Friday, April 15, 2011

Learn, Do, Teach

"Learning is finding out, what you already know. Doing is demonstrating that you know it.
Teaching is reminding others that they know just as well as you. You are all learners, doers, teachers." -Richard Bach, Illusions

There is such truth in that statement.......we are all learners, doers and teachers. Every time I teach a yoga class, I learn something from someone in the class. Think about your daily routine, every day.....we learn, we do and we teach. We don't even realize the process. People ask us a question, we answer, we show someone how to do something, and we learn.......Maybe you show someone something that is so simple you do it without thinking, or you learn an interesting fact in the newspaper, you do something so well that it is second nature to you.

Each time we have an interaction with another human, we learn something about human nature.
We learn give and take, sharing, loving......we can also learn greed, and anger and hate if we allow ourselves. We learn if we are tired, we are probably not at our best. We do, something as simple as washing dishes without any thought to the process and we miss out on the now.
We teach, others around us by responding to rudeness with kindness.....the list goes on and on.

One of the ways that I am trying to learn, teach and do more is bringing as much joy as I can to my yoga classes. I have learned that when we laugh out loud in class at ourselves, we all try a little harder, I teach with joy and love and my students want to come back to the next class. I do every asana (pose) they do, so they can see that even when my pose is not picture perfect, it gives me joy.

I am not sure if Richard Bach set out on his journey to write such beautiful wisdoms, but I find his writings wise and hopeful. I would love to sit down and share thoughts with him, to hear him speak of his inspirations and if there were demons along the way he conquered. For now, I try to remember........."we are all learners,doers, teachers."

8 comments:

  1. Wonderful quote. I've copied it as an inspiration for myself and my teaching.

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  2. Isn't that the making of a phenomenal teacher? Sounds like YOU are one!!!

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  3. Your students are so blessed to have you as a teacher giving them so much more than just a yoga class. Thanks for the encouragement you bring us daily.

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  4. We do teach others by our responses. That is a great reminder.

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  5. My grand-grandmother told me once that we learn each day something new and when we die we learn how to die. She was very wise and so are you!

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  6. Great post, always be learning and never take yourself too seriously.

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  7. Good post today, and I loved that quote at the end. It sounds as if your Yoga students are lucky to have you as their teacher!

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  8. Good essay. It gets me thinking about my mom's journal. I'm typing her handwritten entries of about a paragraph for each of her days and am in 1987 now. She was part of a group of women who belonged to a homemakers club. Monthly they got together at a small church for a luncheon meal and they had demonstrations; flower arranging, sewing, quilting, journal writing. Women who did demonstrations showed the others how to do something she was good at.

    So cool.

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