A little over 10 years ago, I had a flash of inspiration that I should become a yoga teacher. This was a very odd flash indeed, in that I was coming off a 20 year run of being ground into shambles by my corporate job as well as a very “unyogic” lifestyle that had left me in terrible physical and emotional condition. However, the voice that was guiding me was simply too compelling to ignore, so I made the decision to obey the calling and picked up the yellow pages and began to call local yoga studios seeking a teacher who would teach me how to teach.Only one teacher called me back, a very nice sounding fellow named Mark Horner. Mark asked me a few questions about myself and why I wanted to teach. He then asked me a very pointed question, asking me if I had ever taken a yoga class before. This seemed to me to be a rather unrelated question with respect to my desire to teach, but I had to admit to him that I had never taken a public yoga class in my life (although I had done thousands of hours of self-taught yoga on my own starting at the age of 17). Mark very kindly suggested that I consider taking a yoga class as a logical first step in my new yoga career process. This seemed to me to be a somewhat unnecessary diversion and distraction from my urgent need to begin teaching immediately, but I figured I would play along in order get the ball rolling in the direction I wanted, so I made an appointment to appear in one of Mark’s scheduled weekly classes.
I’ve heard it said that every spiritual awakening is preceded by a rude awakening. Well, I had an especially rude awakening in my first class with Mark. I walked into his class, albeit a little stiff and rusty from a few years of bodily “under-use”, utterly expecting to rise immediately to the head of the class and be accelerated forward into my exciting new teaching career. Whoops. Even though I had been a world champion athlete in my 20’s and 30’s, Mark’s peculiar regimen of movements left me completely flummoxed. To my utter dismay, my body was not performing the seemingly simple, yet elegant, sequence of movements that Mark was teaching with balance and poise. To put it bluntly, my bodily parts were not working anymore; my feet and ankles were dead and locked, my wrists and hands were frozen like blocks of ice, my shoulders were pinned up by my ears, and my legs, although very strong, could not bear weight in a variety of positions that many others yogis in the class were managing with ease. Unbeknownst to me at the time, and ultimately far more damaging to my well-being, was that underlying the physical blockage and stiffness were decades of unresolved emotional residue constricting the internal energetic pathways of my subtle nervous system. This internal energetic blockage was severely restricting and distorting the available lifeforce, or “prana” and preventing the emotional healing I needed in order to integrate the past, live effectively in the present, and expand into my potential in the future.
I would like to say that this situation was humbling for me, but humiliating would be far more the truth. Not only had I learned that I could not teach yoga, I learned the painful truth that I could not even do yoga. The discouragement I felt as I sat in my car after that first class was overwhelming. Where had I gone wrong? Was my intuition completely insane? Was I delusional? So my ego began to helpfully rationalize the situation. My conclusion: these unusual movements being taught by Mark Horner weren’t yoga at all; they were some sort of personally synthesized sequences of motion that were essentially a form of torture. I had done plenty of yoga in my life and I was actually quite adept at “normal” yoga. I concluded that I didn’t need his “style” of yoga, that I would find a “regular” teacher who would polish my already existing skill set. This hopeful rationalizing and wishful thinking only comforted for a moment. The stark truth began to sink in...at age 43, I was going to have to start over, virtually from ground zero with my yoga practice. I was going to have to back up and cover all the ground in my preparation work that I had avoided, or conveniently missed, in my prior yoga learning. The spiritual axiom “the longest distance between two points is a shortcut” echoed in my brain. The awful truth dawned on me: I would have to attend my second class with Mark Horner.
Far more shrewd I was from then on. I got to class early and hid in the corner, behind a far too skinny pole that did not completely block others view of me. If I could have been invisible, it would have been preferable. Unfortunately, I was not and every shortcoming and malfunction of my various lever systems were on public display for all to see. I hoped to God that no one else knew that I had asked to become a teacher. As Mark called out the various impossible movements, I had to adjust and adapt these positions to fit what my body could do, which was terribly awkward at times. Thankfully, Mark was completely accepting of what I was able to do, as long as I was willing to put in the effort to do what I could. Mark could have completely blown me out of the water had he been overly demanding, brusque, or unreasonable in his teaching style. Far from it; Mark was extraordinarily kind and understanding with me, always offering conversation and understanding after each class when I would stay behind to ask questions or express the emotions or frustrations I was feeling.
Mark’s consistent and powerful message began to sink in with me, slowly, yet surely over the days, weeks, months, and years. Over and over again, either personally, or in the classroom, I would hear the fundamental principle he was explaining, which was: “if the preparatory work was diligently and intelligently performed, no matter how long it takes, the deeper and more esoteric benefits of yoga would blossom. Conversely, if the preparatory work was skipped or avoided, the true fruits of yoga would remain permanently unavailable.” I personally applied the yogic principle of "tapas", sustained and determined action over a long period of time, and stuck with my practice and my vision of carrying the life-transforming principles and practices of yoga to those hungering for the transformation and healing that i had been blessed with. Seven years after meeting Mark, I had developed the capacity and determination to complete his extremely thorough teacher training course. I did become a Yoga teacher and with Mark's help, i found my own voice and my own style of teaching. I also found out that "when the teacher is ready, the students appear". I found my "True Place" as a teacher, the body of students who could benefit from my personal abilities (and limitations) as a teacher and the unique gift of my own personal life experience and how that wild and wacky story could inspire others.
Mark’s brilliant teaching of the preparatory principles and practices of true hatha Yoga were a complete Godsend to me. Not only did his preparatory regimen and system of movements completely transform and re-align the physical and energetic patterns of my own body, they have become the cornerstone principles of my own teaching. I have had the enormous pleasure and humble satisfaction of viewing the extraordinarily beneficial effects of Mark’s teaching flow through me and bear fruit in the physical, energetic, and emotional healing of hundreds and hundreds of students I have been blessed to work with over the years of my own teaching practice.
As convinced as I was that Mark was utterly the wrong teacher for me after my first class with him, I am now completely convinced he was the perfect teacher for me. As I like to say, “it’s almost as if there’s a God, or something”. I am forever grateful to Mark for his direct and uncompromising approach in teaching authentic hatha yoga, with skill, compassion, and uncanny intelligence. It is entirely inspiring to work with a teacher who really, truly knows what he is doing and has earned that ability through decades of no-nonsense hard work and applied experience. Add to that, Mark’s ample wit and obvious joy in transmitting yoga to his legion of students, and you have the highest expression of teaching: one who brings out the greatest good in his students.
I heartily invite you to join Mark (and me) at The Yoga Fusion this next Sunday, September 23rd, from 1pm to 3:30pm, for his Workshop titled “How to Grow a Lotus - a Padmasana Workshop”. I am honored to have my teacher blessing our new studio with his superb teaching. If you have not yet experienced Mark and his teaching, this is an ideal opportunity to engage him in a comprehensive workshop setting that will be ideal for experienced practitioners and beginners alike. Especially, if you consider yourself a beginner, this workshop may save you months, or years, of “less than productive” effort expended toward achieving the highest intention for your personal practice of Yoga.
Mark and I look forward to seeing you there. (I will be back in the corner.)
Pre-register online and pay $45.00, saving $10.00 off the $55.00 day of workshop fee. Register at:
http://clients.mindbodyonline.com/ws.asp?studioid=19309&stype=-8
