Instructors In-Depth
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Beth Hinnen
Classes: Raja Yoga; Mechanics of Meditation; 4 Locks and 4 Keys; Practic, Study or Devotion: Which Path to Take?
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What is a common question people want to know before signing up for your class?
"What is Raja Yoga and where is Downdog in all of this?"
Here in the West, we often get introduced to Yoga through asana (Sanskrit for steady, comfortable position). We go to classes that can be hot, vigorous, restorative, or use a lot of props, and the beauty is, it's all Yoga.
In fact, Yoga has six distinct branches, Hatha Yoga, the physical practice with so many different interpretations, is just one. The others are Bhakti (devotion), Karma (selfless service), Jnana (knowledge), Tantra (rituals including mantras), and Raja ("royal" path including study and meditation).
Once I started studying Yoga, I became very intrigued by Raja because it was asking the question, Who Am I? It began to address all the philosophical and to me, unanswerable questions I had while in my teens and twenties. It started to pry apart the steadfast, rational, scientific belief of "I think, therefore I am," and explore the question, "what the heck is thinking anyway?"
What I love about Raja Yoga is it's an ongoing dialogue. It doesn't follow the typical kind of student-teacher relationship where the student comes to class and the teacher "teaches" a specific piece of information. Instead, we all show up together. We have this great guide, Patanjali, a Yoga master from 2500 years ago who compiled a book of Yoga Sutras which forms the basis of Raja Yoga. And we talk about what the sutras means to us, how we see them work (and often not work!) in our lives.
We share experiences, confusions, dilemmas, successes and quite a few bouts of laughter as we recognize that we have way more similarities than differences between us, and that sometimes staying with the question is more important than getting to an answer. In this way, as a teacher, I learn as much as the students. Or at least that's my hope!
So, if the most common question people want to know before they sign up for one of my classes is, what is Raja Yoga and where is Downdog in all of this, I'd say, "Ask Downdog to sit at the door and wait, and come find out who you really are. It'll be fun, surprising, and heart-warming, and Downdog will be so excited to join you when you leave!"
What unexpected insights or lessons do students take away from your events?
They learn that they have a choice in how they want to live. At first, this sounds like a no-brainer. "Of course I can choose how I want to live." Except when someone cuts me off in traffic, or my mother tells me to do something she wants me to do for the millionth time, or I lose my job.
In almost every instance in our lives, we go to a pre-determined pattern of behavior and we typically don't stop to ask, "Is this how I want to live?"
After a class last fall I had one student tell me she realized she often reacted rather than acted in relationships. She put up a sticky note with the word "ACT" written on it, and within days resolved an on-going dispute with her neighbor because she chose to act and not react. Brought tears to my eyes.
How would your class/event fit into a person's meditation journey?
Extremely well! The Yoga Sutras are divided into 4 sections and the first is entitled, On Contemplation: Appealing to the contemplative, meditative student. Here the Yoga Sutras offer many different meditative focuses.
What is so appealing about this is that there isn't any one "right" way to do meditation. It can look very different, depending on what works for the student. I like the flexibility of practicing focusing attention in many different ways and in all areas of life, not just for my formal seated meditation.
How did you first get introduced to the material you teach?
When I took my first Yoga Teacher Training program at Integral Yoga Institute in New York City. I started the training a week before 9/11 happened which very much reinforced the path I had just begun. It was a pivotal moment in my own spiritual path to witness the extreme of human behavior, and then to study, learn and experience that we all have the capacity to be just as extreme, and we all have the power to choose not to be.
What surprises you most about the teaching role?
How little teaching is about what I know!
There's the fundamental role of teaching - a way of passing on facts and figures, the nuts and bolts of knowledge. And then there's the excitement, love, encouragement and passion for the subject itself that shines through.
In college I almost switched to become a physics major because the teacher was one of the most fun, energetic, passionate people I'd ever seen, who clearly loved the topic! Suddenly, physics wasn't a bunch of equations I had to memorize, it was how I lived my everyday life. Same with Raja Yoga - it's a way to live a happy, joyful, contented life, every day, every moment.
What little-known fact would your students be amused to know about you?
I have a personal practice called Recording and Listening. It involves a digital voice recorder, two hands, and access to a wise, compassionate Mentor. It has transformed my spiritual practice.