I hope I never stop learning and evolving...
Hi there!
How are you doing this week? I hope you are healthy and happy!
I am getting excited over here in my corner of the world because 1. Its still amazingly wintery sunny and 2. it's just 1 month now until I'll be meeting those of you who are coming to Sydney for our training in Sept! We are going to have such a lovely weekend together. If you want to join us, you can check it out below.
But, what I really wanted to share this week is how writing these emails to you every week has really made me think about my own journey and about how much we all evolve throughout our lives…
Sometimes we don’t even notice it happening, especially not in the moment when we’re living it. It’s often not until later that you suddenly realise you haven’t had road rage in a few months, or surprise yourself by how calm you remained under a testing circumstance, or notice that something that used to really bother you just…doesn’t anymore.
It’s often not until we look back that we can really see all those little changes we’ve been making coming together to make a big difference.
We just keep learning, experiencing things, meeting people, making mistakes, changing our minds, finding out that something we once thought was true isn’t necessarily true anymore, changing our habits and sometimes even changing the whole direction of our lives.
I know I’ve certainly changed a lot over the years!
When I look back at the Claire who first started teaching over 30 yrs ago, I can see so many things I didn’t know then that I know now. Things about movement, bodies, teaching, people and, probably most importantly, about myself.
I actually feel quite proud of that younger version of me. She may not have known alot but sure knew how to fake it ’til she made it and work with what she had at the time! Haha. But most importantly, somewhere inside her she also knew that even though she didn’t have much confidence and didn’t know everything, it was important to do it anyway.
I think that’s something we can forget when we’re learning something new. We can be so hard on ourselves for not already knowing what we haven’t learned yet. We think we should be better, more confident, know what we’re doing and we definitely think we should have all the answers to everything already before we do the thing.
But what if we didn’t have to? What if it was okay to humbly admit that we’re still learning and evolving? This is something I think about a lot with Chair Yoga too.
When you first start teaching (or practicing), it’s very easy to think there is a “right” way to do things. You learn a pose or a sequence and you teach (or practice) it the way you’ve been shown.
But then you figure out...people are real! And all poses don't fit all bodies. Not in the general way they're taught anyway...because people all have different bodies, abilities, histories, confidence and completely different things going on in their lives that will affect their practice.
Over time, you realise that Yoga isn’t really about having one perfect pose for everyBODY. It’s about being able to look at yourself or the person in front of you and ask, “Okay…what might work for YOU today? What do YOU truly need?”
That’s when things start to evolve and you start to see more possibilities. You become less worried about getting everything “right” and more interested in creating practices that feel safe and supportive.
And I can tell you that confidence in Yoga (and life!) doesn't come from knowing more information. It comes from actually doing the thing. From your experiences.
I always say our students (including ourselves!) are our best teachers. And sometimes the most important thing you can support someone with isn’t a "perfect" pose at all. It’s the feeling that they can actually do this, that the practice can work with them...not the other way around.
Everything will change throughout your life…your body, your circumstances, your confidence, your needs. And that’s okay, your Yoga practice and teaching can change with you. You are allowed to evolve and you’re definitely allowed to be an eternal student of Yoga (aka life!).
This is one of the reasons I love teaching Chair Yoga teachers so much. And why it was important for me to create a training for teachers that wasn't just a whole bunch of information to "know" stuff, but that was a living experience that can help teachers who are curious enough to keep learning, compassionate enough to adapt not only for their students but themselves, and confident enough to say, “I’m not sure...but let's explore!.”
To me, that’s a much more beautiful kind of teacher and maybe a much more beautiful way to live too?
You don’t need to have it all figured out before you begin anything....you just need to start, and be ready to keep evolving.
Love Claire x
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