All we do is talk about the variants that distort Yoga, upheavals developed by more or less creative, astute, improvised masters. In order not to give in to empty criticism, it may be useful to see more closely what a Yoga teacher training course implies and how it is done. We asked Alice Frantellizzi, an apprentice teacher of Yoga.

Let's start from the root. How did you approach Yoga practice?

As a child. I practiced with my mother, who attended a course in Yoga. I enjoyed it: there were all these Yoga positions that evoked animals, I liked it a lot and I kept practicing. Then I followed my university studies and, after an intense period of travel, I resumed the practice and discovered its therapeutic value.

Why do you feel you want to take the path of training in Yoga?

It is a bit of an impulse halfway between desire and need, both thrusts that I felt, at a certain point in my journey, which I listened to, humble. Teaching Yoga to me means pulling out my creative part, which will express itself in different ways depending on the person I will have in front of me.

Path that, at the moment, you are carrying out along with another job that allows you to live. On the long run, imagine your life on two tracks: Yoga on one side, further work on the other? Or at some point the two "rivers" will flow together?

Look, just a while ago I was reading a very interesting article in Yoga Journal in which the stories of people who have always carried out work and development of the simultaneous Yoga practice were brought to the fore. In particular, the Yoga Journal article reported the cases of two boys, a musician and an engineer involved in photovoltaics: the first combined martial arts with music and the second, after distancing himself from engineering to devote himself to practice, he then returned to his work with a different spirit, a desire to spend himself in society in new, useful forms.

I do not exclude the idea of ​​being able to combine my education in the political sphere with the knowledge of Yoga, an almost "mythical" idea, if you will, inspired by the supreme example of Gandhi, a great ascetic who brought about very precious ethical lessons in political reality. During my stay in India I was hosted by the party of Sonia Ghandi, I participated in various events and I could see the moral heritage of this great man up close.

It shouldn't happen, but in a Yoga class we often create tension or rivalry among those who participate. These are questions you will have to deal with as a teacher. What do you think they depend on?

Yes, mechanisms of this kind can be triggered, especially between beginners and advanced. The master must know how to manage them. It is the "distorted" results of an entirely Western approach to an Eastern practice. Instead we must return to respect : respect for the practice, for the context and for the actors of the context. Competition is something that we implant in a practice to which this component does not belong.

Instead, we need self- listening, concentration, self-observation and our own limits .

From here to become self-centered the step is short ...

Many argue that these practices inflate the ego. In fact, after the practice it feels good, you can stretch yourself, sleep, walk, every action is light and clean. The superego takes a moment to go a thousand and it is at that point that, as the great Patanjali said, one falls. It is therefore necessary to start again from the body, to return there and from there to carry out a self-analysis, to investigate the things that have led you to fall .