I have been practicing yoga for several years now and teaching for the last three. I am getting to know the yoga community that is gravitating around my neck of the woods and well, I guess I am also getting acquainted with some yoga snobs. It’s like high school all over again!

At first I was thrown off by the mere existence of such a being in a world that promotes egalitarian, peaceful and loving views. I didn’t understand why there was even a need for someone to act as though they were in some way superior to others. I guess they missed the part about mudita (contentment). Then again, perhaps I am not practicing upeksha (indifference) well enough!

What I don’t get is how someone, that has been practicing yoga for quite some time, can be so fake and hypocritical. It surprises me that in a community/world such as yoga that there are people who think they are more enlightened than the next person. Seriously, where does this “I’m superior to all of you” attitude come from in a yoga world anyway? I don’t get it.

Go ahead, call me noob or naive I don’t care. I mean, I’ve met my share of off-the-wall spiritual to freaky people but a yoga snob, really?

That is the question: why?

Why do these people believe that they should look down upon us new and excited yoga practitioners? Aren’t we supposed to be one, to share this understanding that life is wonderful and that yoga is an amazing practice that speeds up our spiritual development?

In the end, I guess I find it unfortunate that someone who might have found at least some conscious awareness was once again overthrown by their egoistic mind.

Knowledge is a dangerous thing. It makes you believe that you know all of these things when in reality, you have so much more to learn-always. Every time I share my knowledge with my students, I learn something from them. I learn about myself and I delve deeper into this wonderful world.

Being closed to the possibility of learning and growing, thinking we have achieved a certain level of Je ne sais quoi, is closing the door to oh-so-many more opportunities.

So, don’t limit your own growth thinking that you know better. And please, pretty please, drop the snobbishness down a notch. Remember what yoga is all about—modesty, self-awareness, being grounded, being free of the ego. I pity you snobby yogi person.

Only by knowing where you stand can you move forward. Peace.

Véronique Barnes is a yoga practitioner and international development worker living in Ottawa, Canada. She writes articles on yoga, spirituality, meditation, and all of life’s little things that make us happy. You can read more on her blog.

 

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Editor: Tanya L. Markul

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