of culture in which the yogic sciences blossomed was one which was tremendously symbolic and mythical, and not everything that is spoken of should be taken literally. If you really believe that “Shiva” has three heads with a third eye, or that the universe was created out of an egg, or that by practicing a certain technique you can become immortal in the body, then you are just being foolish.

When it has been spoken of “Hiranyagarbha” as being the origins of yoga, this should not be interpreted as a literal person, it is simply a symbol. The word Hiranyagarbha literally means the “golden egg”, and refers to the first phenomenon that had arisen out of the source of existence which gave birth to the expansion of the universe. If you come to a certain depth into your own practice, it is possible to experience this dimension directly, which brings forth tremendous insight both into oneself and the whole existence. Fundamentally -the “origin” of yoga lies in direct experience, it is a human discovery.

#20

[QUOTE=LapsedSolipsist;62033]I’m guessing you didn’t actually mean there is no excuse for joy (pramada, प्रमद) ,but instead meant there is no excuse for carelessness (pramaada, प्रमाद)

I wouldn’t normally correct someone else’s spelling especially of Devanagari spelled out in english but because of the nature of the post I couldn’t help myself:)[/QUOTE]
Yes, you are right. There are no strict rules for devanagri conversion to roman, but pramaada would cause less confusion. In official transliteration scheme, it would be pramāda.