GHOSH YOGA

  • Home
  • Schedule
  • Class Videos
  • Teacher Training
    • 200 Hour Teacher Training
    • 300 Hour Teacher Training Info
    • Foundation TT Entry Form
    • Advanced TT Application
  • Immersions
    • Practice Week
    • Teaching 26+2
    • History and Philosophy Week
  • Blogs
  • Store
  • About
    • What is Ghosh Yoga?
    • About Scott & Ida
    • Women of Yoga
    • Postures of Ghosh Yoga
    • Samadhi paper
    • Bose Conference Call
  • Books
    • Therapeutic Exercises
    • 26+2 Modifications
    • Beginning
    • Intermediate
    • Advanced 1
    • Yoga Cure
    • Muscle Control
    • Dr. GSM
    • Buddha Bose
    • 26+2 MODIFICAÇÕES
    • Calcutta Yoga
  • Contact
  • Refund Policies
  • Home
  • Schedule
  • Class Videos
  • Teacher Training
    • 200 Hour Teacher Training
    • 300 Hour Teacher Training Info
    • Foundation TT Entry Form
    • Advanced TT Application
  • Immersions
    • Practice Week
    • Teaching 26+2
    • History and Philosophy Week
  • Blogs
  • Store
  • About
    • What is Ghosh Yoga?
    • About Scott & Ida
    • Women of Yoga
    • Postures of Ghosh Yoga
    • Samadhi paper
    • Bose Conference Call
  • Books
    • Therapeutic Exercises
    • 26+2 Modifications
    • Beginning
    • Intermediate
    • Advanced 1
    • Yoga Cure
    • Muscle Control
    • Dr. GSM
    • Buddha Bose
    • 26+2 MODIFICAÇÕES
    • Calcutta Yoga
  • Contact
  • Refund Policies

What Do You Do When Your Teacher Is Wrong?

10/19/2017

1 Comment

 
Picture
All of us have been taught incorrect information at one point or another.

Sometimes it is because new knowledge has come to light since we learned it, either through scientific progress, new historical research or some other method. It is common for knowledge to become outdated.

Sometimes it is because we or our teachers have made false assumptions to fill in gaps in knowledge. Believe it or not, there isn't verifiable information about every aspect of every discipline, so a certain amount of deduction and inference has to occur. Sometimes these turn out to be wrong.

Sometimes our teachers mislead us about the breadth of their knowledge, filling in gaps with plausible information, distraction or personality.

An example: I was recently reading a notebook from a class I took a few years ago. I had written that one should not drink water while eating, as it dilutes the digestive acid in the stomach. A few days ago, I asked a friend of mine who is a doctor if she knew whether this is true. She said she thought it unlikely that drinking water is detrimental to digestion, but she wasn't sure. So I looked it up. Mayo Clinic, one of the foremost institutions of medicine and research, says that drinking water while eating does not dilute the digestive juices. It actually has a positive overall impact on digestion and elimination.

​HOW TO DEAL
It is still written there in my notebook: "don't drink water while eating." Do I write "untrue" next to it, or cross it out? Do I fact-check everything in the notebook? Do I disregard everything I learned from this teacher?

​Any system is made of hundreds of separate (but related) pieces of information. One or several of the pieces of info can be wrong without necessarily making other information worthless. And the system may hold up as a whole even if some of its foundational information is incorrect.

It serves us, our students and any system to have as much correct information as possible.

​For the most part, realizing that we have been wrong about something has a wonderful upside: we know something correct now! Our knowledge has expanded! 

It gets complicated if we feel tied to a system as it was passed down to us. Sometimes we are tempted to avoid any information that changes the system or contradicts it in any way. The same is true if we feel tied to a teacher or his or her inherent personality or value. It can seem that any instance of misinformation, ignorance or outdatedness nullifies the teacher's validity on the whole.

Allowing our knowledge to change is complicated. It requires a reassessment of what we know and believe. As new knowledge comes to light, it is of vital importance that we accept it, and not deny it for the sake of tradition or personality. 
1 Comment
Anna Hunter
10/20/2017 05:48:41 am

I wholeheartedly agree with this article. For so many years I held on to some information that did not serve. Since then, I sought out other teachers and ways to improve my own practice, to teach from experience rather than dogma. What works for one body does not necessarily work for all. Keeping that in mind, I can see more clearly when observing a class.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Beginning Manual
    Picture
    Intermediate Manual
    Picture
    26+2 Modifications

    AUTHORS

    Picture
    Picture
    Scott & Ida are Yoga Acharyas (Masters of Yoga). They are scholars as well as practitioners of yogic postures, breath control and meditation. They are the head teachers of Ghosh Yoga.

    POPULAR

    - The 113 Postures of Ghosh Yoga​
    - 
    Make the Hamstrings Strong, Not Long
    - Understanding Chair Posture
    ​
    ​​- Lock the Knee History
    ​- It Doesn't Matter If Your Head Is On Your Knee
    ​
    - Bow Pose (Dhanurasana)

    - 5 Reasons To Backbend
    ​
    - Origins of Standing Bow

    ​- The Traditional Yoga In Bikram's Class
    ​
    - What About the Women?!
    ​- Through Bishnu's Eyes
    ​- Why Teaching Is Not a Personal Practice

    Categories

    All
    Anatomy
    Book Excerpts
    Breathing
    Current Topics
    Hatha
    History
    Injuries
    Personal
    Philosophy
    Practice
    Science
    Teaching
    Therapy
    Women Of Yoga

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017

    RSS Feed

© COPYRIGHT 2015-2023 BY SLIP MEDIA, LLC . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.