What It Means to Belong to a Lineage
In our modern yoga world, the word lineage is often used loosely—sometimes to create a sense of legitimacy, sometimes as a marketing hook, and often without the depth or relationship the term really implies.
Lineage is not a slogan or a borrowed idea. It is a lived commitment, a responsibility, and a source of true integrity in how we teach.
To belong to a lineage is not a title you attach to your name because you took a class with a well-known teacher or watched someone’s online course.
It is a relationship formed over years of study, mentorship, and shared inquiry. A lineage shapes how you think, how you practice, and ultimately, how you teach.
A Lineage Is a Relationship, Not an Association.
In today’s yoga landscape, lineage can be claimed simply because someone:
Attends a single event with a popular teacher
Takes an online course and now uses the teacher’s name for credibility
Incorporates bits of borrowed philosophy into a newly branded method
Associates themselves with a tradition they’ve never truly studied in depth
But, even though these forms may create a certain appeal, they lack the substance that comes from real, ongoing mentorship.
A lineage-based relationship actually means:
You study with a teacher consistently over time.
You are in an active, ongoing relationship with your teachers to receive guidance that is personal and evolving.
Your teachers recognize you as a student—formally or informally—and take responsibility for your development.
You are shaped not just by what is taught, but by how it’s transmitted.
You are given a blessing, or approval, when it’s time to start teaching what you have learned.
You feel a responsibility to represent the tradition well.
Your learning continues long after any certification is complete.
As such, lineage is formed through commitment, dedication, time, and study.
Giving Credit Where It Belongs
True lineage also means acknowledging where the teachings come from. It means resisting the urge to claim techniques as your own inventions or to repackage ancient insights under a shiny new brand.
Honoring lineage means you:
Recognize and name the teachers who shaped your understanding—knowing that honoring your influences does not diminish your own growth or insight, but strengthens it.
Acknowledge the roots of the practices and techniques you offer, rather than presenting them as inventions or branding them with a “personal spin.”
Understand that your voice as a teacher emerges from relationship, not isolation—your work is enriched by the wisdom that has moved through you.
Contribute to the continuity of the tradition by keeping the origins of the teachings visible and respected.
Teach with transparency and humility, showing your students how wisdom travels through lineage rather than appearing from nowhere.
This kind of integrity is essential if we want Yoga to remain connected to its origins rather than dissolve into trend-driven reinvention.
Lineage is a lifelong relationship. Your teacher remains a guide, a mirror, and someone who helps refine your understanding as you grow.
In a lineage, you are never “done.” You are continually participating in a living tradition.
What Lineage Looks Like at Circle Yoga Shala
Holly and Matthew’s decades of mentorship were not casual encounters—they were long-term, intentional relationships with teachers who invested deeply in them.
As a result, the teachings offered at the Shala are not assembled from disconnected sources or borrowed fragments. They are part of a coherent, living transmission—adapted thoughtfully for modern practitioners while rooted in the integrity of the tradition they come from.
We teach with full awareness that these ideas did not start with us. Our responsibility is to carry them forward with the same clarity, care, and humility with which they were given.
When you train with a school grounded in lineage, you step into more than a program.
You join a stream of wisdom that has shaped teachers for generations.
You inherit the stability and clarity of that tradition. And over time, you add your own voice back into it.
To belong to a lineage is to know where your teachings come from—and to honor that truth.
At Circle Yoga Shala, we hold this responsibility at the center of our work.
If you choose to study with us, you become part of a tradition that values depth over trend, relationship over branding, and integrity over convenience.
This is what lineage truly means—and why it matters.
