On Gurus

In my field of yoga, fitness and meditation, there's a constant churn of workshops and events rolling through town. They're usually 2 to 3 hour dealies on the weekend that cost between 80 and 100 dollars. And they will invariably feature a modern version of the guru. This is usually a yoga or meditation teacher who has gained some notoriety through a magazine or DVD sales, and is "living the dream," traveling the world spreading wisdom to a global community. I won't name names in this post but I'm sure you'll feel like you've met these people during your studies.

I used to feel compelled to join these events, usually because of the chance to network and make connections as I build my own career, in so much as I have one. But recently I've been developing a strong distaste for them after having the same "guru" experience time after time.

The overwhelming feeling attending these workshops is that the guru is oscillating between the need to please a paying audience with the boredom of having done the same routine 100 times. They know that at $80 a pop they have to deliver the goods, but at the same time, it being a new city, a new audience, they can cut and copy from their usual routine and get away with it.
What is lacking at these events is any sense of freshness.

Becoming a guru in the modern world is somewhat of a curse. The more well-known you become, the more you are locked in to living up to the aura that surrounds you.

This by itself isn't that big a problem, but when it couples with the need for income things get dicey. Something else you may not know is that these people on the cover of magazines, leading international workshops, are usually quite strapped for cash. Just like the rest of us they desire nice houses, exotic vacations, and sheets with high thread counts. The only way to keep the income flowing is to keep the workshop attendance high, and the only way to keep the attendance up is to project greater and "guru-power" into the media.

The result is that these teachers become so afraid of appearing to not know what they're doing that they avoid taking chances or trying new things. They settle into safe, stale routines that pay the bills.

When you actually go to these events, you will always find the guru is looking much older and tired than you expected and be far less dynamic than the image they project. This is because they all use ten year old photographs and are so worn down by the constant need to impress that they've lost their enthusiasm for the students who have payed so much to see them.

And to top it all off throw the seductive and corrupting element of fame into this mix. Even if these top-level teacher's wanted to step away from the workshop mill, a few months out of the spotlight will really start to bother someone who has spent time in it. When you start to rely on public affirmation of your worth you're really stuck in a cycle of having to get out there and get your fix every few weeks.

This all combines to create a workshop atmosphere that is all about the teacher, not the student. Nobody wins in these situations. The guru is pigeon-holed and frustrated, forced to go through the motions for the money and hollow gratification it will generate, and the students come away with a ho-hum experience that doesn't deepen their practice, only the empty space in their wallets.

My advice, if you're really on the path for physical and emotional development, is to skip these big events and invest that money and time in a local teacher who you respect. They won't have a lot of hang-ups dealing with fame and the burdens of guruship, and you'll get the kind of personal attention you need if real progress is to be made.

And if you do attend one of these events, get what you can out of it, but know that the person up on stage is just as fallible, confused, and unsure as you are. They're just afraid that you wouldn't pay them if you knew that.