I attended the 5:15 class of our local yoga instructor- and yes, unlike myself, certified- a perfect experience in length and relaxation.  Perfect in that at the end of it I felt deliriously and blissfully, unwound.  An absolutely lovely, so necessary, experience after a day- any day.

Despite now leading my own class, I am a paid student in this, her latest session.  I am happy to be so.  She is the only real instructor within a 25 mile radius and I want to do my part to see that she is able to remain in our little, tourist driven, outpost.

It was a wonderful thing, and another wonderous experience in the Spirit of Yoga.  Wonderous may be a little over the top, but competetion among most industries and professions in our area is fierce, from real estate to the arts and people are frequently driven, out of sheer self-preservation, to unfriendly, bitter and resentful behaviour.  It’s dog-eat-dog, for sure.
I naturally, and mistakingly, assumed this attitude would extend to the business of yoga.  Even when one of us is not really even in the business of yoga. I was experiencing a stressful, and thankfully unwarranted, paranoia that my teaching presence and the fact that I am entertaining what might otherwise be paying clientele for neighbor/instructor would essentially… piss her off.  I wish to step on no one’s toes.

I was welcomed with nothing but smiles.  Graciousness.  Open-ness.  Nothing less than a Spirit of Yoga.