Q: As a life science teacher, I have responsibility for the way that students think about how life works. When my experience of yoga conflicts with conventional science, I do my best to tread lightly and consider the fullness of the moment. I would be grateful for your insight on these moments of tension and the power that we have as teachers to shape the thinking of others.

You should not shape the thinking of others because if you successfully shape –usually you cannot succeed – but if you succeed in shaping the thought process of another person, that means you produced a carbon copy of yourself. That is not the intention of education.

The greatest thing that you can do when it comes to life sciences is, in every class that you handle, make sure that you say, “I don’t know” at least thrice. Let the children learn that they do not know, because ignorance is and will always be a much bigger possibility than knowledge.

In the yogic culture, we always train people to identify with their ignorance because knowledge is a very limited thing, but ignorance is a limitless possibility. Let children be in touch with that which is limitless, not the limitedness of the teacher or the textbook.