Being a teacher is like being a guardian of (and to) the most important doors in this world – the doors that shelter the existing (and also still to be formed!) beliefs, secrets, explanations and worldviews to the pasts, presents and futures of your students. Even more accurately, being a teacher could be likened to being the door itself – magical, unbelievable, yet always there – always safe and even predictable – opening and closing as required, guarding, protecting, inviting and challenging the undertakings of the new adventures and explorations of the unknown. Or probably, even more accurately, being a teacher could be compared to being the board on which all the possible past, present and future chess games are played, as the chessboard encompasses it all, gives it all, IS it all. Which chess piece would you want to be in your life? It is a very good question and also a great topic for engaging conversations, and it has led me to a stunning realization that, when you are a teacher, you are the board itself.
Undoubtedly, all teachers affect eternity. And I mean it. Just think! What do we all – Nobel prize laureates and Oscar winners, recipients of “the best mom/dad/brother/sister ever” cards, best selling novelists and “just” novelists, poets, writers, astronauts, gardeners, engineers, students, entrepreneurs, Navy Seals, olympians, presidents, prime ministers and those who never officially got these or any other titles have in common? A teacher. Or THE teacher. At some point in life… the teacher helped us. The teacher helped us become who we are, achieve what we have, and BE, LIVE who we are – live our truth. I am most thankful to all of them – my teachers. And I am absolutely sure that we all are. I could provide a long list of their names (as could all of you, reading this, I am sure), as I have been very lucky to have numerous teachers who have made not just a difference, but truly changed my world.
This Covid year (or whatever name the future generations will give to 2020) has changed some of the learning/teaching models we have used so far, as remote teaching has been happening everywhere. So has remote learning! The online class format has become a norm; and in these pandemic circumstances – a healthy norm at that! I found oodles of classes noteworthy of taking this past year and finished a few of them online, among those were courses/classes in human behavior, trauma healing, gut health, immunity and heart health. It was an incredible e- journey, as I have never before attempted to learn that much from/by “just looking at the screen”! (It is quite interesting to note that Let It Go Yoga’s online offerings were produced and readily available to new and also “not so new students” waaaay before we even knew of Covid! They – Sue Anne and Jim – were “early to the market”, as one would say in an MBA program!)
However, all games of learning are played out onto that proverbial chess board: in-person ones and also the virtual ones, and who is to say that one is better or more valuable than the other? You, as a teacher, (no matter the format of the class) have to give and then give some more, and then… oh, yes, give even more – including advice, tools, kindness, perseverance, time, skills and knowledge, patience and creativity. And you also have to (always!) provide the safe place for all that learning to take place, no matter on-line or in person.
For me Let It Go Yoga teachers – Sue Anne and Jim Parsons – have been those chess boards I am talking about. They have kept the safe space for me, and for us all to learn, grow and be. For that I am truly thankful. In retrospect, I am also thankful for making us say out loud : “I am a yoga teacher”, during our yoga teacher training’s very early days when it felt that we (well, I personally, at least) were so far from it. At a time I felt that I had “an imposter syndrome” – so challenging it was to repeat those particular words out loud. Yes, those very same words that ultimately became the definition of my true path. So, I acknowledge and commend Sue Anne and Jim’s wisdom, kindness, professionalism and true caring, as we all grew into/become yoga teachers – each one of us with our specialization and our own following.
And then it was our turn to be (become) the chess boards – to provide the space and opportunity for others to learn and grow. What a marvelous chance to do something meaningful and to be a significant part of the lives of the others! I encourage anybody and everybody who has ever wondered if they can do this “yoga teacher thing” to give it a try. And then assess and see (and hopefully, celebrate) how it feels to be the chessboard! This is what I (personally) have to say: “Thank you, all my teachers! What a privilege it is to have had a chance to study/learn with you! What an extraordinary fortune it has been to be/play the roles of all the chess pieces! And… when I find myself on the teacher’s side…: what a glorious opportunity, responsibility and the highest of honors it is to be the very chessboard! What a joy it is to teach!”
I wish all teachers to understand their essential task!
Dear Indra! Thank you for inspiring story!
Teachers at school or life? I think we each are teachers and students the same time. Because when child is small then he learns from parents, friends, sisters/brothers… even maybe from him/her self. Thank you Indra! And thank you for your teachers! 🙂