Thursday, April 22, 2010

the gap between near and far






Sometimes I feel like I am on the yoga episode of Sesame Street. Last night at Shri I had 7(!) awesome and interested students wanting to learn about Ashtanga Yoga. It was the first yoga class ever for three of them. While I was in Philadelphia I had a great talk with tax guru and all around amazing friend, Adam. We were talking about how a teacher can't really get you there...a teacher can inspire and give foundation and support but getting there....well...that's all you. He reminded me of this blog that our friend and teacher, David Keil wrote while he was practicing in Goa this winter. You can find all about David under my yoga love section. He is an amazing teacher and all around awesome guy.

"I know Guruji used to talk about a teacher as a signpost, pointing the way. Sharath did it very nicely as well with a metaphor about the area in Goa where we were. He was talking about how he could tell us how to get to Panjim (Panaji-big town in Goa) and how there might be a right or left turn here, or to watch out for snakes or potholes etc… But, just because he told us how to get t.here didn’t mean that we would arrive. We would still have to get on the scooter and drive ourselves there and maybe even find things that we weren’t expecting. Perhaps we could even find a different route? (last sentence mine, not Sharath’s… and whole thing paraphrased)."

Here are some pictures from my ever expanding life in Providence.

3 comments:

Amanda said...

i <3 the mysore group pic. it makes my heart smile.

Anonymous said...

I like the foot picture

Janette said...

Comments about teaching - so true.