I Heart the Teacher Trainees

  It's getting late and I should be thinking about bed, but instead I'm thinking about the upcoming Teacher Training this weekend.  Rainey and I are 3/4 of the way through a year of intensive work/play/investigation with a stellar group of people.  Some of them want to become yoga teachers, some of them already are yoga teachers, and some of them couldn't care less about teaching yoga.  But the dedication they all bring to this process is astounding.  Month after month they show up with their bright minds, intelligent bodies, and unique views and we investigate the whole spectrum of a life of yoga.  Rainey and I have a big interest in teaching philosophy, so we look at a text every month.  This weekend it will be the Vijnanabhairava Tantra, a stunning offering from the Tantric tradition that articulates 112 different ways to anchor the mind.  For example: "When one meditates on one's own self in the form of unlimited space in all directions, the mind is suspended and Consciousness is revealed as the form of one's own self."

  I love and adore all the teaching I do, but I especially love teaching the Immersions and Teacher Trainings because we can have a conversation about so many aspects of yoga.  It is not just me doing the talking, and it's not just about asana.  I often visualize us all sitting in a forest under a tree in ancient times, tossing back and forth these heady ideas about being, consciousness, and freedom.  What I love is when we get on a roll of creative investigation into some idea and come up with some unique ways of looking at things that none of us could have discovered alone.  That is one of the many gifts of group learning. 

  Another inspiring thing about the teacher trainees is their courage in teaching practice.  Imagine standing up in front of a group of your peers, people who know all the yoga teaching tricks, in a situation where you are told what poses to teach and in what order, and usually with a few small teaching groups going on in the same room.  So it's noisy, distracting, and you're on the spot.  And these amazing people just keep rising to it again and again.  They are having the courage to make mistakes, look unskillful, and forget where they were going.  And that is inspiring, to say the least!  The willingness to take the seat of the student, even when many of these folks are experts in their own fields, shows a lot of humility and wisdom.  And I bow to that, and feel humbled myself by their attention and respect.

  By the time we're done in December, we will have spent over 200 hours together.  Friendships will have been formed that will last a lifetime.  Bodies will have changed, deep understandings will have gelled, and many of these folks will have discovered a life path that will change them forever.

  So, I can't wait to get with these dear souls this weekend, and hear what they have to say about meditating on the void, contemplating consciousness, and becoming one with the Supreme.  Just some light topics for a rainy Seattle weekend.