Showing Up!

Teachers never know how information given to students will be received. So, you can only imagine my delight when I received a call last night from my new student who came to class yesterday, and she was calling to tell me about some of the positive changes she experienced throughout the day yesterday. Her voice even sounded more confident just eight hours later, and I'm off the charts happy for her. I think she is recognizing that RA is a condition and not a life sentence!

As my favorite teacher once told me, "showing up" is the beginning of healing. Since the day we had a talk about showing up, I've discovered how many positive ways it applies in my life.

Reflection

I had a wonderful class today filled with teaching and learning opportunities.  I had 18 students and the range of experience was from brand new students, pregnant women, non-Iyengar teachers, and continuing students. One of the new students was recently diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and is in a lot of pain. I remembered when I was first diagnosed with RA: the feeling of pain, fear, isolation, and hopelessness. As I reflect on my own experience, I am filled with compassion for this new student, and for everyone who suffers with chronic pain. It is hard to understand chronic pain unless you've lived with it, and certainly not something I would want anybody to understand because that would mean they live with chronic pain. I have found some good tips on a web site called The New Way RA.

I am full of gratitude for the career path that I have chosen because I know how much it has helped me live a happy, productive life, and I look forward to working with my new student to help her find some ways to manage her pain.

Santosa or Contentment

Our focus in class today was on santosa. As I read the description from Light on Yoga, the sentence that resonated with the class the most was, "There is contentment and tranquility when the flame of the spirit does not waver in the wind of desire." During our practice, we discovered what contentment in class is: asana, presence, breath, etc.

The final pose we did before savasana today was niralamba sarvangasana, unsupported whole body pose. I had each student look at the other students to decide if they needed more or less support for the shoulders. After looking at each others upper bodies, we determined that some needed more support and some less, based on the curvature in the neck. If there was less curve in the neck, more support was required. One student pointed out that it seemed it should be the opposite: if there was a natural healthy curve in the neck, then more support should be used to fill the space so the neck wouldn't flatten. It reminded me how important the explanation for sarvangasana is, and I must make it clear to students that we balance on the shoulders and not the cervical vertebrae. Therefore, students who tend to balance on the cervical vertebrae need more support because they are unable to draw the spine in enough to balance on the shoulders. I continue to learn from my students in every class and am grateful to them for their thoughtful questions.