I will start this post with I'm Pitta, it's 100 degrees in Ohio and I have been getting up at 5 am for the past 3 weeks to teach a 6 am practice. Now the fact that I am Pitta and it's 100 degrees in Ohio is out of my control. I just have to literally melt into that.
The fact that I chose to put a 6 am class on the schedule for a month is, well, insanity. Why did I choose that choice? Seriously, the morning hours are sacred to me. This is when I choose to commune with Spirit. This is when I have my intimate moments and discussions with what is sacred to me. This is MY time and it's beyond sacred. It's my date with God. God expects I will show. I expect God will show.
Teaching a practice and leading meditation is not the same as practicing and meditating. To say the least...I'm going out of balance. Okay, I am out of balance. Pitta grrrrrrrrrr.
So why did I choose to do this? EOM has a teacher training program. My intent is to turn out some really powerful yoga teachers. I know from being a teacher and from running a studio that has lots of teachers/instructors that if you do not have a personal practice of yoga and meditation, you will be a yoga instructor and not a yoga teacher, no matter what. If you aren't walking the walk, you can't talk the talk. I want to give my teachers in training the opportunity to establish their practice. I want them to understand what I understand...the morning hours are sacred.
So, today when only 2 of my teachers in training showed up (and the numbers have been dwindling as the weeks have passed) I felt pretty bad. I felt ineffective as a teacher and as a leader. I felt that my ability to inspire must be diminished. I felt depleted and just plain tired. I also felt insane. Why do I care so much about yoga? Why is this desire to teach others so deep in me and so important? After all, isn't this just yoga? It's just yoga. Right?
Once I returned home, I realized I needed a little renewal. When I need uplifting, I find one of my teachers. I searched for a lecture from Yogi Bhajan. As Spirit would have it, I found just the right message. Here's what Yogi Bhajan had to say about being a teacher of teachers:
"There is no relationship between a stone and a chisel and that is the relationship between student and a teacher. A teacher has no investment in his own life and his environment and he has greatness except to create student of tomorrow. Teacher greatness is not how great teacher is, teacher greatness is not how watched he is, is not how happy and wealthy and how many people serve him and how many people adore him and how many people like him and how many people dislike him and how powerful he is. The only sense which makes to a teacher is will there be a teacher tomorrow that will be ten times better than me? A student has to be ten times better than his teacher."
See you at 6!
Om Shanti, Pamela
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