When I was a little girl, my American father taught me the principles and practices of yoga. Its seed has grown into my tree of life, governing my moral and ethical considerations, my physical practice, and the ways in which I serve, contemplate and learn.

My father's teacher was an Indian yogi. Sachindra Majumdar taught him one-on-one, as a parent would raise his child. Majumdar's guru, Swami Shivananda, taught Majumdar one-on-one. Shivananda's guru, Sri Ramakrishna taught one-on-one, according to individual temperament and constitution. This is the traditional way of passing on yoga.

Today, in the West, the teaching of yoga has altered seismically. Today, thousands of yoga instructors are introducing millions of consumers to the basics of awareness, knowledge and bliss. Now we have large classes, as many as 80 students with one instructor. More often than not, only hatha yoga is taught. The instructor may only have a recent acquaintance with the physical practice of yoga, and know next to nothing of yoga as a world view. Even if she is well versed in the science of yoga, her students may be only interested in the physical practice, most often for exercise or to relieve stress.

Regardless of the student's initial aim, the practice of yoga repairs our inner as well as our outer bodies. It releases us from great fear. It dissolves our feelings of separation from self and other. It floods us with a sense of well being and unconditional love.

Yoga opens the heart, and the mind follows, flexible as the wind. As we begin to lose our self centeredness we notice what is happening around us. We naturally feel the urge to help. When we see the elevator operator and her big smile, we may feel the desire to vote to improve our corporation's employee benefits plan. We may send our surplus clothing to the hurricane victims despite having little time to get to the post office. We dare to care for others because we are daring to care for ourselves.

So, without knowing why, we may devote ourselves to an inner breath/song/life force that answers our daily pains and sorrows. Our sensuous experience encourages our minds to re-enter our bodies. Here we may find joy.

We need to find a balance between eastern and western approaches to satisfaction. Just as western ingenuity and determination draws India out of economic subsistence through techno-industry into a position of leadership in the 21st century, India's ancient science of yoga guides us inward, where we may recognize our vulnerability on a planet whose cycles have been thrown off kilter through humanity's unconscious greed.

Will this rebalancing of energies save our planet? I do not have the big answers. But I do believe that basic yoga instruction from an amateur is better than no yoga instruction, because I know that yoga itself is the teacher. I thank yoga for taking root here today in the West. Through its practice, casual or profound, we are now finding an East/West way of being. Jai all Yogis and Yoginis, Jai! East and West are shaking hands.

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Portia Brockway is a yoga instructor, a published essayist and poet, and a visual artist living and teaching yoga in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts. She may be reached at 617-864-YOGA (9642) or visit her website at: www.yogainharvardsquare.com.

This article was published in the Fall issue of Reaching Out with Yoga, a Canadian yoga magazine.