A Few Lessons I Learned From My First Yoga Teacher

In this audio, I go over a few lessons I still remember from my first yoga teacher, Jeff Migdow. Obviously, I learned a lot in my teaching course but here are a few takeaways that stood out to me after many years! Focus more on the Prana body. Be more mindful and commit 100% to an action. Understand the genius of the Chakra system. Learn about high vibrational practices. Detach from the psychological mind and focus more on being. Focus more on the positive than the negative.

Please note: This audio is ripped from a video.

Transcript

Hey,

This is Ish,

And today I want to talk to you about some of the lessons I learned from my first yoga teacher,

Jeff McDowell.

And this is mostly going to be me sounding like I was very dumb at the time and some of the lessons,

Wise lessons I've learned from him.

So I was 19 at the time when I took my first yoga teaching training.

And at the time I was coming from a power based yoga style of yoga.

So I was really into fitness and working out and I had heard about this teaching training and I drove over and I actually ended up being 55 minutes late to the one hour training session.

So I just walked in super late and missed all of it.

But I kind of got a glimpse of the lesson style and it was very interesting because it was more on the inner body and I was at the time used to the physical aspects of yoga.

So I kind of missed all that.

And then after class,

I had an opportunity.

I did see the teacher,

Jeff,

Sitting on this hill meditating and I thought I'd join him.

And we meditated in silence just for about half an hour or I think it was 20 minutes or so,

Not too long.

And then afterwards,

I just felt like this energy come from him that was very peaceful and present and I couldn't put my finger on it.

But right then and there,

I knew that I wanted to sign up for this training and it was obviously like the best experience of my life.

But at the time,

I was very dumb because I was just so skeptical and I came in with a closed mind.

But I learned a lot of cool insights along the way.

And actually,

A lot of my teachings now are based off of what I learned in the training.

So the first key thing I learned was yoga and this whole spiritual journey was more on should be more on the inner experience rather than the outside experience.

So like I mentioned,

I came from that power yoga background where I was really pushing myself and trying to be the most flexible in the room.

And my teacher,

Jeff,

Wasn't the most flexible.

And I was kind of perplexed because I was like,

Hey,

You're a teacher.

Like what's going on?

But what I soon came to realize is that he had this inner richness that I was really trying to get at.

But I just didn't understand how.

And the yoga style that we learned was more on chakras and more on moving the prana on your body.

And one cool thing that I learned was that you can tell how good your yoga class is not by the how tired you feel afterwards or how worked out you feel,

But rather the bliss or energy body that you feel inside.

And this is the yoga tradition called prana.

And as I delve deeper and deeper,

I started to feel this prana energy more.

And over the years,

I have had less inclination to push myself physically,

But rather to rest in the being.

And that was one of the key shifts that I've made.

And that actually,

Unfortunately,

Took me a couple of months and years to actually discover that.

And the next lesson he taught me was being mindful.

So one of the things he would do is,

You know,

During our lunch breaks,

We would all eat.

And I just noticed him eating very slowly and actually chewing his food and taking the time to.

And actually did conduct a lesson where he explained why he did that.

It's because to chew your food mindfully and get the saliva.

But also you'd feel the energy of the food that you're consuming and feeling it fully.

And that's something he obviously did,

But he carried this mindfulness in all his activities.

So if he was just walking,

He was just walking.

If he was just sitting,

He was just sitting.

Meanwhile,

All the students were busy on their phones.

And I didn't understand at the time,

But then I realized how that mindfulness is cultivated through doing things 100 percent.

So in your life,

You can think of different activities and things that you're doing,

But carry that out 100 percent.

So if you're listening to me right now,

Hopefully you're not on your phone,

You know,

Scrolling on Facebook while you're listening to this or doing other activities,

But rather taking in the lessons 100 percent.

And then the next important lesson he taught me was to really understand the chakra system.

So because my practice was so focused on the physical body,

I didn't actually get the time to look inwards and actually reflect.

And what I realized about the beauty of the chakra system is that it gives you a clear guideline on what to improve.

So at the time,

I was overly focused on my third chakra,

Which is the power center.

So I was focused on lifting weights and becoming powerful and being very arrogant.

And what he was telling me through his lessons was that I needed to release that excess energy and actually focus more on my fourth chakra energy,

Which is more love,

And then also my fifth chakra energy,

Which is on creativity.

So at the time,

I actually wasn't creating any of these talks or videos,

But it had started me on the journey of creating more rather than just consuming a lot.

So the second chakra energy,

When imbalanced,

Is all about craving and needing things,

Which I always did a lot more at the time.

As opposed to the fifth chakra,

Which is coming from a space of creativity,

Lightness and love.

And then the last lesson was to remain in a state of high vibration,

And that's done through different things.

So we often did things like chanting and singing and drum circles and things of that nature during our sessions.

And coming from,

Like I mentioned,

This background where I was like,

What is this?

This is not yoga.

What is this whole like chanting hippie stuff?

But after all that,

I felt this wave of emotion and prana energy in my body.

So I clearly knew that although my mind was saying,

OK,

What is this?

I could energetically feel positive afterwards.

So that's actually a sign that these higher spiritual practices were shifting my mood and consciousness to a higher level.

And it also taught me to quieten my psychological mind.

That's also something I've noticed,

Too,

Because at the time when I was writing him different entries in our chakra journal,

You can watch my talk on chakra journaling,

He wouldn't answer my question.

And I'm like,

Come on,

Jeff,

What's going on?

I'm writing all this,

Like asking you all these questions.

But he was actually training me to not focus and rely too much on the psychological mind,

But rather let things come from a place of intuition and flowing.

So you're engaging more of the inner body.

It's a bigger lesson.

So you want to disengage from the psychological mind and then focus more on the being and creative aspects of things.

And that's a great thing,

Too.

And then the last lesson is he taught us the value of being positive always.

So,

Well,

Not always,

But focusing more on the good than the bad.

So when we did the practice teaches,

When we were teaching for other students and actually practicing the sequences we were learning to teach,

He always told us the good things and positive things and provided the feedback in a positive light,

Too.

And that's something I realized,

Because in our society,

We tend to harp on the negative.

So you need to improve on this or you're going to get fired.

You need to do this.

You need to change this.

But the shifting was,

Well,

These attention to the positive was great because it raised your vibration and your mood.

And it also provided good feedback when it was said in a positive manner,

In a positive spin.

So I still knew things I needed to work on,

But it came from a positive light.

And this actually came out through all his teachings where I never saw him once in a negative mood or just like giving someone like some harsh criticisms.

And that was really apparent in his energy.

And lastly,

Like his energy,

I keep saying lastly,

But his energy was just very like contagious.

And I saw like how if I kept practicing the same methods that he did,

That eventually I could embody the same kind of energy that he was putting out.

And it was really apparent his sense of calmness and energy,

Because as you go up in the frequencies and your energy levels and energy states,

You tend to attract more good and harmony in your life.

So that's something I noticed that,

You know,

Whenever he'd walk out,

There'd be like birds chirping around him and people would love all the students would come and like say hi to him.

And he had this very chill energy,

But it was very peaceful.

So that's just some of the lessons that I've learned from him.

And it really taught me to focus more on the energy body and inner body and focus on raising my frequency and vibration rather than trying to use yoga as like a power like workout kind of thing or focusing on my physical body.

But rather,

There's a whole vast array of bliss and energy available.

And when you start to shift your energy more inwards,

You'll be able to experience that more.