Be Your own Best Teacher

“If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself.”

~ Confucius

Choosing a teacher, not only in yoga, but in any other life practice or personal hobby, is something that takes a lot of openness, non-judgment, awareness, self-discovery, and most of all, patience. From my own experience, I’ve had to face my own inner demons as I learned to love and trust some of my own cherished teachers in school, as well as in yoga. For the sake of keeping things on topic, we’ll focus on yoga, or anything of this particular nature.

When I first began my yoga practice, I remember going to about 3, 1 hour classes per day (during the school week) and to all different instructors for the first two weeks that I had started up at a particular studio in town (Yoga Oasis, if anyone is interested!). Once those two weeks had come to an end, I was already addicted to yoga, and craved it in my almost every waking moment. I had also found my teacher of choice, as well as a couple of secondary preferences as I progressed in practice.

Throughout the following year, I continued to learn and take in new insights and experiences; triumphs and failures; growth and injuries; expansion and contraction…life progressed… In the beginning, it is easy to nearly ‘worship’ or idolize one’s teacher, at least in my experience; but as time goes on, and more time is spent with a teacher or teachers, the open, honest, and growing student will soon (hopefully) realize that the superficial teacher alone is not the answer. As the Confucius quote implies, the teacher is merely a mirror of both our strengths and weaknesses. We get to see them both, become the good, and correct the not-so-good, but learn to love both just as equally. The teacher is not there to show us perfection. The teacher is there to show us everything…even the not-so-pretty stuff that we typically like to keep ourselves isolated from.

On the surface, I have my teachers that I prefer to go to and learn from over others…but the most amazing development I have had, is my understanding that I am my own best teacher. Only we know ourselves completely, and only we have the power to choose what lessons we learn and what insights we take in. All lessons are taken in by choice…and that is why I choose to be my own best teacher. The teachers I find outside of myself are simply there because I subconsciously chose them (whether I like it, or not) to show me the pieces of myself that still need my awareness, understanding, love, and light. They are there as guides, lights, messengers, mirrors, friends, peers, and examples to live by. The best (and maybe scariest) part of this whole matter is, you could be someone else’s mirror…so, what is it that you would most like to reflect?