The Puruṣārtha in Yoga Teaching

When I first started the 200 TT program, I was in love of the idea of living a life and developing a career by doing something I truly love – yoga.  I did not give too many thoughts on what does teaching yoga mean to me on a deeper level.  Throughout my 200 TT and 300 TT journey, the purpose of all began to emerge to a my conscious mind, especially when I started teaching part time while still having a corporate job.  I was experiencing a huge contrast of emotions between my corporate life and being a yoga teacher.  I began struggling to find the purpose of a career.  Was it about the status that came with my title or the financial stability? We all dedicate so much time and energy to “work”.  Does our “work” reflect our core value? I was blessed that it was such an obvious decision. I was losing the interests and passion in the corporate world due to politics, hectic non-stop meetings, and endless business presentations.  On the other hand, teaching yoga has been given me so much joy and rewarding feeling.  I enjoy so much the connection with the community and helping individuals in the wellness space.  The Universe shined a clear path for me to transit to my second career – a full time yoga teacher.  

This is when I started to reflect on the Puruṣārtha in my yoga teaching journey.  The Puruṣārtha in Hinduism is the foundation for human fulfillment.  They are the inherent values of the Universe: Dharma (righteousness), Artha (economic values), Kama (pleasure), and Moksha (liberation). These values can help us to create a satisfyingly balanced, meaningful life at the deepest and most holistic level. This is the pathway for us to evaluate our lives and making good decisions. The Puruṣārtha not only help me to deepen my spiritual practice, they definitely give me a good reflection on how I define my yoga teaching.  

Dharma is the means of righteousness and moral values.  It is the foundation of our beliefs and  core values.  As a human being and being part of this world and the community, Dharma contributes to our virtues and determines our right path to contribute to the society.  In my teaching, Dharma is the means of being inclusive and having compassion.  Throughout the journey of my teaching in various studios, I come across students in different age group, body shapes, and levels of practice.  I constantly reflect on how I can hold space and create an experience that students can improve their physical and mental well being , and also at the same time, to feel they belong.  

Artha is prosperity and how we determine that is our true meaning of abundance.  Artha is the means required to support dharma.  If we cannot find and feel our abundance, we cannot support our practice dharma.  It will be like digging from an empty well.  We are all being educated since our childhood what it means to be successful and the definition of abundance.  It is only normal that many feels prosperity in financial terms can bring them abundance and happiness.  But is that really true?  It is different for each individual and what makes us happy can change throughout our lives.  Artha to me is to find meanings to what I do.  Are my actions and thoughts making any difference for my own soul?  Am I doing something that is making a differences in other people’s lives?  My Artha is to leverage my teaching skills for my charitable AAPI community and occasionally teaching donation base classes.  Spiritual richness can be found within.  

Kama is the desire, wish and longing for our physical, emotional and sensual pleasure.  It is the happiness that is phenomenon of mind, and as pleasure experienced by the senses while in harmony with the mind and soul. Kama should be achieved in a balanced way so that we don’t get caught up by unlimited desire, overindulgence and greed.  Practicing Kama in a yogi term is to stay fully present.  The full engagement of a teacher with their students brings enormous positive energy in the studio.  We teachers can create a holistic experience of physical, emotional and sensual pleasure for others.  

Last but not least, Moksha – the desire to the ultimate liberation and freedom of soul.  Knowing your true self and genuinely being who you are is the ultimate liberation. If we know enough about ourselves as teachers, then we can offer with our best capabilities.  Continue self study (svadhyaya) is a life long practice, and it is the essence of individual spiritual transcendence.  

As yoga teachers, our teaching philosophy permeate throughout our sequence, music, energy, and our interaction with the students.  I constantly remind myself to be aware and recognize that it is undeniably influential because this is the profound definition of a TEACHER!