"MENTORSHIP": Invitation & Letter of Intent

Greetings friend,

This letter is my attempt to describe the process in which you’re being invited into. My hope is that by spending this time in reflection with you, it may clarify whether or not MENTORSHIP is of best interest for you. No hard feelings either way. My primary intention is to bring the “right” group of people together, in study and practice, for an adequate length of time for learning, development & integration on the path of Yoga to take place. The results from this endeavor shall be surrendered to Spirit, as all things are, but my wish is that this container — a container of intent and commitment — will serve as an optimal environment for whatever knowledge I’ve received to be passed on in a good way. A few things must be said about this.

Yoga is and always will be a tricky subject, for the mere fact that mystical knowledge — knowledge of the Self, knowledge of the Universe, knowledge that extends far beyond the scope of books — has never been something that could be pinned down, packaged, or sold. A ‘teacher’ or ‘guide’, in their best expression, can point the way and offer suggestions, tips, guidelines and structures to follow, but the path is one that is walked by each individual. Wisdom is something that we cannot ‘learn’; it is something that arises through our own experience. 

If the awakening of real wisdom is of interest to someone, then anecdotal evidence would suggest that this process would benefit by seeking out a guide or mentor along the way. Of course, the guide or mentor must be trusted insofar as much as the seeker is willing & open to receive the suggestions offered and apply them in their own process. The question, then, is: “what qualifies someone as a teacher in this way?”

This qualification process is something that must be intuited. One must turn to one’s own inner knowledge and discernment between right and wrong, good and bad. From here, in the silence of deep listening and the following of the path as it unfolds from within oneself, one may be guided in the direction that he or she feels genuinely inspired to go. To follow genuine inspiration, and furthermore, to learn how to listen to one’s deeper self are perhaps some of the most valuable qualities that one might cultivate on their spiritual journey; especially given this age of information and the tug-o-war competition in the context of who is right or who has it figured out. 

Therefore, for those that are still reading and feel intrigued at what I am offering here, I have a little more to say. Please bear with me while at the same time, remain in resonance with your own inner being. If we manage to stay in that place together then I think we can do many great things.

As I was saying, yoga is a tricky subject. Teaching it can be even more tricky. There is no syllabus or course outline to follow for the mere fact that the teachings of Yoga evolved over thousands of years as a living & primarily oral-based tradition. There were no powerpoint presentations or slideshows. I learned this the hard way when I began to organize the material I’d gathered over the years of my own study & practice and attempted to put it all together into a tight little container to meet the approval and standard of the Yoga Alliance. When I created my first Yoga Teacher Training programs I had to think about some hard questions. What “information” needs to be learned and how does this “information” assist one in their journey with Yoga? The further into this I went the more difficult it became. Distilling something as delicate as the spiritual science of Yoga into a “package” challenged  me and, even though I managed to write a 450+ page manual, of which I feel good about, I realized after several years of teaching this that there was a lot more to the story which I simply couldn’t or was unqualified to say. 

I wouldn’t say that providing these Teacher Training programs was a futile attempt, as there was plenty of positive feedback from these trainings and genuine transformation was taking place, but I kept feeling like something was… missing. 

Due to these reflections, in recent years I have moved away from the model of Teacher Trainings into something more creative and alive in its approach. This is where MENTORSHIP comes in.

I’ve wanted to pass on what I’ve learned in a way that feels truly genuine and authentic, but to do so requires the “right” environment. This means the “right” people, the “right” time, the “right” intent, and so on. 

With the recent retirement of my great teacher Steve, it is feeling like that time has come. And so now, I have begun to churn the ocean of milk for the nectar that is divine inspiration. That is to say, I’ve begun to work in my own spiritual laboratory to work through the muck of inauthenticity and to purify the mind so that it may be fit to receive the instructions and guidance as to how I may proceed.

What this looks like, exactly, I still do not know, although I feel it alive in there, as an ember underneath burnt firewood, waiting to be fanned. I’ve begun to outline the “structure” but have kept it loose on purpose for fear of falling into the trap of putting yoga into the box that keeps it from coming alive in the first place. That being said, there are some things that I think must be considered as baselines for our understanding of the path. Think of them as guidelines to help us navigate the sea of information that is out there.

