Shift of Perspective to Focus on what I Can Do

I hurt my right leg adductor & tendon during my own practice for Upavistha Konasana, wide angle pose, just 2 weeks before our final test date. When I first know that I am injured, I got anxious and upset with myself. I started to worry for my asana practical test. Many questions pop out in my mind. “which part of my leg exactly have I injured?” , “should I still practice or should I rest?” , ” if I continue my practice, what if my injury got worse?” , “if I rest, how about my practical asana test?” , “should I still go ahead with teaching practice this weekend?” “how can I teach & demonstrate hip opener poses which I have planned for?”  I am in the midst of preparing my lesson plan & teach a 1hr teaching practice that coming weekend to 4 invited yoga beginner volunteers. I am totally paranoid. I have obviously allowed my monkey mind to take over my well being. Fear & anxiety set in. A pain body with a terror mind & a self sympathy ego.
I seek advise from my teacher, Katrina, if I should still continue to teach that weekend. I must confess that inside me, I secretly hope she would say I should rest and not teach that weekend. Guess what is Katrina’s reply? Her first statement was “have I treat my injury?” I am pretty clueless where exactly I have injured at the time. Then Katrina ask me to review my lesson plan to see if I can still teach, and suggest that I change my lesson plan that I would be able to teach e.g. on Core & Upper Body. She told me to teach what I can, at my level of comfort, as the teaching experience would be very helpful. I was enlightened & encouraged at the point in time. My perspective changed immediately! I could have focus my energy on what I CAN DO and not focus on what I cannot do. I immediately reply her to say I will continue to teach & change my plan accordingly. Luckily, everything went on smoothly and I complete that teaching practise that weekend. Is my teaching on that weekend good or bad? Guess it works pretty fine ! And I have learned & experienced something deeper. A good teacher shows the way, an enlightened student walks the path.
Joey Soh Pek Koon (200hr Weekend mar-jun 2013)