Today my practice of Ahimsa involves the courageous path I’m approaching in regards to my yoga “practice” teaching. To complete my yoga teaching certification, I am required to “practice” teach yoga to a group of prospective yogis who wouldn’t normally have the opportunity or the means to practice yoga. I have been discussing with anyone and everyone who will listen my plans to complete eight hours of community service “practice” teaching yoga. With six degrees of separation, you never know who it will be that you talk to that ends up being the “one” who helps you discover the key to unlocking the door to your own success. I’m a firm believer that if you put your feelers out there, you’re bound to grasp a lead. I find myself in a standard catch-22: while I am terrified to “practice” teaching yoga to strangers because I am inexperienced, I have to “practice” teaching someone other than my sister in order to gain the experience necessary to be a successful yoga teacher.  

So I put my feelers out there, and I am proud to share that I actually made some strong headway. I want to offer something back to a cause I strongly support. At first it was difficult to narrow down the number of causes that I have interest in to one thing that I wholeheartedly want to give back to.  My grandmother was a cancer survivor before she passed away more than ten years ago, but it seems like there are already a number of existing community services for cancer survivors. My grandpa Harry passed away from alcoholism, I have uncles in and out of hospitals for similar complications, and my father fell off the wagon years ago, so offering a healthy mind-body-spirit outlet for recovering addicts sounded like a gallant cause, but I still wasn’t sure.

Then I had an epiphany! I am an admirer of a number of resilient men and women who have raised chivalrous boys and polite girls without the helping hand or second income of a partner. I myself am not a single mother (I’m not a married mother either), but I have many friends and family members who are, including my own mother and sister. I want to share yoga with single parents who, because they donate every cent they earn to clothe, feed, and provide shelter for their children, because they reduce, reuse, and recycle EVERYTHING, and because they make sacrifices, can’t afford to pay $10-15 for a yoga class in a quaint downtown studio.

I have a list of people to contact to get the ball rolling on my community service. My next brave step will be to start contacting the resources and commit to “practice” teaching yoga one or two times a week to less fortunate, but extremely deserving, single parents who are interested in beginning or sharing their yoga practice with me.

I am excited about confronting my fear of failure, and proving to myself that I am an effective teacher.

Namaste