What MENTORSHIP entails:

Definitely, one must commit to practice. Of this there is no doubt. This will not be a container of information; it will be and is already a container of practice — sādhana: “the way of attainment”, as it were. Information will be there mostly for the sake of assisting one in the technical aspects of sādhana. When and where historical evidence is considered, it will be to enliven and inspire the practice of the current day, lest we not fall into the trap of arbitrarily elevating antiquity or tradition. 

I am imagining that this container will be perfect for those who are deeply committed to learn, but do so best by their own experimentation and with loose guidance. The “information” that may be presented will depend largely on who shows up and to what degree they show up; the lessons and modules we will go through will be tailored to the life-energies and “aliveness” of the group. This means that it will be a participatory experience for all those involved; more like a discussion than a lecture, where I will be proposing different ideas and concepts for us to kick around and digest together. My hope is that this may engage our critical thinking ability and help us to synthesize and integrate the material into our own understanding.

Practically speaking, each month will have a different target theme or central concept in which we can progress through different stages on the yogic journey together. Since yogic development is driven by purification of the different levels of body-mind complex (the koshas) and the resultant enhancement of life-energy circulation (the prana vayus), we will rely on the models given to us from ancient texts so that we have a map to refer back to. Ultimately the goal is to bring us back to ourselves, with greater understanding, a stronger connection between inner and outer, and a deeper alignment. Our discernment (viveka) must be continuously sharpened so that we may notice these changes for ourselves and our “study” of this process will help us for if & when we may be called to pass on this knowledge to others. 

Since systematic practice is the foundation of all progression, we will undergo a critical analysis of any and all obstructions that might be in the way of the movement forward to the next stage. This means looking at the body, examining the patterns crystallized in our posture, investigating the breath cycles, and noticing the mind underneath it all. The asanas, vinyasas, pranayamas, kriyas and concentration activities used are all meant to assist us in this endeavor. Compassion and acceptance must be developed in equal measure as enthusiasm (virya) and perseverance (titiksha). 

We will look at the philosophies and techniques as outlined in the canonical text, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, and will also evaluate the utility and application of the various teachings asserted through the classical Yoga Sutras. Additionally, we examine the historical evidence in terms of the origins of Yoga and Tantra and the key developments along the way to understand how this knowledge may have emerged the processes it has undergone to arrive into the modern day. By combining these studies with practice, we will end up with a comprehensive overview and understanding of the tools, methods, philosophies and the “map” of spiritual attainment, as defined through the lens of traditional Yoga. 

Although more could be said, further elaboration may unintentionally obfuscate our journey together. You may be intuiting that this is designed to be a spiritually transformative process. We become students of the lineage of a great current of sages & mystics who have liberated themselves from the shackles of conditioning by the means of yogic technology. As we are the recipients of this ancient knowledge, this means breaking out of any and all boxes that have limited our understanding of what might be possible. I can only hope that this process extends through you and I and touches the environment around us — leading us into more fulfilling and joyful relations, into greater health and ease, and into living more purposeful lives. If the legends are anything to go by, this is the promise and I think that it is worth working for. Heck, it is worth living and dying for. 

I want to live. Fully. I want to feel totally alive inside of my body and to feel the Light that is pulsing at the core of my being. To be deeply connected to that Light, and to allow that Light to connect me with the Light of the world; the Light in others. I suspect that you may feel this same inspiration. If so, then we are coming from the same place; now it's up to us to discover what that really means and where it may take us. My hope is that this path can weave us together in a way that feeds the One Light and brings us all closer to It. I’ll do my best to honor this Light in myself so that I might honor it in you. Perhaps you will be joining me in that. 

Om Namah Shivaya

Grant

Our first round of MENTORSHIP is scheduled to begin September 20th on the Fall Equinox and proceed for 9 months through to the Summer Solstice on June 20th. If you are feeling called, please send me a personal message for further conversation, or submit your application here.