The Job of a Teacher

  So often when we search for a teacher as an adult, it is so difficult.  We have these small windows of availability (I am only free on Tuesday and Thursday evenings...).  We want someone who will challenge us, but not too much.  I see it like searching for a spouse as an older adult.  As a teen and young adult, our list of "must haves" is fairly short.  At 45, my list is considerably longer.
    I just found the perfect representation of my ideal teacher.  This past Sunday I went to a great art auction and fundraiser at Bolero's Dance Club.  All of the proceeds benefited the Brighton Recovery Center for Women.  There were graffiti artists, break dancers, and many demonstrations.  I just fell in love with watching the artists.  I've only held spray paint to paint my tools orange so I wouldn't lose them at job sites.  Here they were creating art!  A series of pictures I took of one of the artists, Max Unterhaslberger, clarified my thoughts about teachers.

    In this picture you can see the beautiful orange, red and tan under painting.  It is like the student who first walks into a yoga class.  The student is already beautiful.  It is the teachers job to highlight and define the beauty that is already there.

     In walking into each class the teacher has some idea of the class to be taught, but the specifics are dictated by the students who attend. Each class is an opportunity to reveal the beauty within the student.   When you find the teacher who can do this for you, that is the teacher to keep!

    It is worth moving heaven and earth to attend the class once you find the right teacher.  My reiki master lives in Louisville, an hour and a half drive from my house.  For a two day class, I'll drive more than six hours and count the time well spent.  Each Friday my mom and I attend yoga class at Shine Yoga Center.  The class is an hour and half and so is the drive.  So worth it!  I hope you find your teacher as well.