Important Guidelines for 
Teachers
Serving in Mazunte

Hridaya Mexico Teacher Code of Conduct

At Hridaya Yoga, we are committed to maintaining a safe, respectful, and professional environment for all students, staff, and teachers. Teachers are required to read and sign this Code of Conduct annually, reaffirming their commitment to ethical principles and the well-being of our community.

Scope

This code applies not only to behavior at the Hridaya centers, but also during off-site activities, online programs, digital communications, and informal gatherings.

The Hridaya Vision

By choosing to serve at a Hridaya center, teachers agree to respect and support both the Hridaya Yoga Vision and the Hridaya Vision on Tantra and Sexuality.

Hridaya exists to support sincere human beings in awakening to the Spiritual Heart, recognizing their True Nature, and allowing this recognition to be expressed through love, clarity, freedom, and compassion in daily life.

Teachers’ presence in the community should be a catalyst for kindness and love, inspiring in every member of our community the intimate and reassuring feeling of being in an authentic spiritual sangha.

In supporting and guiding our students, teachers agree to maintain the purity of intention, consecrating the fruits of their actions to the Spiritual Heart. This attitude excludes any manipulative tendencies or willingness to take advantage of students or teachers’ position in the community. Rather, they exude a caring, loving attitude of service.

Ethical Conduct and Respect

Foundational Agreements

All teachers agree to:

  • Respect the yamas and niyamas and express the Fourteen Hridaya Attitudes and the Hridaya Values and Principles.
  • Treat all students, teachers, and guests with respect, dignity, and fairness.
  • Uphold professional and ethical standards in all interactions. This includes reliably fulfilling responsibilities, maintaining clarity appropriate to the teacher-student relationship, respecting confidentiality, communicating with care, being accountable for mistakes, and using their authority as teachers responsibly.
  • Avoid any form of discrimination, intimidation, or abusive behavior.
  • Understand that coming to teach, practice, and serve at our center means that they agree to be humble and open to constructive feedback from other teachers, Karma Yogis, administrative staff, and students.
  • Offer feedback, questions, and concerns with sincerity, maturity, and a genuine wish to support greater clarity, integrity, and alignment. When a teacher experiences an enduring and fundamental divergence from Hridaya’s vision or direction, even after sincere dialogue, the teacher and the school are invited to discern honestly whether continuing to teach at Hridaya remains an expression of integrity and mutual trust. Hridaya, in turn, commits to receiving such feedback with openness, discernment, and respect.
  • Keep an attitude of aspiration, openness, and receptivity to the spiritual guidance and recommendations offered to them by Sahajananda and other senior teachers.
  • Commit to their ongoing spiritual practice and inner deepening, understanding that their presence as a teacher is supported by continuous Self-Inquiry, humility, and transformation.
  • Recognize that teachers serve as pillars of the community and are encouraged to model appropriate behavior. This includes continuously aspiring to embody the Hridaya values in daily life; honoring sangha agreements that support personal practice, collective harmony, and the retreat environment, including dedicated school-wide mauna times; and participating in sangha gatherings and other events as agreed upon. A Hridaya teacher is not expected to appear perfect, but to live sincerely, acknowledge mistakes, remain teachable, and return again and again to the Heart.
  • Offer teaching and service in the spirit of Karma Yoga, with a willingness to support the center and the community as needs arise, according to their capacity.
  • Support a sattvic environment by refraining from smoking, recreational or illicit drug use, drunkenness, and habitual alcohol consumption, at minimum during periods when they are actively serving as a teacher at one of the Hridaya centers. This includes not organizing or participating in ayahuasca ceremonies or other events centered on the use of hallucinogenic, psychedelic, or strongly consciousness-altering substances while actively serving.
    While Hridaya recommends abstaining from substance use altogether, this agreement is not intended to monitor teachers’ private lives, but to ensure that any such use does not compromise their integrity, clarity, conduct, or capacity to represent and transmit the Hridaya teachings.
    In cases of serious substance abuse, even outside formal teaching contexts, endorsement as a Hridaya teacher may be temporarily suspended.
  • Offer any private services or outside workshops with transparency, integrity, and respect for Hridaya’s values. Teaching responsibilities and paid services should remain clearly differentiated, and students should never feel pressured, explicitly or implicitly, to book additional services or believe they will receive any spiritual or pedagogical advantage by doing so.
  • Inform the Program Department before offering off-site workshops in the local area, and ensure they do not conflict with Hridaya programs or contradict the spiritual values of the organization. Outside workshops and private activities may not be promoted or announced in classes without prior approval.
 
