Guru as Relationship: Lineage, Community, and the Light We Share

This month at the shala we’ve been exploring the theme of guru and the guru mantra — reflecting on what “guru” really means, and the many forms our teachers can take.

When we chant the guru mantra, we call on the names of teachers in our lineage — Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva. It’s easy to picture gurus as distant sages, almost superhuman figures. But the truth is, yoga has mostly been passed on through relationship: teacher to student, person to person.

Most of us are here because someone — a teacher, a friend, maybe even a stranger — held out a thread that guided us toward practice. That thread stretches back through generations, from countless people weaving together a lineage by sharing what they’ve learned.

And it doesn’t just flow one way. We are always both students and teachers. I’ve learned so much simply by watching and listening to the people practicing beside me. As Thich Nhat Hanh said, “the next Buddha will be a Sangha.” Our community itself is a guru.

Every time we gather, we create a space where learning happens. Each person brings something unique — their energy, their questions, their knowledge. Some days you might show up radiant, holding the lamp for someone else. Other days you may feel down, and it will be the quiet steadiness of another’s practice that lights your way through.

Guru isn’t only the person at the front of the room or the names we invoke in mantra. Guru is also the space between us — the web of relationships where wisdom is exchanged. It’s not centralized or one-directional. It’s diverse, shared, and alive, held together by all of us.

So I invite you to think about: 

How has community supported or guided your learning of yoga, inside or outside the shala? 

What threads brought you to yoga, and how are you carrying the thread forward?

A blog post by Ellie Zeitlin. Come join her for class on Mondays 5:30pm and Thursdays 9:30am