I am sometimes made uncomfortable by how I am perceived by my students. I am not a perfect being. I am flawed. I am human.
I have observed my teachers made uncomfortable by a student’s idolization. Yes, we practice and we teach yoga but we are not more enlightened than the masses. It just means we are working on it.
Here is an excerpt from Central Mass Yoga & Wellness’s recent blog. It resonated with me today.
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Your yoga teacher has car trouble.
Your yoga teacher has kids.
Your yoga teacher has good days and bad.
Your yoga teacher skips practice sometimes.
Your yoga teacher forgets what leg you are on.
Your yoga teacher goes to the grocery store.
In the age of Yoga Journal and other publications which glorify flashy poses, it is easy to think yoga teachers come fully formed out of the womb in scorpion pose (Vrschikasana). What these magazines and even the honored position of teacher at the front of the room don’t show, are the years of practice it took to get to a pose.
Each teacher, no matter how advanced or fresh off the YTT farm, started at square one for their body. They each had a first time on the mat in which they no doubt thought there was no way their body would ever do x, y and z. We all found our way to yoga through a different avenue but make no mistake, once we found the road, we too had to practice and still do. We each have our difficult, easy and trigger poses. We struggle with tightness in our body, unusual shape, short arms and the like, but we practice….. No one of us is above or separate from practice. Practice is all we have, there is no finish line.. ”
Thank you CY&W.
http://centralmassyoga.com
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