Conference

Saturday mornings at the KPJAYI shala Sharath does a conference, this is what Guruji used to do in his living room daily many years again when there were few students, so Sharath has organized it to be once a week and there are so many students now, daily would be very hard.

To me, although I love this practice, the physical asana aspect of it, and the philosophical aspect of the 8 limbs, this conference is my favorite part of each week. It gives us some inspiration in which to live our life by and of which to practice wiht in our hearts.

Today though, he outdid himself. He began the talk with a few quotes from the Hatha Yoga Pradapika and then expounded upon them, this part was good but didn't stick as much as the aspects that caused me to want to write this.

When he began talking about going to a temple here or to a church back home and it being an external thing that we go to only when we need help or something is wrong, then he switched to discussing building the temple inside (tapping his heart) and when you build that temple with a strong foundation that you don't even need to go to a temple. He even went on to explain how they never went to temple as children, growing up with Guruji who would chant his pujas at home and created such a sacred space that they never felt any need to go very often.

This led him to talk about how you practice and build energy in that space, and over time, years and years that energy is the foundation and you teach in the same space for years and years, not traveling around very much so that you are setting the energetic foundation of the practice in the space, and in the hearts of the students. This really resonated with me. I always think I want to travel and teach that way, but he even went so far as to say that teachers who travel all the time are not good teachers, because they are not building this for their students. I know that I love when I've had a realization and taught it to someone, when they have their own aha moment with it and come to me or message me about how it's changed their practice or their life, that is most fulfilling part of being a teacher to me. This is most fulfilling part of practicing to me too, when all the work you've done comes to fruition in one of those aha moments and everything seems different, so nice.

But even more than these things someone asked a question and I don't remember it specifically but he mentioned when you're arguing or starting a debate or something like this, to not get dragged into it, just sing a song. He looked for this Indian student to sing a Bollywood song but couldn't find her in the crowd (it's the end of the month so many are leaving, and new ones will be coming in), so he sang a line of a song, then told it's meaning, it was about this awakening happening within me and how you wanted to share it with the whole world, but then he sang another line and another, he ended up singing the whole song so beautifully and we all clapped when he was done. His heart was so open and brave to share himself like that with us, but he says you must teach from the heart and lead by example, and so he does just that.

I'm crying again writing about it, it was the most beautiful moment. I cried there at the conference as it was happening. My heart feels so full right now.

He even taught us a pranayama technique that is good for calming and de-stressing yourself, he showed us, but he also lead us all through it and had us do it together again at the end of the conference.

I feel like the only place I could be right now is here, this experience is the one I'm supposed to be having right now and I'm meant to allow my heart to open up and lead me home to keep building on the foundation I began when I started teaching over a decade ago. After my first trip I came home so inspired that I started a new Mysore class and that class quickly became my most attended class, and I believe it's because that is where my heart lies, within teaching this method in it's traditional manner and when you follow your heart and teach from there, it always works out.

So everyone back home, please know that I'm filling my tank and when it's time to come home I will be doing so with a vengeance. This stuff is what I'm meant to be doing, and I can only want to share it with you so much more even than before. Be ready!!!