If we’re lucky enough to have a safe and nurturing environment as a kid like I did (thanks mom and dad, you were phenomenal), we get this honeymoon period in our tender years when self-trust comes naturally. Then as teachers and other lifestyle-influencers, however well meaning, get their hands on us and begin to mold us and erect guard rails around us? Or begin pigeon-holing our natural curiosity into the metaphysical realm into a rigid religious structure? Self-trust erodes. Over time, we look more and more outside ourselves – and certainly outside our own bodies – for approval, for validation that we’re worthy of love, or for exterior evidence that we have a place that matters in this world.
Erich Schiffmann’s discoveries about self-practice have influenced and empowered thousands of yogis teaching and practicing today, culminating in a style he calls Freedom Yoga. This unpretentious teacher has left an enduring mark on a generation of yogis and teachers inspired by his take on making the shift from doing someone else’s yoga to doing your own.
