STANDING HAND-TO-BIG-TOE POSEI have learned everything I know about loving
from teaching yoga, and in a way, I fall in love
with each one of my students. When you prac-
tice with other people in the same room, you’re
literally breathing them in. I feel like with every
person who has ever taken my class, there is a
thread running from my heart to their heart for-
ever. I often learn something about a student
and never forget it.
Just to clarify, this kind of love is very differ-
ent than romantic love. I choose not to date my
students. I look at all of them as if they are my
children. I know a lot of people love flirting, and
it makes them feel really good, but I don’t want
to sexualize people who are practicing yoga. To
me, that would make them feel unsafe.
Students do sometimes develop crushes on
their teachers; it’s sort of a natural thing that
happens, but I believe it’s a teacher’s responsi-
bility not to respond. I don’t get crushes on my
teachers—but if I did, I would not want to feel
that they were attracted to me.
So if I’m talking with my students after class
and I notice one of them seems to have devel-
oped feelings for me, I have this thing that I do.
I put up a little invisible barrier and just keep
moving.
That’s because when I’m teaching people, I
want to love them in a very neutral way. It’s the
universal love, the One Love—in Sanskrit, the
bhakti. That’s what everybody gets addicted to
when they practice. Everyone wants that.