The Scripture ~ “You then who teach others, do you not teach yourself?” Romans 2:21a
The Spiritual Focus ~ “Buddha was not Buddhist, Jesus was not Christian, Muhammad was not Muslim; they were teachers who taught love.” Anonymous
Breath Prayer ~ Inhale I am teacher, Exhale I am student
The Devotion ~ One of the interesting teachings in yoga philosophy is that we are at once always teacher and always student. The presumption is that we are always learning, evolving, and changing toward our best self through being a teacher and being a student. Yoga philosophy encourages learning, believing that we can never learn all there is to know about yoga or about life, and, yet, we are encouraged to share what we do know in open dialogue. Yoga philosophy embodies its teaching through asana, breath, and the yamas and niyamas, or right living. The outcome of embodying these teachings is being connected with something greater than self, that is, God.
Thomas Moore in his book, A Religion of One’s Own, addresses the issue of how we evolve as people of faith. His work suggests that many of us do not study the teachings of our own faith with an intention to be changed. Our spiritual journey is rooted in the faith of our youth but was never meant to remain there. Embodying the teachings of our faith requires testing what we have been taught against what we know and what we experience. Embodying the teachings of our faith requires that we measure the teachings against the greatest commandment: love God, love neighbor, love self. This is an embodied teaching.
Religious, spiritual and yoga practices intersect at the point of saying knowledge for the sake of knowledge is only the beginning. To embody that knowledge in how we live and how we love is the path that leads to our connectedness to God and to each other. Coming to our mat/chair with an intention to be changed toward love sets up an embodied practice of always teacher, always student.
