A moment of Gratitude

10/20/2018

The picture to the left is exactly why I love teaching yoga, this simple gift that said everything.

Part of my practice is to bring yoga to those who normally can't afford it or have never been exposed to it. To take people who haven't been in touch with their bodies for years, accept them as they come to the mat with jeans and wool socks and they turn into yogis is the magic I get to witness.

This picture comes from a student who was initially super resistant to yoga ( actually said "I Hate Yoga" to me). I heard and just stood for the healing awaiting.

My job as a yoga instructor is not to help people perfect the poses. It is to help them stop the self imposed war on themselves and to find their "True Self" or " Bliss State". Whenever I see people needing to feed the ego by posting selfies of themselves in a yoga pose, I wonder, " where is their yoga?". ( now as a yoga business owner, I will eventually have a slew of pictures of me too..so feel free to ask me.......just sayin'!)

I wonder do they know , or even teach , that there is so much more to yoga than whether you can achieve someone else's perception of perfect? What about the mind? The peace of the soul?

As a curvy yoga teacher for many years, I have on more occasions that I can count, had students come into my class, snap their mat into place ( PS that is considered rude), and sigh the whole time I am teaching. Some will even say, " do you do anything more advanced?".

Thank you for asking, yes I do! I teach you how to first stop judging yourself so harshly, encourage freedom by connecting people to the breath, to nature and to drop preconceived ideas and opinions of self. To identify that we are all one people and the idea of advanced is a perception of ego within self. I teach the "other poses", poses of the breath, mind and heart, a sense of belonging and community.

That kind of teaching, the kind of teachers of old who were loved and respected by their students, is how I was trained. It is with great joy that I carry on that tradition,. It is with amazement and joy that people who "hate yoga" can turn to embrace it's very core.

I am grateful that I also teach those who normally would not come to a yoga studio, It is at their feet that I learn humility , community and get to see the miracle of love in action. My students make me the yogi I am today.

Thank you