All right... Well, here I am in Tucson, settling down to some email work after a day of teaching. It seems a never-ending task see days, to get through all the email. So if I am late in my responses to you- please have heart- I am working way through it one email at a time. Also, sometimes I get these really beautiful emails about very rich inner experiences and I just do not have time to write a response worthy of the share. I once had a student get upset with me about numerous things and one of her many complaints and hurts was that my emails were terse. So if you are a recipient of "terse" at some point, I beg your forgiveness in advance!
We have a full house in our immersion this time with 55 people from all over the country joining together for the experience. It's a very eager group, with a lot of insight to share and a lot of curiosity about the method and the practice. We have all ages, all levels of ability and a variety of experience in the group so it makes for interesting teaching to be sure. I am enjoying it so far. A lot.
I spent some time after the last cycle of Immersions was done compiling a workbook for the week. The students each received a 40-page workbook with the schedule outlined, notes from the lectures, the asana sequence, anatomy diagrams and so forth all merged into one workbook they can take notes in, answer journal questions in and so forth. Those of you who were in the TT here in Tucson had a similar learning aid. I made them for these Immersions also.
From what I can tell, the workbook is really helping the students grasp the ebb and flow of the training and get a sense of the time table we are on and also have a way to keep track of the immensity of information. Note-takers can take more notes in the workbook but non-note-takers will at least have a reference to return to. And the good news is that it is making our job of sharing the information much easier and I think more effective.
Darren and I are enjoying ourselves together as usual. I remarked to the group at our opening circle that I am who I am today because of my friendship with Darren Rhodes. He has really been a great source of inpiration and wisdom to me over the years not to mention a wonderful teaching partner and sanghamate. So as much as I love teaching Immersions, I really love team teaching them with D.
We worked today a lot with the theme of the guru and about the dynamic play between our inner teacher and our outer teacher. We talked a bit about the ways they are different and the ways they are similar and how to discern between the two. One particularly interesting thread came up during the day when someone remarked that many times they think they are listening to their inner teacher when really it is an imposter- it's an inner critic, an inner judgeor some dark character sounding authoritative but actually not teaching from a connection with inner Light at all. Darren said, "Oh yes, the question is are you listening to your guides or are you listening to your guise." Classic. Totally classic.
Sometimes we are being led from inside by the voice of truth. And sometimes the answer from within is not coming from clarity at all. It feels totally true. It sounds totally true but really we are fooling ourselves. This can be shocking t realize. So anyway, part of the yoga is learning to discern between the various shades and sounds of commentary that come to us
wanting to convince us of their authority and choosing what we will give weight to, what will be the guru, in a sense.
After class I visited the local Lululemon store and then had time to go for a walk before making some dinner. It was a full day but not tiring or exhausting which is great.
More tomorrow.
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