3 Jewels of Practice: the Guru, the Dharma and the Sangha by Gabe Hopp

In the eastern arts of Buddhism and Yoga, the powers that be recognized that the practitioners of their schools would need help along the way. A support system is absolutely necessary when undertaking a life-long journey of transformation, which will be full of challenges large and small.  They recognized that we would need help working through the difficulties, celebrating the progress and holding ourselves accountable to our practice. Out of this awareness came the three jewels of practice: the teacher, the teachings and the community of practitioners. A jewel or a gem suggests that each are precious, rare and valuable. As a whole, they offer the student a sense of security and a safety net along the journey. Let’s take a moment to consider each jewel individually.

The Teacher

In Buddhism, the teacher is the Buddha. In Yoga, the teacher is the Guru. In modern day practice, the teacher is the person heading up the class you’re taking, the person who leads your meditation group, the person who conducts the weekend workshop you attend. If your teacher has a direct lineage, you may consider your teachers’ teacher as one of your teachers. But, the teacher is not limited to an external “head honcho” type. Because, the truest teacher is YOU. You know better than anyone what feels right in your body, what type of meditation works best for you, how you understand the teachings presented. You get to decide how often you practice, when, where, with what intensity…you get the picture. So, when you picture the guru/buddha/teacher, allow for a holistic vision of what that means.

The Teachings

The teachings, called the dharma, are the gems of wisdom provided by the ancient teachers and practitioners and those re-imagined and passed down through our current teachers. There are countless scriptures, canons, poems, verses, books, sutras, etc. that we can look to for guidance. In the yoga tradition, we often consult the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika and the Bhagavad Gita for clues, tidbits and the wisdom of those who developed the many systems of yoga. There is a teaching for almost everything, if you know where to look. The teachers and the community are great resources for finding a teaching that resonates with you. If you have a good teacher, they will share the wisdom of the teachings in their own distillation of the practice.

The Community

The community of fellow practitioners is called the sangha. A sangha is a group of like-minded students who are also on the same path as you. Through your experiences together, such as taking a yoga class, meditation, workshops, coffee or tea after class, you grow together and you support each other. Ideally there is excitement and joy when you see your fellow students walk in the classroom. Especially if you haven’t seen them since the pandemic began! The joy of a community helps unite you as a group and helps the whole establishment  of teachers and students thrive. We have been lucky to have Zoom to keep us together as a sangha throughout this challenging time, but the true magic happens when we’re all in a room together.