Last week I wrote about my visit to Austin, TX attending the Symposium of Yoga Therapy and Research (SYTAR). Aside from the amazing learning experience in the realm of yoga therapy, I was in the presence of two of my primary teachers, Nischala Joy Devi and Judith Hanson Lasater. I can’t remember a time when BOTH teachers have been in the same place at the same time. It worked out that I had time with both of them and the impact of that came as a surprise to me.
Following a session with Nischala, I waited in line to say hello and thank her for the session. My intention was to express my gratitude for the impact she’s made upon me, not only a teacher, but as a guiding light. The first time I met Nischala was eight years ago during my yoga therapy training in Northern California. We were in the first stages of the course which began in a way that I found frustrating. And then, in walks Nischala, a literal beacon of radiance. She taught us in a way that was stern yet completely passionate. Ever since those moments, I have aspired to follow in her example.
At the conference, I was the last person in line waiting for Nischala and as I began to speak with her I began to cry. Not in a teary- eyed way, but in a way that felt as though all of the gratitude I held in my heart came rushing up and out, getting caught in my throat. It completely took me by surprise. What I did manage to communicate to her, in a less than eloquent way, was how much her teachings shaped my teaching. That her voice was in my voice. That I quoted from her writings and recommended her work. That her advice in working within a western medical model was still spot on. I didn’t fully realize how powerful it is to have a teacher who through her own compassion and experience, influenced me over such a long period of time. She stood there, quietly listening and then hugged me saying, “I know that what you’re doing is enough and is making a difference.” Well, that pushed me over the edge and I was truly left speechless with the lump of my heart lodged firmly in my throat.
We don’t become good or even great teachers by accident. We all need guidance, we all need a reflection of our own potential and we need to apply what we’ve been given through the filter of our own voice. I am not Nischala Devi’s or Judith Lasater’s clone. I am a student of their teachings who has had to find her own way of expression. Yet they are like parents imprinting my yoga DNA, just as their teachers shaped who they are.
Upon my return to teaching on Monday morning, I was inspired to ask my students to reflect on who their teachers were. Who is the first person you truly saw as your teacher? Parent, relative, sibling, friend or in school? What was it that they brought to you? And what was the lesson(s) you took away from their presence?
When we are ready to learn what’s next, a sense of letting go needs to happen. What we hold onto can get in the way of our own expansion. In order to see the lesson, we have to open up a space within us to allow it to manifest. How many times has a lesson been right in front of your face and you ignored it? The saying, “when the student is ready, the teacher appears” rings true as being ready means surrendering.
I have had many teachers with my Dad being the first and most influential (how appropriate I’m writing this as tomorrow is Father’s Day!!). I have been gifted several amazing beings who have taught me extensively. Ju Ping Tian and Bernard Petiot, international gymnastics coaches from China and Canada; Mr. O’Brien, my 9th grade English teacher; Andrea Buchanan, a physical education teacher in Australia; and all of my hundreds and hundreds of students and clients over my 32 year career.
Lessons are constantly upon us. What is your current lesson? What is it that you need to learn right now? When you realize what your lesson is, that becomes your practice. My lesson is one of letting go of being perfect and understanding my value. My lesson, as Judith Lasater says, “is to see with soft eyes”. I will forever be a student and, in that lesson, I have nothing but gratitude for the profound impact it has already had upon me.
I bow to those who teach me…my heart is cracked open wide and I can sense the light dropping in.
