Sharing or Comparing? Wait ... I'm Walking This Path Alone

Yesterday Kristin Shepherd (author of the Beginner's Mind blog on the Yoga Journal website) posted about comparing teachers:

http://blogs.yogajournal.com/beginnersmind/2011/02/oh-yeah.html

I loved the post. And I agree. It always seems par for the course when one is gleefully describing their yoga studio or favorite teacher or last class ... the listener suddenly interrupts to share their experience? Are they sharing in excitement or comparing their relative exposure or yoga prowess?

I cannot count on my hand the number of times I've been at a fair passing out free passes to a local yoga studio when a passerby noted that the studio advertised does not offer education in the "true yoga" or the "only yoga that has a proven medical benefit".

This "mine is better than yours" mentality can be a little irritating from time to time, don't you think? Whether the motivation is to simply share in the joy of the yogi/yogini experience or to establish one's yoga chops ... the outcome always seems to be the same. That is, the listener feels that their experience is diminished.

I love how Dr. Shepherd wrapped up her post. Instead of preaching that we should stop the motions of making ourselves feel better than the other on our respective yoga journeys, she changes the conversation. She elects to thank all teachers instead.

I agree with Shepherd. I am so grateful to all the yoga teachers that have encouraged us to grow into ourselves. There are so many! Some of them don't even call themselves yoga instructors ...

There comes a point where one may grow in a different direction than a favored instructor. Gratitude is still appropriate. Roots are roots are roots.

I wonder whether the yoga journey for most looks like a tree. We have exposure to multiple schools and styles (roots), seek mastery and/or total immersion on a single path (trunk), to reach out and affect others, which in turn, would influence one's own practice (branches). And we grow, grow, grow.