There is a line in sanskrit, the language of yoga, that acknowledges the one true teacher of yoga in each of us as ourselves.
Om bolo shri satguru bhagavan ki — Jai!
The teacher within is the one true teacher — Right on!
Turning within and tuning in leads us to our truest understandings of ourselves.
Like with anything else, though, we learn from all we encounter in yoga. Those whose teachings we connect with — and those we don’t. Those who do it “right” by our scorecards and “not quite.”
I am one of the many who carry forward the lineage of my teacher’s teacher’s teacher’s teacher … on and on, perhaps into the depths of history, reaching back to the beginning of yoga in some form or another.
As I develop my practice as a yoga teacher on and off the mat, some will see in me a practitioner to connect with. They/you might feel how or what I communicate helps to see the light within. Some will identify more closely with another’s way. It’s important that each follow what feels true.
For anyone who connects with the yoga I share here at Humanitou, an honest amount of credit is due to Jessica Patterson, of Root Center for Yoga and Sacred Studies. I have studied, learned, thought, asked and practiced intensively with Jessica and the community at Root.
In the end, the only one who knows me from birth to final breath is me. I am the one doing the work within me, the deepest teaching and learning. I also learn from many in the yoga community and outside it.
But Jessica is my direct source to that formal line of yoga teachers that carries forward a practice of authenticity rooted in Self.
With that bow of appreciation, the practice continues …