Power Dynamics and Spiritual Authority

Teachers hold implicit authority and influence, and therefore have a responsibility to be especially attentive to power imbalances, trust, devotion, and student vulnerability, ensuring these are never exploited.

 
Sexuality, Harassment, and Abuse

Hridaya Yoga understands human sexuality as a divine gift that should be honored with awareness, reverence, and gratitude. Physical sexual intimacy should be expressed in the context of complete consent, sacredness, and love. Therefore, it is expected that teachers will always engage in behaviors consistent with this spiritual understanding of sexuality.

  • Maintain clear, respectful, and professional teacher–student relationships at all times, including in one-on-one meetings, private communications, social media interactions, and other online spaces.
  • All forms of harassment, bullying, or sexual misconduct are strictly prohibited. This includes verbal, physical, and digital misconduct or abuse of authority.
  • Consent must be clear, enthusiastic, ongoing, and freely given. It can be withdrawn at any time and must be respected immediately.
    The following, by themselves, do not constitute consent:
    • Perceived flirtation or attraction
    • Expressions of warmth, friendliness, or openness
    • Tantric, spiritual, or emotionally intimate contexts
    • The absence of verbal refusal or resistance
    • Previous interactions
    • Familiarity or prior relationships
  • Any sexualized behavior occurring within a context of power imbalance is considered high risk and requires heightened attention, regardless of intent.
  • In a spiritual community, relationships may naturally evolve over time. A student may become a friend, and in some cases, mutual romantic feelings may arise. Hridaya does not wish to treat love as something suspicious or wrong. At the same time, teacher-student relationships carry a natural imbalance of role, influence, trust, and vulnerability, and therefore any movement toward a romantic or intimate relationship with a current program participant must be held with clarity, transparency, and care.
    • Teachers should not initiate or enter romantic or sexual relationships with someone while an active teacher-student, mentoring, or evaluative relationship exists. If mutual romantic feelings arise and teachers are considering acting upon them, they must first seek confidential ethical consultation with the Program Department Manager (or their designated Teacher Ethics Contact) so that the teaching responsibility can be ended or transferred with clarity and care.
    • A reflection period of at least 30 days will begin after the active teacher-student relationship has clearly ended. A longer period may be appropriate when the teaching relationship has been intensive, evaluative, or marked by particular vulnerability or dependence. The purpose of this process is not to authorize or monitor private relationships, but to protect freedom, dignity, and clarity where a prior imbalance of authority, influence, or responsibility may still be present.
    • Only the relevant change of teaching responsibility and the ethical consultation will be documented. Private relationship details will not be collected unless a safeguarding concern or formal complaint arises.
    • If a student expresses romantic feelings that are not reciprocated, teachers should respond with kindness and clarity, while preserving the integrity and appropriate form of the teacher-student relationship. Consultation with the Program Department is needed only when the situation is repeated, complex, affects the teaching relationship, or raises concerns about vulnerability, pressure, or safety.
    • If the relationship was clearly established before the teacher-student relationship began, the private relationship itself does not need to be reported. However, any potential conflict involving teaching, evaluation, certification, or authority should be addressed transparently and with care.

