The yoga and other courses are leaded by the so called instructors. They have a special place in the Misa hierarchy. They organize and lead what happens at the courses. There are others called coordinators who do not share in the privileges of the instructors and who coordinate and lead the other courses (Shakti, Vira, Shivaism, Ayurveda, Master-disciple relationship etc.). They are considered the elite of the course and are considered infallible and the perfect example for the students.
The truly devoted Misa instructors have yoga classes on a daily basis, on every day of the week, including Sundays. Since the number of hours of a single yoga course is 4-5 hours, plus if your a good yogi you have in true Misa tradition you have at least a 2-3 hour tapas (spiritual practice) plus the yoga and other courses the instructors go to for their own pleasure, add to that the time needed for your personal or family stuff, after a few years you recognize that the best thing to do is to live off the yoga course.
Now why would this be a problem? In the eastern countries the yogis can beg and are usually supported by the community, no matter how poor it is. They also can live on the street, because the weather allows it, and of course because this is an excepted way of life there.
In the western countries if you do a few courses, take an exam and have enough money you can open up your own yoga studio or work for a yoga studio for money. This is a legitimate profession. And there is no problem with it. You learn all sorts of yoga stuff, practice it for a few years, you become good and you wish to share your knowledge with others or wish to help them discover the wonder of yoga. So you become a yoga teacher. This is good, and I totally agree with this. You ask people for a certain amount of money for your services and they pay when they come to you. This is also a good thing. This is an obvious business transaction. And there is nothing wrong with that.
But the problem at Misa is that the instructors are not like this. From the first second on they lie to the people who come to the yoga courses. They say that they do not receive money for their services, but they do it from the goodness of their heart. And you should be thankful for this. You should consider this a favor. And should look up to them for their big spiritual attitude. Of course this is not true, but is one of their manipulation methods: the students should feel stupid and inferior from second one so that they work even harder to live up to the expectations of the group and especially those of the instructor, who in this case is the substitute of the master. The all knowing aster who knows everything the students do or even think. This paranoid thought is induced from the first minutes of the first course. This is a Misa and a cult classic.
The instructors receive deductions from the money collected as course fee from the students for their travel expenses, from the yoga course fee and any other Misa course they participate in, and the camp fees. This is not money per say, but is a form of reward coming from above in the hierarchy.
Another problem is the fact that all of the instructors are smug and superior in their attitude towards the students and in general. They think that they are a special and better than everyone. They are one of the special groups inside Misa. Because of this they feel special and superior compared to everyone else.
This thought is supported by the leaders of the movement and the students.
They also are given the opportunity to sell all sorts of pyramid-schemes and Misa products. I don't know if this is true, because, yet again the information is not public, but according to the former students they pay a share to the leaders of Misa in order to be allowed to do this at the courses, officially. They also promote the books published by Misa, and I suspect that they receive some form of payment for this.
The second line of advantage is the power coming with the instructor position. They are in control of the information at the yoga or other courses. They bring in the written courses, brochures and in the advanced or “big years” the VHS tape with the audio course by the master. They control this and some of them use this to manipulate the students.
They also keep track of the number of times the students were at the yoga courses. The yoga course by Misa is organized in years of study, so far 19 years. In each year each student has a certain number of absences that are allowed if you had a reason and a certain number of absences without a reason. After a certain number of absences you had to repeat the year.
Misa always claims that all that is done at their courses is yoga, and that the courses they organize are just another course, like a cooking class or collecting stamps. Does all of this seem like it's just another course? Don't you think at another simple course you would be threatened with the humiliation of loosing a year. In Misa circles this would mean that you should be ashamed of yourself because you are not spiritual enough, you do not have enough aspiration. This is one of the biggest shames possible for a Misa student. The instructors have power over this. This is also a means of manipulation.
So in all it's not too bad to be an instructor for Misa.
No comments:
Post a Comment