Yoga and kindness

Josie - yoga, originally uploaded by veggy.

You think yoga and kindness would go hand in hand. That women who can put herself in a pretzel, that has been practicing yoga for 20 years must be a nice person right? Not necessarily. She may be flexible but may not have a well rounded practice of meditation, mantra, karma or whatever else would be needed to explore her need to do asana all the time.She probably isn't breathing properly either. Human beings need balance, not just in asana but in every field of life. I have been having a hard time with my yoga instructors who stand up at the front of class and teach what they believe is the truth but then when you get on the tube with them they don't give up there seat to a senior, or they treat people in their studios poorly. It seems like an epidemic. Like politicians who seek power, there are yoga instructors who are not kind. I feel kindness is a foundation of yoga and this was reiterated in my weekend workshop with Max Strom. I don't claim to be perfect, and the good teachers will share this statement, you do your best and work on being a better person.
Maybe it is hard to be kind in a city that is moody, busy, where your space in constantly invaded? We are in primal attack mode constantly, but yoga instructors are known globally for being not very nice ego maniacs.
Kindness is key to any practice.