The impossible task of explaining yoga, with Barbara Benagh and John Schumacher
I wanted to bring Barbara Benagh and John Schumacher back onto Practicing Well to take the conversation on yoga lineage further. They have been teaching yoga for decades—100 years between the two of them—so I brought them back to talk about what it means to be an elder in this craft. We discussed how teaching and learning have changed over the years, and how in their cases, their practice and teaching have both evolved. Both Barbara and John shared how difficult it is to teach yoga, to pass on these deep, truthful experiences, and to make that relevant for anyone. We also got into the business of yoga and where to place aging yoga teachers at a time when tastes between millennials and baby boomers (such as John and Barbara) are so different.