Places of work for yoga teachers are closing down: studios, gyms, leisure centres. I know of at least 10 such places that have permanently closed their doors in the last 18 months just in greater London. The UK’s largest yoga studio — Triyoga — has merged with United Fitness Brands, a venture capitalist-funded corporation. Plenty of yoga teachers are demoralised, highly anxious, disillusioned. Many have lost work and some have packed away their teaching tools in despair at what is happening. “I’ve just had enough” is a frequently heard statement from many teachers — and from numerous others. More victims of the pandemic and all its consequences.

Here from my own experience and the experience of other teachers are some ideas for how we can teach Yin yoga. I first wrote this in 2018. Since then, it has evolved and changed. A vital element for teaching is our ability to stay open to new ideas. Although it is about Yin yoga, many of its points can easily apply to other forms of yoga.

Many different experiences. Many different opinions. Many teachers. Many styles. A good place to start discussing ethics and practice of teaching is some basics. A priority in all teaching has to be student safety, accurate information and listening to others through dialogue and feedback. Practitioners have to be protected and learn how to protect themselves from teachers who are damaging.

Notes from The Yoga Teacher Mentor: a Reflective Guide to Holding Spaces, Maintaining Boundaries and Creating Inclusive Classes by Jess Glenny (Singing Dragon, 2020).I highly recommend this book. In my opinion The Yoga Teacher Mentor is of great benefit to yoga teachers of 20 years experience and of two weeks experience, to trainee teachers and to people thinking of doing a yoga TT. Plus there are many insights for yoga practitioners.

I am not a neuroscientist. Nor a psychotherapist. I am definitely not a medical professional. I am someone who studies and is fascinated by the human condition. Who are we? How can we live lives that are happy, fulfilling, harmonious? What is the meaning of this life? Big questions. It is good to question. The practice of enquiry.

An acronym is an abbreviation which is formed from the initial components in a phrase or a word. Usually these components are individual letters. Thank you to all those who have bought these to my attention; amongst those are Anna Taylor, Dina Cohen, Godfrey Devereux, Joseph Goldstein, Judith Lasater, Laura Vallis, Mark Singleton, Maitripushpa Bois

This word ‘mentoring’ has numerous aspects. One is a process that helps us to wake up to who we really are. Another is a journey where we are facing fears, observing personal limits and making difficult decisions. A third possibility is a path that helps us to keep things in perspective. Yet another could be a dialogue between people with differing levels of experience.

On Thursday 10 October 2019, I was arrested at London City Airport. The charge was obstruction of the highway. I was taking part in the Extinction Rebellion protests.

In this pandemic year, each morning I have spent a few minutes walking outside with bare feet around the garden. That is one beginning: because stories require beginnings. For the pandemic, that beginning can be different places, different circumstances, different dates. From Wuhan in December 2019 to Italy in February 2020 to New York in March 2020. Plenty of opposing opinions, plenty of contrasting voices. Great uncertainties and many nuances. From lockdown sceptics to those in favour of masks, from coronavirus deniers to Cassandras warning of health services being overwhelmed.

There is great suffering in this world. There are tens of thousands of human beings putting themselves at enormous personal risk in their flight from war, disaster and strife; there are political processes that make House of Cards look like a sweet love story; there are countries being ripped apart by savage violence, being deeply threatened by climatic changes, being ruined by the drive to extract raw materials. And there are countless individual stories of difficulty and illness, of loss and struggle, of fighting, controlling and succumbing to a global pandemic.

Back in my rave days (1989-99), I took a substantial amount of ecstasy/mdma. Lots of arms waving above heads. Dancing bodies, joyful rushing, huge smiles. Not always though. There were a few hard times (such as Castlemorton in 1992, the last large free festival in the UK). And once a friend and I took some pills. I had a good time and she got really sick. None of what we were taking had been thoroughly tested. Much of what we were taking was made by dodgy backstreet chemists.

Two years ago – January 2019 – I wrote an article on yoga teachers’ pay: Let’s Talk About… A lot has happened since then. A lot! More yoga studios. More teachers trained. More books on yoga. A pandemic. The end of Donald Trump. Brexit. Some grim economic forecasts. It seems like the only thing that has not happened is the arrival of aliens (or maybe that has already happened…)

Yin yoga is a wonderful practice. There are many great Yin yoga teachers. And there are some not so good. Someone recently told me about a Yin yoga class they had been attending. It seemed that the teacher believed if the word ‘yin’ was mentioned often enough while speaking slowly and in a soft voice…then the class becomes Yin.

Breathing is absolutely fundamental to our being. We can survive for perhaps 3 months without food. About 10 days without water. And, for virtually everyone, after 6 minutes without breath, we are dead. The feeling of not being able to breathe causes deep primal anxiety. Our first act at birth could be said to be an inhale. And we die on an exhale. This breath is a great teacher. It teaches us about life, about presence – and about how to live.

Shit happens. Unfortunately, this pandemic situation is going to continue for many more months. It is clear that everyone is at risk from coronavirus, so good questions as policies change and lockdowns restart are: what can we do and how can we get through this?

I am not a doctor nor a medical professional. I am just a yoga teacher who reads widely and attempts with varying degrees of success to have an open mind; a person who has campaigned for more than 35 years for social equality and social justice and believes that society needs to significantly change and that sustainability is possible. This pandemic has many teachings. Knowing that I certainly do not have all the answers – or all the questions! – I sent this article to about 20 people prior to publishing for feedback. Definitely not all agreed with me. Thank goodness! Comments ranged from critiques to congratulatory. One person wrote: “I feel I need a large glass of wine now.” My aspiration is to encourage discussion as paths to empowering and engaging.

Things were already challenging for many yoga teachers and many yoga studios pre-pandemic. Pay not meaningfully increased for most teachers for years. Studio financial margins limited. The parasitical vampires – ClassPass, MindBodyOnline, MoveGB – taking increasingly large chunks of the pie. Yogaland features included bullying studio managers and studio co-ordinators with their favourites – thus making a mockery of talk about inclusivity, diversity, fairness.

And now we have had six months of the coronavirus pandemic. The UK economy has been hugely impacted by lockdown, continuing restrictions and confusion over what happens next. Inevitably, this has massively squeezed yogaland. The cuts are coming and they are hitting hard. Classes slashed and pay reduced.

In the steep learning curve of yoga studios during a pandemic, there are positive stories. Down Under are a large yoga studio in Boston, Massachusetts. In these pandemic days, they have kept almost their entire schedule online. Down Under are doing their best to take care of their teachers, their staff, their students. They state: “As major yoga chains and gyms fire and furlough staff with no pay, Down Under stands apart in continuing pay for all 60 teachers and 15 managers while providing classes for its students and free virtual access to front line workers.”

Reflecting on the confusion and uncertainty brought by the pandemic. It discusses the challenges of discerning truth amidst a flood of information and the unpredictability of future developments. The blog highlights the emotional toll of the pandemic, marked by both monotony and fear, alongside the importance of making the most of moments of pause, peace and reflection. It encourages a mindful approach to navigating these unprecedented times.