What does it mean to be a yoga teacher in a post-Covid digitised world? Does it stay true to the principles of yoga?

An essay by Rozana Hall (GLYS graduate, 2020)

In a Covid-19 digitised world, the teacher-student relationship has been re-dimentionalised, adjusting and personalising its interpersonal dynamic. With the studio being the traditional ‘medium’ through which we seek respected guidance, COVID-19 has deconstructed this standard, allowing for students to connect with teachers in a much more direct and accessible way.   It has raised as many questions as it has delivered curious new considerations. 

In addition, new communication platforms have proven to be effective and efficient tools and forums for practice and personal yoga development.  Zoom for example, has opened accessibility to teachers who were previously reached only via an expensive membership or pricey pay-as-you-play studio fee. The removal of the brick and mortar cost burden studios have needed to pass on to practitioners has resulted in a reduced price of entry, and therefore generating a more ‘open to all’ formula.  This has led to a more democratic and arguably approachable  positioning for our craft, with new practitioners able to join without the costs one would expect of a high-end studio, especially those in London.   This therefore leads to the question; does this mean that as a teacher, you are significantly multiplying your reach, influence and connectivity?  And moreover, is this ‘new normal’ introducing an entirely new democracy and indiscrimination to the practice? 

Conversely, what cannot be overlooked in this exploration, is that the very definition of yoga is union; to unite or to join.  We interpret this as union, practicing with one breath, one movement, with other bodies within a Shala.  The energy that comes from your fellow student ‘in the flow’ on their neighbouring mat creates unity in so many ways, a moment of pure synergetic worship to a higher power, ishvara pranidhana.  With this in mind, is it possible to replicate this same energy through digital means? We must ask the question, how do you as a teacher connect your students in the meditative flow that can only be created when bodies are together, in one space? Perhaps even the very notion of practicing individually or alone via digitised connection, is disrespectful to the ancient traditions of yoga. 

However, does digital means allow a moment of true Swadhyaya and Tapas, to self study and a moment to look inwards without distraction?   

It is a debate of many new considerations, in which both merit and hindrance can be well argued.

In a post Covid-19 world, the sense of Saucat is something to be debated.  The risk of illness and its transition, is so much more apparent, or at least more understood and our civic responsibilities in turn, are also clearer.   Whilst there is uncertainty and risk, whether it be inflated, perceived and/or unknown, practicing ‘in real life’ is perhaps, under current conditions, going against the very essence of Saucat, and cleanliness.  

The 2020 pandemic, has placed into sharp focus how we interact with others.   When the humble handshake has become taboo, irresponsible or even dangerous, should we interpret something as once-nonchalant as a handshake in the same way we consider the yoga teacher assist?  Perhaps this is another human contact that cannot be present in yoga in a post COVID -19world?

In her book, Don’t Look, Don’t Touch,  behavioural scientist Val Curtis explains that one possible reason that handshakes and kisses on cheeks endure as greeting is because they

“…signal that the other person is willing to risk sharing germs with the other person”

Val Curtis, 2013

This somewhat bleak assessment leads one to imagine that students may never be able to connect in the same way again and that we are at risk of demonising touch, a previously unthinkable scenario in the student-teacher dynamic.

We must also consider the importance of being present physically with our teachers to help attain the postures accurately, respected so well in Iyengar practice.   There is a strong argument that one cannot achieve the same precision through digital vehicles of teaching, as their physical alternative. Adjustment and assists enables the students as practitioners, to find most accuracy in posture, due to the immediate proximity being physically present with the teacher sanctions.    

The physical presence factor is not however, elusive of negativity.  Somatic dominance has been a well-documented issue with many cases of teachers taking advantage of physical adjustments, preying on vulnerable students, making intermittent headlines around the world in the last 3-4 decades. From this perspective, in the case of somatic dominance, a student practicing alone in the safety of their own home is undeniably safer, physically, for them.  Yet with teachers being no longer, under COVID conditions, allowed to even patrol the studio to check on their students’ alignment, it could be argued that this threat has been, at the very least, restrict.   But more significantly for the future of student-teacher interactions, is it even relevant to even be in the same physical place as your teacher? If our most trusted teachers can only use words, cues and instructions, then surely the digital medium can quite competently replicate the experience of current studio conditions.

Another opportunity that digital presents to many practitioners, is a sense of tapas, and self discipline. The many unique distractions one may experience whilst practicing at home, or through a device, sever to divert focus. Whether it is children, the Amazon delivery, the WhatsApp group buzz, the need for teachers to encourage the creation of space and time to practice at home is critical.  A focus on Tapas will ensure, that the practitioner respects a time to move for a higher power.   In the shala, distraction can also cause hindrance, as one might find themselves looking up to see a fellow yogi perfectly executing a posture that has proven elusive for months, presenting a lack in santosha, feelings of envy of others and then loosing your focus as a student. Therefore, by taking your teaching online, surely you are presenting students a moment of true santosha and contentment within their yoga journey.  Their isolation by definition, can be the source and enabler of their focus

In summary, it is clear that teachers have had to evolve in a COVID world, leveraging alternative, non-traditional channels to connect with students.  The traditionalist, more dogmatic teachers, have had to progress their ways of spreading their teaching and expanded their sequencing.  Two worlds (modern teachers and dogmatic teachers) have undeniably converged. 

Some might say that digitised yoga doesn’t allow the same amount of connection and that sense of community that might be embraced when practicing in a physical space with people who regularly study with the same teacher or just within the same studio. There is however an argument that logging into a zoom class 10 mins before, being welcomed by a teacher on first name terms (labelled on your personalised square) or being allowed to talk to one another through the chat before and after a class, offers the same or unexpectedly equal amount of connection and community. After all, this is how a digitally savvy world works nowadays. 

To conclude, the world has evolved and as every generation has during our lifetimes, we must evolve with it.  Yes, there is a sense that this mode of transport for yoga teaching has been thrown, even forced upon us. I would like to think that we are just adapting as human-beings and that this unprecedented period we are living through, is driving us as teachers to evolve methodologies to protect and re-dimensionalise, how we, and the generation to follow, share and connect through the beautiful teaching of yoga.