My experience of observation of others and self-observation

Back from childhood, I’ve always been fascinated by the perfection of the human body and the way it will amazingly adapt to its imperfections or malfunctions. The human body is a beautiful mysterious machine.
At this time, as much as I could, I would participate in any kind of sports activities. My parents couldn’t afford to pay for classes so I was observing others a lot before trying to reproduce their movements as precisely as possible.
With maturity, I started practicing Yoga and I learned how to observe my own body and to listen to the signals it would send me in order to avoid pain or injuries. Through Swadhyaya, this was the beginning of a constant search of a balance between Ahimsa and Tapas.
Practicing Yoga, I also discovered the body as a whole: Not only the physical one but the spiritual, emotional and psychological ones. I understand now how important it is to cultivate every aspect of our body in order to have a balanced and healthy life.
Even if I’m just at the beginning of this long journey, after having learned a lot from others, I am now willing to share my modest knowledge. One of my sons is quite anxious so I tried to teach him some breathing and concentration exercises he could do in class just before starting an exam. When he told me how useful it is now to him, I really understood the power of these very simple tools.
Signing up to the 200hrs was the next step, a big decision for me. I had (and still have) many doubts about my capabilities to make it: I’m not flexible, my English may not be good enough to give precise instructions, I’m shy and prefer to hide than to put myself in the middle of a room, I can’t learn by heart so many things, I will probably not find enough time in my busy mum’s life to study, etc. etc. But, entering the 40s, I need this challenge to prove myself that I can still go out of my comfort zone, adapt quickly and find contentment again, find Santosha.
My goal will not be to teach big classes. I would rather give private or semi-private classes in order to stick to my clients’ specific needs and to be as helpful as possible. Doing so, I will start again observing others in details to give them what they need.
From observation of others to self-observation back to observation of others… It’s a loop but in the end we never stop learning from each other’s. That is also what Yoga is: Sharing of knowledge and experiences.
Amelie