When I returned home for a visit in April 2018, I was ready to take on classes on a larger scale. I felt confident that I had something to teach and that I could be receptive enough to learn something from my students as well. My self practice was constant I was able to teach and demonstrate simultaneously. This was a huge milestone.
I set out to not only teach elementary children but the entire Bessie Ellison Elementary School. This was a school of about 650 children. I have never met such patience and kind children in all my life. I set up classes again next to the Pony Espresso, had a regular spot for several weeks at IMYOGA, gave a final exam to a yoga class at Missouri Western State University and I was in a great mental space.
I got the idea to create a yoga subscription service through my website so I could reach more people. After all, I have the skill set to coach nutrition, asanas, pranayama and life. Sounds like a lot but it will take a lot to help change this world. I started thinking about the larger picture and fell more into what was possible in this life than the limits that it possesses. This was huge to me because living in this space was something I aspired to do not to actually live.
Watching my student progress and get stronger. Watching them celebrate their victories of being able to hold a pose or to even complete a class was the reward. Money has never been a motivator for me but change always has. Even in my Marketing job, it was more rewarding to work with local charities than to actually share what was going on in the shop. See a community be shaped and formed from action is a motivator. To have a skill that helps change the world and peoples’ lives and the fact that it makes money is an added bonus.
At the end of my final class with my Pony Espresso students, I cried because I became attached to the feeling of progress and being needed. I became attached to all the people that came every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I remember one class, I said, ”Let’s see if we can make sunshine, ” and we did. It was one of the most beautiful moments in my life.
That trip home solidified my dreams of teaching and made me a better human. It changed me in so many ways.