if you have come across this website in your search for a way or a place to do yoga, or a teacher to guide you to a way or a place, here is a heartfelt letter to you:
on this website i list my credentials, my “yoga resume”, my “spiritual path stats”, as a starting point for you to understand the experiences of learning and growing that i bring to my practice and teaching of yoga.
i want you to know that i didn’t wake up one morning in the recent past and think, “wow! wouldn’t it be cool to be, like, a yoga teacher???” and rush off to a “learn to teach yoga in just one weekend!” “certification” course.
it’s important that you know that I have gone through long and deep hours of demanding and exacting training facilitated by practitioner-teachers who set the bar high and expect their students to follow.
it would not be a good thing for you if i were an expert in sky-diving who decided to just teach a little yoga on the side.
you need to know that i know what i’m doing.
listing where i took teacher training, whose workshops i’ve attended, what certification i’m going to get next, which teachers i consider my primary influences, has become a shorthand for communicating competency in the yoga world. and those things are all good.
BUT . . . i have often been tempted to delete all of that information (yes, i’m sure i want to send it to the recycle bin) and replace it with a paragraph or two like this:
“dear friends, welcome! i am honored that you have chosen to include me on your yoga journey. i teach what i practice. and that’s all. nothing more. but nothing less.
practice is all; practice is everything. i practice yoga every day, and most days i also do some postures.
i will teach you what i know about doing yoga.
i am even happier to share with you what i’ve learned about living yoga through my regular practice, through my own experiences, with the wish and intention that you might be inspired and encouraged to take up a regular practice, to live yoga in your experiences, in your own life, in your own way.”
namaste.
i wish i could show you, when you are lonely or in darkness, the Astonishing Light of your own Being!
~hafiz
Links we Like – Some of Our Favorites
Here are connections to websites we recommend for both work and play:
www.spiritrisingyoga.com chicago’s premier kundalini yoga & meditation center with senior teachers taught directly by yogi bhajan
www.3HO.org website for US & international kundalini news & events
www.fredeaglesmith.com the BEST live music performer on the road today. eclectic rock/alt/country & a phenomenal songwriter. look for him at fitzgerald’s.
www.chicagocajuns.org dance!dance!dance! this site lists where to go in the chicagoland area for that incomparable cajun sound
When you have fixed yourself, Fix your community. When you have fixed your community, Fix the world. When you have fixed the world, Adjust your sash. If you are afraid, Don’t do it. If you do it, Do not fear the outcome.
