Teachers PLEASE HEAL don’t Harm – Students DON’T GIVE AWAY YOUR POWER – No one has the answers better than you – wisdom can be attained not through getting intimate with a “guru”
What 33 Years of Teaching Yoga Has Taught Me About Ethics, Power, and Guru Culture
I’ve been teaching yoga since 1993. In those 33 years, I’ve watched yoga evolve from a relatively small community into a global industry. My School YOGAFIT in its 29th year has been a major force in building the yoga industry worldwide. Throughout my years I’ve seen extraordinary teachers, profound practices, and lives transformed. I made the mistake of promoting an Indian teacher that went from teaching in the back of a budget hotel in Rishikesh, to opening his own ashram funded my a lot of visitors from our own Network and now the whispers have turned to screams … legal documentation of improprieties with perhaps hundreds of his students.
I’ve watched the same story unfold more times than I care to remember.
A charismatic teacher gains a devoted following.
Students begin believing that teacher possesses special wisdom—or worse, that they’re somehow beyond ordinary human failings.
The admiration deepens into devotion.
Boundaries begin to blur.
Power becomes concentrated.
Eventually, stories emerge of manipulation, financial misconduct, sexual relationships with students, or other abuses of trust.
Everyone acts surprised.
I rarely am anymore.
This isn’t really about yoga.
It’s about what happens whenever we hand another human being too much power.
I’ve Never Been Comfortable with Guru Culture
One of the reasons I’ve never been drawn to guru-based schools is that they ask students to suspend the very thing yoga should strengthen: discernment.
I’ve never believed enlightenment exempts anyone from accountability.
I’ve never believed a teacher deserves unquestioning loyalty simply because they can quote scripture, lead an inspiring class, or make people feel deeply seen.
Teachers are human beings.
Some are wonderful.
Some are deeply flawed.
Most are somewhere in between.
Teaching yoga doesn’t dissolve ego.
Meditation doesn’t magically eliminate narcissism.
Leading teacher trainings doesn’t guarantee integrity.
Experience has taught me that wisdom and misconduct can, unfortunately, exist in the same person. That’s an uncomfortable truth, but pretending otherwise hasn’t served our community very well.
We’ve seen this pattern play out repeatedly. Even recently, Deepak whose workshop I attended in Palm Beach last September —one of the most recognizable names in modern spirituality—came under public scrutiny after documents revealed years of email correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein. Yes has denied any criminal or exploitative conduct and has said his interactions with Epstein were limited and unrelated to Epstein’s crimes, while acknowledging that some of his emails reflected poor judgment in tone. Whether or not any laws were broken isn’t really the point I’m making. The lesson is that no teacher, no matter how respected or influential, should ever be placed beyond questioning or accountability.
I deleted my photos with this guy – what a disappointment … shady shady guru go away !
I’ve always believed our loyalty should be to spirit and the principles of yoga—not to personalities.
Respect Is Healthy. Idolization Isn’t
There’s nothing wrong with admiring a great teacher.
Many of us found yoga because someone inspired us.
The problem begins when admiration becomes dependency.
When questioning becomes disrespect.
When criticism becomes betrayal.
When a teacher’s authority becomes more important than a student’s well-being.
I’ve always believed the role of a teacher is to help students become more independent—not more dependent.
If your teacher makes you believe you need them to stay connected to your practice, something has gone wrong.
Boundaries Matter
One issue has surfaced repeatedly throughout modern yoga history: romantic or sexual relationships between teachers and students.
Can two consenting adults have a relationship?
Of course.
But ethics isn’t simply about consent.
It’s also about power.
When one person holds influence over another’s education, emotional vulnerability, or spiritual development, there is an imbalance that deserves serious consideration.
As teachers, we carry a responsibility to protect that trust—not test it.
Professional boundaries aren’t old-fashioned.
They’re an expression of respect for the student, the teacher, and the integrity of the teaching itself.
Charisma Isn’t Character
Some of the most captivating people I’ve ever met have been yoga teachers.
