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Winter 1997

NAMASTE,

Time is an issue for almost everyone I know. It’s gotten so that people have to look at their calendars to schedule bathroom time. Well, not quite that bad maybe, but everywhere you look people are trying to figure out how to find more time in their lives. When I look out at a class of new beginners, I know that their biggest challenge isn’t going to be how to touch their toes or lift their kneecaps; it’s going to be how to find time to add a yoga practice to their already busy lives.

How ironic. Here folks are, coming to yoga class to quiet down and reduce stress and the first things they’re presented with are decisions about rearranging their schedules and practicing. Still, they’ve made time to come to class, so there is some desire, some willingness to change. The first step has been taken. Now comes the teacher’s most difficult job: to stimulate and encourage that desire, that curiosity and to guide the student to nurture it in themselves. And the most effective way to nurture it is through practice. So the teacher has to find a way to help the student build the habit of practicing.

Of course teachers should have developed a regular practice for themselves some time ago. And to be a truly fine teacher, practice time requirements are considerable. The teacher must have her own practice, devoted to challenging her limitations, exploring and working with her weaknesses and building on her strengths. I don’t mean by this that the teacher must constantly do more and more advanced poses, although that may very well be a part of it. I mean, rather, that the intensity, the subtlety of the practice must move from the known to the unknown.

The teacher must also practice with teaching in mind and this is a very different practice from his practice for himself. In this practice he must consider problems that may not be his own, how to work with them, ways to articulate the movements, actions and insights he wants the student to experience in their practice, and a host of other issues.

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Furthermore, part of the teacher’s practice almost always requires further study with other teachers. This may range from practicing with colleagues occasionally, to taking a workshop with a more senior teacher, to traveling great distances to study with a master.

To be a truly fine yoga teacher involves a tremendous time commitment. Add to this a full-time teaching schedule, or part-time teaching and a job or caring for a family, or any of dozens of other things we all have to deal with, and you can see why time is as much or more an issue for yoga teachers as for anyone else.

For example, Rocky is about to travel to India to study with Geeta Iyengar. She is one of 25 teachers chosen from the U.S. to participate in an intensive course devoted to women’s issues and how yoga relates to them. She’ll be gone for six weeks.

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Rocky is also the co-director of the Labor Heritage Foundation. So she is familiar with the whole struggle of balancing a busy work schedule, practicing, and trying to have a life outside those two demanding pursuits. That’s why she gave up her Friday night classes at Woodley Park during the summer session. And to adequately apportion the time in her life to meet her own needs, she is giving up the Friday night classes altogether. Except for the Woodley Friday classes, Rocky will return to her regular teaching schedule when she gets back the first week of February.

In January, Ann Thomas will join the faculty and will teach the Friday night classes at Woodley. Ann has practiced yoga since she began studying at Unity Woods 13 years ago. She has apprenticed with me for over a year and has taught on her own for four years. Like all the teachers at Unity Woods, Ann has devoted and continues to devote a substantial amount of time to her formal practice. The gentleness and clarity she has developed through her practice will be a gift to her students, and her presence is a valuable addition to the family of truly fine teachers here at Unity Woods.

Welcome, Ann. We are honored and enriched to have you join us. Good luck and safe travels, Rocky. We are proud of you and eagerly await your return and the opportunity to share what you have learned.

And happy holidays to you all. May the season and the new year bring you peace and health…and time to enjoy it.

       

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