This is the last post of a four week series. Here’s week 1, week 2 and week 3 in case you missed them.
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Well hello there. The last time I saw you around these parts, things were quite different. My little family of ten TTs (teacher trainees) are now just Ts (teachers), all grown up and graduated, and all headed back to our respective parts of the world.
I’ve been struggling a bit with what to write for this wrap-up post. There’s so much to say, but it feels like most of it isn’t ready to see the light of day yet – so many experiences that will take some time to process and contextualize.
On Saturday during our graduation ceremony, we watched a graduation speech that Swami Satchidananda gave in the early 1990s. He talked about the new graduates being like cows (stick with me here, I promise it makes sense): we spend the 4 weeks of our teacher training “grazing” and taking in all this information, with no time to process it. Then, we go home and start burping up the information – this is where we get a chance to really chew on it, to take the good pieces and spit out any sticks we picked up along the way, and turn it into the really valuable material that ends up being fully digested and nourishes us as we move forward. Just FYI, he also does a really spot-on cow impression.
I think that this is another opportunity for me to live my work, because I want to have all the answers right now, and I want to be able to come charging out of the gates with my game plan in place and everything figured out. Alas, as tends to happen, I’m still sitting here just starting to burp up the information that needs to be chewed on. Message received, universe.
I have some ideas about where Rebel Yogi will go, but I also came to the realization while I was soaking in the yogic lifestyle that all the best things come without force. I can’t control what’s going to happen, so for now I’m (figuratively) sitting on my hands and trying my best to have patience as the pieces start to come together.
I’m feeling like next week’s post is going to explore the possibilities ahead, and ask for your feedback for the first time – so start thinking about it, if you would. I’m doing this for you, for us, for our amazing community of people who are out there on a daily basis making the world a better place. So, how can I support you? What kind of projects and programs will be the most helpful for you? What can I offer to make your life and your work better?
More to come on that, but for now I’ll leave you with the only quote that made it to the Facebook page last week. It really sums up most of my experience at the Ashram, and I’ve been mulling over what it means for me. As such, it seems fitting to close with it:
Yoga is over 4000 years old but it may be new to you. It is a scientific system that makes you the master of your senses. Yoga is not a religion, yet it embraces all religions. Yoga will introduce you to someone you might not know – your Self.”
-Swami Satchidananda
Changemaker Q&A is taking a break until I get in touch with the next batch of awesome people – but that gives you time to catch up on the three that have already posted up if you haven’t read them yet: Amy Clover, Dave Ursillo, and Andrea Bailey!
Ever yours in yoga.
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