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Tuesday, December 20, 2011

The Power of Words

After practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays I usually spend about an hour or so after assisting. It came about when I couldn't decide on an independent study project for my teacher training course. I enjoy it but most days I feel like I'm doing more harm than good or that I'm unable to help most of the practitioners.

There's this sweet older couple that practices at the shala and I noticed that the wife hadn't been around for a while and I found out on Sunday that she was gone because her mother had just passed away. As I was assisting today I noticed that she was back practicing. I went over to her to assist her with utthita hasta padangusthasana but before I helped I simply said "welcome back" and then we went about doing the pose. I assisted her in a few other poses throughout the morning and when she finished practicing she came over to me and said "I just wanted to thank you for welcoming me back this morning it meant a lot to me because coming back has been a lot harder than you would think." She started to get teary as she was talking to me and as a result so did I. I gave her a hug, smiled at her beneath my tears and she went off to face the rest of her day.

I never would have thought two simple words would have such an effect on someone. So I'm thinking, perhaps today I did less harm and more good than usual but of course I'd have to ask my supta kurmasana adjustment guinea pigs. 

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