When Lineage Isn't The Whole Story

For a long time, lineage, or paramparā, has been the backbone of yoga. Knowledge passes from teacher to student, and that chain carries the authority of the path. It's a beautiful idea. These days, though, I think we have to be honest about where it has gone wrong.

Many teachers, scholars and practitioners have been speaking up about this, and I think they're right to. The problems are numerous. Below I have listed some of the most potentially problematic.

1. When Trust Is Abused

This isn't simply a few unlucky incidents. It has touched almost every major modern yoga tradition, whether it be meditation, hatha yoga, or other forms of yogic spiritual practice. When a teacher is treated as infallible, even divine, the people around them often stop questioning. And this is where harm grows.

The #MeToo movement brought a lot of this into the open. There are now many credible accounts of sexual abuse and invasive physical adjustments by both meditation and hatha yoga gurus. Many stories of coercion, control, and abuse.

Money is often part of the issue too. Some lineages look like spiritual sanctuaries but run like businesses behind the scenes. Students and underpaid helpers are pushed to sell products and courses and to encourage sign up for expensive teacher trainings.

2. A Shorter Story Than We Were Told

Many modern styles of yoga present themselves as part of an unbroken line going back thousands of years. When learning Comparative Religion, I discovered that modern lineages are much shorter than that. As an example, postural yoga (hatha-yoga) as we know it today is much younger; many of the modern systems were created in the early 20^th century by teachers who brought their specific style of teaching to much older traditional hatha-yoga postures, which were codified between the 11-15^th centuries. Scholars trace much of today's dynamic yoga back to T. Krishnamacharya in Mysore in the early 20^th century. His teaching drew not only on traditional hatha yoga texts, but also on gymnastics, bodybuilding and British military exercises.

3. The Teacher Is Presented As “More Than Human.”

Many students are given a "perfect story”: The founder is divinely inspired, completely enlightened, and infallible. And the system they teach has arrived perfectly preserved from ancient times. Often that story is more branding than history. And when a lineage can't be questioned, big claims slip through unchallenged. You may have heard that a certain hatha-yoga pose cures an illness or balances an organ. Or that meditation is a magical cure-all for everything that troubles you. Few people feel free to ask for proof. And worse, they blame themselves when “things go wrong.” For examples of this, we can witness the numerous discussions on online support and recovery groups for survivors of traumatic abuse in “spiritual community.”

4. When There's Only "One True Way"

Some lineages teach the same “infallible” technique to everybody. They don't consider a person's unique history: their background, their life situation, their trauma. "The lineage knows best" becomes the answer to every concern. Boundaries get ignored, and problems that arise from this “one-size-fits-all” kind of practice are called "purification."

So, what's the alternative? There's a growing shift, sometimes called post-lineage yoga, shaped by an emerging group of spiritual teachers, scholars, and practitioners who see the need for the tradition of yoga to grow and transform to meet the unique needs of this present, global moment. It’s a vision that acknowledges this: for a tradition to continue, it must evolve. In this vision, people are free to learn from many traditions, lean on peers as well as teachers, and keep their own sovereignty as students. The process is more democratic, responsible, and focused on the wellbeing of both the individual and the group. While keeping the heart of the ancient teachings, the practice becomes trauma-informed, true to how the modern mind works, and accountable to the people in the room.

I find that hopeful. The teachings of yoga were never meant to make us smaller or more dependent. They were meant to help us come home to ourselves. They were meant to help us “Live with Heart,” and to share this heart-centered way of living and being with our world.