On Teachers
2 February 2022 was the second anniversary of Rosina’s passing. I miss her every day. This is mixed with tremendous gratitude that she was my teacher.In November 2018, I wrote about working with a teacher. I recounted how I got into yoga thanks to Rosina. She was a guiding light in so many aspects of my life and is still is one of my main teachers.
I realise that in past newsletters I have mentioned this teacher or that one and linked to their work, but never have explained how this thing of being taught works as a whole.
I have always known people were of my teachers quite quickly after meeting them. I recognise a surrender in my mind, body and breath as I put myself in the hands of someone. It just happens without me consciously doing anything. I have even tried to resist it sometimes but it has not been possible. I have worked with magnificent practitioners too, but have not felt that pull. I usually articulate it as: ‘they are a fantastic teacher, but not my teacher’.
There is an old proverb in India that says ‘when the student is ready, the teacher appears’. I always thought a mark of extreme generosity that Rosina offered her teachers to her students. That’s how I met Kia who guides me in everything – mind, body, breath, spirit – as a practitioner but also as a teacher and a studio manager. It is not easy to navigate helping others to walk a path and I am supported by the most solid and elegant hands, able to question and to make decisions, rather than just roll because it is what we have been used to. Yoga is the path of change, and Kia walks it.
RoseAnn is also my teacher, and I am so grateful to have her in Glasgow, where she can keep my patterns, avoidances and bad habits in check, working with lightness, humour and impeccable rigour. They are not mutually exclusive and her whole approach is one of balance. I also study with Sudhir Tiwari, James Boag and Lucy Crisfield on aspects of pranayama, philosophy and its practical application, mantra recitation and Sanskrit. In July, I will study with David Swenson (live, finally!|) who I consider one of my very first teachers, as I learned the sequence – and to be kind with this powerful tool – with his book. I have other teachers too, less formal (my husband Neil is top of that list, my students too).
There are different approaches to being taught. Some people say: have one teacher, work with them only. Others say, get different approaches and learn from all of them. Being from the Rosina school of thought, my approach is to do the impossible: both. I follow Kia in the path, as close as I can and I chose to work with RoseAnn in Glasgow because she is phenomenal and also because she supports Kia’s teachings with her own experience. They have worked together, and RoseAnn and Rosina did too. Sudhir has also worked with Kia, in the same lineage. James and Lucy teach the same texts as Kia and Sudhir from slightly different angles. It all fits together.
All of them, whether they know each other or not, work to deepen my knowledge under one guiding light, Kia’s. And this guidance is essential because if it is not there, I believe the teaching becomes scattered and fragmented. When there is conflict – and sometimes there is, of course – I know to follow that light.
Laura x
https://www.lauragonzalez.co.uk/yoga |
