Behind the words

I’ve been writing some thank yous this past week. Offering a few words to my TT teachers. Better late than never maybe, since TT was some weeks ago. But honestly I can’t begin to capture what they offered and the new avenues they variously opened up for me. I certainly can’t express the gratitude I have for their efforts nor the excitement I feel at where they might take me. There’s so much potential in the air. I didn’t want the energies from that time for intense learning and experimentation to pass by without note, for the wonder to dissipate into the strains of everyday life, and for their contribution to be something I took for granted as I rushed impatiently onto the next thing. If I can presume to quote Newton in relation to my own simple yoga practice (!): “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Seeing further for me meaning simply seeing further than I did before, not that I’m seeing further than my teachers…!

So I’ve offered my clumsy, tongue-tied expressions, inadequate but heartfelt.

And for me this has also been a practice of offering up what I really feel. Acknowledging it to myself, and taking the bold move of expressing it to someone else. Trusting that they’ll receive it as intended. I don’t usually feel able to do this. But really if there’s one thing I learned from TT it’s that being more open to the world and to other people is exhilarating, rewarding — and honest. It’s as vertiginous and terrifying as attempting Handstand. But they both feel like places I want to learn to take myself!