Confidentiality and Privacy

Teachers agree to:

  • Respect the confidentiality and privacy of students, staff, and other teachers.
  • Respect the confidentiality of personal information or experiences shared by students. Relevant information may be shared with members of the teaching team when needed to support the student’s safety, practice, or well-being, but should not be shared indiscriminately or with others without the student’s consent.
  • Handle personal data with care, discretion, and integrity. This includes phone numbers, email addresses, home addresses, health information, emergency contacts, registration details, enrollment history, payment information, personal notes, and any other information stored in Hridaya systems. Teachers may access, use, and/or share this information only when necessary for an authorized purpose.
  • Refrain from sharing students’ personal stories, images, or testimonials on social media or public platforms without explicit prior consent.

Reporting Misconduct

  • If teachers directly witness, receive a disclosure of, or become aware of credible information concerning possible sexual misconduct, harassment, abuse of power, or a serious safeguarding concern, they will report it promptly using the Form for Reporting Sexual Misconduct, Harassment, or Abuse of Power specific to the center where they are teaching (France or Mexico). If the information is uncertain, indirect, or difficult to interpret, they will seek confidential guidance from the Care and Accountability Committee rather than investigating the matter themselves.
  • If someone shares concerning information with a teacher but asks that it not be reported or that the conversation remain confidential, they are still asked to submit a brief report for documentation purposes. The report will note only that a confidential conversation concerning a potential misconduct or safeguarding issue occurred and that the person requested confidentiality. Where appropriate, and within the bounds of the confidentiality discussed with the person, the report may identify the person raising the concern and the person the concern relates to, without including unnecessary details or otherwise disclosing the substance of the conversation.
  • Participants may report complaints via the forms linked above or by emailing our confidential addresses for France or Mexico. If a participant speaks to a teacher directly, they will listen with care, avoid pressing for unnecessary details, explain the available reporting options, and support the person in contacting the appropriate channel. Teachers will refrain from promising absolute confidentiality, as information related to safety may need to be shared with a limited number of responsible people.
  • Complaints will be reviewed with care and discernment by the relevant center’s Care and Accountability Committee, made up of trusted long-term members of the community.
  • Those who raise concerns or make reports in good faith will be protected from retaliation, exclusion, or informal negative consequences. Appropriate supportive and protective measures may be taken while a concern is being reviewed.
  • The person whose conduct is questioned will also be treated with dignity, fairness, and compassion. A report does not in itself establish wrongdoing. Hridaya will seek to avoid both the minimization of genuine harm and premature judgment, labeling, or compassionless criticism.

Commitment to Practice and Morning Meditation

Hridaya teachers recognize that teaching is rooted not only in what they share, but in how they practice, live, and remain inwardly connected to the Spiritual Heart. A steady personal practice of Hridaya Meditation, Self-Inquiry, and inner transformation is therefore an essential foundation for teaching. 

Especially while actively serving at a Hridaya center, teachers are asked to make sincere efforts to participate regularly in the daily morning meditation. This shared practice strengthens the field of awareness, silence, aspiration, and Love within the school and reminds teachers and students alike that practice is at the heart of everything we do. While personal circumstances and responsibilities are acknowledged, repeated absence invites honest reflection and, when needed, a conversation about how to restore a living connection with this essential practice.

Concluding Inspirations

These guidelines are not intended to limit teachers’ freedom, but to support the conditions in which true freedom, trust, and spiritual deepening can flourish. They are offered as expressions of spiritual common sense and as part of our shared aspiration to create a conscious community.

We envision Hridaya as a spiritual community rooted in love, truthfulness, openheartedness, and respect for the sacredness of each being. By living these values with sincerity and consistency, we hope to offer a space that supports genuine transformation and inspires others to reconnect with their Real Nature.

These guidelines apply to all Hridaya teachers actively serving at our centers. If they are not upheld, Hridaya may take appropriate action, including pausing or ending a teacher’s responsibility at the center. In serious cases, this may include the suspension or ending of teaching responsibilities or, when necessary, legal action, in order to protect the integrity of the practice, the well-being of the community, and the trust placed in our teachers.

Annual Acknowledgment

Our Vision on Tantra and Sexuality

Hridaya Community Vision

Each year, all on-site teachers affirm that they have read, understood, and agree to comply with this Code of Conduct, committing to uphold these principles in their interactions with students, teachers, staff, and the community.