Yoga teachers work in close physical and emotional proximity with their students, and this makes it imperative that they have the highest ethical standards. There are too many compromising situations that can occur if a student is taught by a teacher with poor or no ethics. Therefore, it is important that everyone in the community work together to hold teachers to a high ethical standard. Here is a look at some of the yoga instructor ethics that are the most important.
High Level of Training
Yoga teachers must have a high level of training if they are to successfully teach others how to practice yoga. Instructors must always be working to both maintain and expand their knowledge of the practice. Teachers should ask other yoga professionals to attend their classes on a regular basis to ensure that their teaching methods are working effectively.
Daily Practice for Effective Teaching
No matter what kind of knowledge a teacher is trying to impart, they will do a poor job if they don't really believe what they are teaching. This is especially true in yoga. This practice is something that is very deep and moving, and this means instructors must live and breathe it if they are going to be effective teachers. Yoga instructors should practice it themselves on a daily basis if they wish to be good teachers.
Leaving Personal Problems Outside the Studio
As with any profession, yoga professionals must leave their personal problems outside the studio if they are going to be effective at their jobs. Instructors who are thinking about their cheating boyfriends or messy roommates while they are supposed to be monitoring their students' poses are highly unprofessional.
Sober Teaching
It is highly unethical to come into a class and teach under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Even teaching after just a drink or two is very bad. Yoga teachers must make sure that they are 100 percent sober every time they stand in front of a class.
High Level of Training
Yoga teachers must have a high level of training if they are to successfully teach others how to practice yoga. Instructors must always be working to both maintain and expand their knowledge of the practice. Teachers should ask other yoga professionals to attend their classes on a regular basis to ensure that their teaching methods are working effectively.
Daily Practice for Effective Teaching
No matter what kind of knowledge a teacher is trying to impart, they will do a poor job if they don't really believe what they are teaching. This is especially true in yoga. This practice is something that is very deep and moving, and this means instructors must live and breathe it if they are going to be effective teachers. Yoga instructors should practice it themselves on a daily basis if they wish to be good teachers.
Leaving Personal Problems Outside the Studio
As with any profession, yoga professionals must leave their personal problems outside the studio if they are going to be effective at their jobs. Instructors who are thinking about their cheating boyfriends or messy roommates while they are supposed to be monitoring their students' poses are highly unprofessional.
Sober Teaching
It is highly unethical to come into a class and teach under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Even teaching after just a drink or two is very bad. Yoga teachers must make sure that they are 100 percent sober every time they stand in front of a class.
Exploitation of the Teacher-Student Relationship
One of the most common ethical problems that occurs is when a teacher becomes attracted to a student. As with any other form of teaching, it is totally unethical for a yoga teacher to date a student. If there is an attraction between the teacher and the student that both parties wish to pursue, the teacher should recommend a different instructor who the student can begin studying with. Only after the student-teacher relationship has been terminated can a romantic relationship be pursued.
Sexual Harassment
Something that is even worse than dating a student is sexually harassing a student. Luckily, this does not happen often, but it does occur on rare occasions with unethical teachers. Anyone in the yoga world who encounters sexual harassment in a class should report the teacher immediately.
Discrimination
It is unethical to deny instruction to a student based on race, sex, creed, socioeconomic status, physical disability, culture, age or national identity. Ethical teachers will be welcoming of all students who wish to learn no matter what their backgrounds are.
These are the general guidelines that ethical yoga teachers will follow. Every instructor must be held to a high ethical standard because of the intimate nature of yoga teaching. All members of the community must work together to enforce yoga instructor ethics.
Faye Martins, is a Yoga teacher and a graduate of the Yoga teacher training program at: Aura Wellness Center in, Attleboro, MA.
