Watching someone grow over 200 hours of yoga teacher training is a beautiful thing to see.  What’s even more beautiful is to watch the group dynamic as unspoken bonds are formed in the process of witnessing and being witnessed.  My friend calls it “Sacred Witnessing” and I am a firm believer in the power it has to help us grow individually and collectively.

I hold space for my students’ growth and in my myopic focus in aiding in their journey, I can sometimes forget that I am also simultaneously growing on my journey. They are unconsciously holding space for my growth and I feel very lucky now to realize that.  There was a part of me that neglected my evolution.   I’m reminded through these words one of my students wrote me in a card that I, too, was being witnessed, “From every part of my being, I see you, I hear you, I appreciate you and I love you.”  I feel this way about my students.

Because I don’t believe in the guru structure and I bask in my utter humanness, I rejected a lot of the love and appreciation they’ve sent my way over the years.  It isn’t a form of self-loathing – I was afraid it would aid my ego and my head would get so big that I would have to change the height of the doors in my house.  I’ve come to realize you can’t fully witness without being witnessed.  It takes two to be in relationship and my students teach me so much just by being present in my life.

I am grateful.