Before my trip to South East Asia I was nervous, yet excited. A tingle went through my spine and warmth spread through my belly. I had just finished my yoga teacher training through Holistic Yoga School only a week prior. Thoughts and ideas of Sanskrit, chakras, serenity, stillness, silence and my place in this great wide world were slowly churning within my mind.
How was I to share? I had learned a beautiful thing, something I had been seeking for years. Then days after completing training I was even more humbled than ever. Who was I to teach others to find their inner stillness? I desired so powerfully for every single person to discover it, but I know that I could not lead him or her there. They had to personally, profoundly seek and find it.
I might have expected to feel confident after my training, instead I found myself gloriously humbled. A gentle leader, less an exercise instructor more the guardian of sacred space. I had much to learn, and much space to grow in. My soil had been good, nourishing. I had been planted with care, and I couldn’t help but to grow from there.
Two months later I was on a boat in the middle of Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. Traveling had taught me three things.
- Flexibility
- Kindness transcends any language barrier
- Opportunities are everywhere waiting for us to take ownership of them
On this misty morning two Americans, five Chileans and I are communicating with smiles, laughs, broken Spanish and a little English. I ask if they would like to try a yoga class and they respond that they have never tried yoga. The class flows out of me and I substitute Spanish words where I can, but they follow the simple flow brilliantly. We flow with our bodies as the boat we are upon flows through the moss covered rocks that rise, like pillars out of the bay.
Our class gently comes to a close, my heart feels as though it has undergone a complete transformation. My eyes rise and meet with the seven others. All language or culture barriers that have formerly been there evaporate into the misty morning.
After we finished one of the Chilean girls approaches me and tells me that she was inspired by our class to start a regular yoga practice when she returns to Chile. I was overwhelmed with emotion to witness such a beautiful discovery, and I was grateful to be apart of it. I was thankful to be witness to it.
Holistic Yoga School prepared me to teach a safe and beautiful flow that morning, and my travels readied me to take on that impulsive challenge in that moment. The flexibility of my mind, gained from living without a plan, allowed me the freedom to embrace the idea of teaching my first yoga class without hours of preparation and planning. The knowledge that kindness transcends all language and cultural barriers made it easier for me to approach the experience with ease instead of fear of misunderstanding. Finally, through the awareness that opportunities are everywhere I was able to initiate, and have the confidence to follow through with my first spontaneous yoga class.
Thank you Holistic Yoga School!
~Kayla Fox Rivers
RYT 200
Beautiful and moving story especially since I would also like to become a yoga teacher.