3.11 Teacher as Therapist

Sarah is a new Kundalini Yoga teacher. She is young and impressionable. Normally fun loving and confident, she recently hit a rough spot and has become increasingly fearful and sad. She decided to approach her original teacher-trainer, Mantra Singh, for his advice and mentoring. ​

Mantra Singh had studied psychology but was not a trained therapist. He told Sarah all her problems were due to childhood traumas and her lax spiritual practice. He took on a pseudo “therapeutic” role telling her that if she practiced a specific pranayama and completed a 40-day meditation, plus met with him for weekly counseling sessions, she could resolve her problems and go back to being her happy-go-lucky self. ​

Sarah did as she was advised but continued to go into a dark place. Her friends became worried and encouraged her to see a psychologist. Sarah resisted as she felt that would be disloyal to Mantra Singh and she did not want to offend him.​

Please identify THREE (3) problematic behaviors Mantra Singh demonstrated:

A) Mantra Singh provided counseling or “psychotherapy” which is not within the scope of a Kundalini Yoga teacher’s practice.​

B) When Sarah came to Mantra Singh asking for help, he recognized she was struggling and did not guide her toward seeking professional help.

C) Mantra Singh guaranteed that under his guidance her problems would be solved.

D) When Sarah first approached Mantra Singh he didn’t refer her to her current teacher-trainer.

When you’ve got your best answer, proceed to the next section.