I was teaching a workshop in Frankfurt with about twenty hatha yoga teachers getting a taste of Kundalini yoga for the first time. They were curious, challenged, and happy when the day was over. One student approached me and said she wanted me to teach her to be a Kundalini yoga teacher. She had a yoga center in Kassel and would set up the program, do the promotion, get the students, and offer me a place to stay. I just needed to show up. When I asked how many days she was planning, she said, one!
I cannot teach someone, even a professional hatha yoga teacher, how to teach kundalini yoga in one day, and I told her this fact. She asked what is the minimum number of days. I said four days would be possible. I truly had no idea how this was possible, but at that moment, this is what came out of my mouth. She agreed.
A few months later I went to her yoga center in Kassel and we began. I informed the group twenty students of the difficult task, but it was possible if we were committed. At that time I was using Mind Mapping in many of my courses. It is a proven technique to write down the keywords, and at the end of the day, review each of the written pages. Studies have shown Mind Mapping to be excellent at learning fast. At the end of the four days, the yoga space walls were completely covered with these flip charts filled with the needed themes for teaching kundalini yoga.
At the beginning of our training, stood a large three-story office building across the street. Over the next three days, the building was demolished (on purpose) and completely removed, leaving a large hole where the building stood just 3 days before. It was amazing to see this rapid transformation. It became symbolic of our training. On a human level, we were tearing down the limits that blocked the full potential of our higher self. An open and empty space means we were ready to be an intuitive and powerful kundalini yoga teacher.
It was the only time I taught a four-day training. Although it produced some success, it was clear a longer training would be better. As with many events in my life, it planted seeds for the future. The most interesting was the call I received two years later.
My assistant for the last two years had been doing a great job. It was from her effort I attracted many students from the Netherlands. A conflict arose with something she wanted to say in our promotion. I wanted something different. She was insistent her suggestion was the only idea she could agree to. I did not agree, so she quit. We did remain friends but I now needed a new assistant to help promote my work, organize my courses, and translate my English into German.
A few days later I received a call from one of the students who attended the Kassel teacher training two years before. She informed me how much she enjoyed the course and was teaching kundalini yoga to her students with great success. She said she was grateful and wanted to know if there was anything she could do to help. I said I needed a new assistant. She hesitated, mentioning how she never acted as a translator before, then agreed to be my new assistant. She did an excellent job as my level 1 assistant for two years, and then my level 2 assistant for a few more years.
How does all this happen? The crazy four-day training? The quitting of my first assistant? The removal of a three-story building? Not knowing the next step? It is normal and healthy to have such questions. How we react to the challenges of life is a measure of our consciousness. If our reaction causes anger, frustration, and other emotional feelings, this creates misery. Our task is to remain relaxed and to keep trusting this loving and compassionate universe. Then joy will show up in our lives.
