30 Dec 2012 QA-5

Gurudev, what does it mean to be a full time Art of Living teacher? And what kind of a person can do it?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Well, you don't need to be a full time teacher. You can become a part time teacher. Teaching takes up only two hours of your time.
Courses are usually held in the evenings, when people are finished with their work. You can take a course for three days, four days or five days, depending on the format. You can teach one or two courses a month.

Moreover, you can gather two or three teachers and take courses together, so you don't feel the load on you. It helps take the pressure off you. Suppose you have to take your child to do some shopping, then you don’t need to think, ‘Oh! I have a course, how can I do that.’ Then, you have another teacher who can take care. So, I would recommend that two teachers take a course together. Then you can have your job, continue with whatever you are doing professionally, and on the side, you can teach and help people around.

If you do not have any (personal) requirements, any pressure around, then you can dedicate your life. If you can say, ‘I need very little for myself, and I want to teach full time’, then you can do that also. But I would say, first become a part-time teacher, do some work.