REFLECTIONS FROM TEACHING IN ENGLAND, 2022

STUDENTS AND COMPANIONS ALONG LIFE’S JOURNEYS

Every class that I teach the students and I get a reminder of the wisdom, goodness and beauty that is always within, though sometimes hard to find.

I know one of my motivations for teaching is to inhabit that space for an extended period of time. The class is at the Bristol College of Massage and Bodywork in the UK just this past August abundantly embodied that precious time. Perhaps it is like what many experience now and earlier in more religious times. Being together, learning and discussing more about how to inspire spiritual, as well as bodily, mental and emotional learning – this is a privilege and a fulcrum living within us for the duration of our lives.

The inspiration for the class in Bristol this year was the challenge issued by Yogananda:

“An educational system that does not present Spirit as the central Fact of our existence is offering "avidya", false knowledge.”

We had eighteen truly brilliant students plus myself and my teaching assistant for many years, Clive Taylor. The extended discussions, questions and insights brought in by the students each morning had Clive and me looking at each other, wide-eyed with great delight, our jaws dropping with the profundity of what people were feeling and saying. It was incredible. Then with our meditations and discussions as background, the bodywork went to the deepest of places within us all. 

After the class I was drawn to and purchased “The Narrow Road to the Interior and other Writings” by Matsuo Bashō (translator, Sam Hamill). This greatest master of haiku travelled far and wide in Japan (1644-1694). Significantly, though his poetry suggests aloneness in nature, he always had “traveling companions.”

I thank, for this journey, the Bristol College of Massage and Bodywork for the singular opportunity we have had to journey together.

For me, my “students” are traveling companions. We get to explore the valleys, peaks, rich fields, and skies of the bodymind. We come out refreshed, yet still faced with the natural challenges posed as human beings, with our “free” will, yet with seemingly no end to our searches for meaning and our journey home.

As the poet Basho wrote, “The moon and sun are eternal travelers. Even the years wander on. A lifetime adrift in a boat or in old age leading a tired horse into the years, every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.” 

With gratitude,

Happy Trails,

David

p.s. only one regret - I was so intoxicated by this class at the end of the workshop, I didn’t remember to get a photo! So here is one from a earlier class at the Bristol College - equally brilliant and inspiring!