They’re gifted speakers.
They fill rooms.
People feel transformed after spending time with them.
None of that tells me anything about their character.
Integrity is usually much quieter.
It’s consistency.
Humility.
Transparency.
The ability to admit mistakes.
The willingness to be questioned.
Those qualities don’t always make someone famous.
But they make them trustworthy.
What I’ve Tried to Teach
Since I began teaching in 1993, I’ve wanted my students to trust themselves more—not me.
I want them to be safe – to feel safe – not just physically but emotionally, energetically and mentally.
I don’t want followers.
I want thoughtful, ethical, independent students who are confident enough to ask questions—even of me.
If someone leaves one of our trainings believing I have all the answers, then I haven’t done my job.
If they leave asking better questions, thinking more critically, and feeling more confident in their own judgment, then we’ve succeeded.
Yoga should make us more awake, not more obedient.
More discerning, not more devoted.
More connected to ourselves, not more dependent on someone else’s approval.
That’s been the philosophy behind everything YOGAFIT has taught for the past 33 years.
SAFETY FIRST
What This Looks Like in Practice
This philosophy hasn’t just shaped the way I teach—it has shaped the trainings we’ve created at YogaFit.
Rather than asking teachers to become disciples of a particular lineage or personality, we’ve focused on preparing them to serve people in the real world with compassion, critical thinking, ethics, and evidence-informed education.
When someone is navigating profound loss, our Yoga for Grief & Loss training gives teachers practical tools to support students with empathy, healthy boundaries, and an understanding of how grief affects both body and mind.
For those working with individuals recovering from trauma, our Yoga for Emotional & Physical Trauma and Healing Emotional & Physical Trauma trainings emphasize nervous system regulation, trauma-informed teaching, and the importance of creating safe spaces for healing—not dependence on a teacher.
We also recognize the tremendous emotional demands placed on healthcare professionals, family caregivers, and anyone supporting others. That’s why we developed Yoga for Caregivers, helping teachers understand burnout, compassion fatigue, resilience, and sustainable self-care.
Every one of these trainings reflects what I’ve believed since 1993:
Yoga isn’t about elevating teachers.
It’s about empowering people.
Our responsibility isn’t to convince students that we possess special wisdom.
It’s to provide education, practical tools, ethical guidance, and the confidence for people to trust themselves.
That’s the kind of yoga education our profession deserves.
If you’d like to explore these trainings, you can learn more here:
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- Yoga for Grief & Loss: https://catalog.yogafit.com/product/yoga-for-grief-and-loss-live-online/
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- Yoga for Emotional & Physical Trauma: https://catalog.yogafit.com/product/yoga-for-emotional-and-physical-trauma/
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- Healing Emotional & Physical Trauma: https://catalog.yogafit.com/product/healing-emotional-and-physical-trauma/
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- Yoga for Caregivers: https://catalog.yogafit.com/courses/yoga-for-caregivers-live-online/
Don’t Give Away Your Power –
We all struggle – I came to yoga at an early age but it struck a much deeper chord many times in my life- through breakups, through deaths, through loss, through moves… Nothing gets between me and my mat.
When we are list and we look for answers outside of ourselves we get in trouble – we’ve all done it but this does not give teachers or so called self appointed GURU’s permission to take advantage of you… even if you throw yourself at them.
When these scandals happen we may ant to even stop our practice – don’t let the thieves rob you of your yoga joy.
The practice of yoga is far older than any teacher, school, or movement.
It belongs to all of us.
Learn from great teachers.
Respect them.
Appreciate them.
But don’t place them on a pedestal they were never meant to occupy.
I’ve been around long enough to know that every pedestal eventually cracks.
Your own discernment is far more reliable than anyone else’s charisma.
After 33 years of teaching, that’s the lesson I value most.
Because in the end, the best teachers don’t create disciples.
They create people who no longer need a guru.
They help students discover what yoga has always pointed toward:
That the deepest wisdom isn’t found in another person.
It’s cultivated within yourself.
And that’s the practice worth protecting.