A lifelong apprenticeship

Reading from Tuesday, September 3, 2013 yoga class

"When we begin yoga practice in earnest, we are signing up for a lifelong apprenticeship with our Self and to the Self.  And as in any apprenticeship, many skills can be learned only over a long period of time... Yoga is not Woodworking 101 but Japanese carpentry.  Our teachers may show us precisely how to bevel the edge of a table or chair, but there is only one person who can bevel the edge.  No matter how clear the teacher's description or careful her demonstration, it may still take a hundred crooked, crude, and rough attempts to become proficient and produce that smooth edge.  Just as a poorly sanded surface will splinter fingers for years to come, false understanding will continually sabotage a life.  What we produce through such patient artistry is a spiritual understanding of enduring beauty. 

We may find that when we begin our practice we have a low tolerance for frustration.  We may use any slipup as evidence that we have unwisely placed our faith in such a practice...we falsely believe that things should come easily, that life should be as it is on TV...or we blame someone else...if the teacher we clearer, I'm sure I would get this.  But nothing can replace the minutes, hours, and days of practice and observation, and just plain trial and error involved in a lifelong apprenticeship.   It is the very slowness of this apprenticeship that is the healing, for in slowing down we fall into a more natural rhythm with life and ourselves."

                                                          From the book, "Bringing yoga to life" by Donna Farhi

Great words... every time we step onto our yoga mats, we learn... we are different... little by little, day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year.