Connection: Becoming a Student Again

Weight loss and pain reduction are only a few things that have been transforming for me this past year and a half. I have gained physical and emotional strength and I have made connections that have brought me outside myself and also forced me to look within myself.

Connection is a word that is used a lot in the digital age. People say that we have lost the ability to connect because of the internet and phones and because we are actually connected all the time we need to learn how to disconnect. As with anything the word connection has many meanings, nuances and connotations.

There is so much connection to information that we can be easily overwhelmed and drawn into drama, arguments and stress at any moment, if we're not careful. We can have a conversation and a debate with anyone at anytime now. But are we really connecting with them?

Perhaps that's why people keep arguing their same points over and over. They've never really connected with anyone so they've not satisfied the need to express themselves to someone who matters. Nobody has heard them. They've just spit out their opinions and had someone spit back at them.

Anyway, through training and yoga, I'm able to disconnect, and I have also connected with new people and made new friends and even just acquaintances. I smile at the people at the gym and at the yoga studio and connect with them through eye contact and energy. I am a part of something. I belong there.

Those small connections are important. I remember a time when I was a teacher and I was going to be absent the next day because I had a doctor's appointment. One of my students said, Oh, no, you can't be gone. I said, don't worry, you're just going to be taking a test, you won't even miss me. She said, but you won't be at the door to smile and say hello to me when I come into class.

When I was a teacher, I was the giver all the time. In my retirement, I'm connecting in a different way. I am the receiver. It feels nice to be the one receiving the smiles and the hellos when I come in.

At the yoga studio I have connected with a few of the teachers. I really like all of the teachers at all of the locations. They are all welcoming and good teachers. But a few, in particular, have really connected with me. They call me by name and they talk to me before and after class a little bit. And, obviously, my trainer and I have become friends.

Then there is physical connection as in touching, proximity and eye contact. When I was a teacher, I discovered the importance of connecting with people through touch, movement and eye contact.

I choreographed activities to allow students to connect by walking around the room to discover clues to answer questions. They faced each other to play games. I had them pass stuffed animals while saying the answers to things. I touched the back of their chairs or put my hands on their desks or their papers. I crouched down next to them. You can't connect with someone, if they can't feel your energy.

In yoga and in training, the teachers watch what you are doing so they can give verbal cues to have you make subtle shifts. They make hands-on adjustments and corrections. They connect with you. They let you know they are present and aware of you. They aren't just running a class or a training session for themselves; it's for you. They are aware of you.

Today in training, Khris stood in front of me and held onto a body bar so I could hold onto it, too, because he needed to be there to stabilize me because I also had a huge resistance band around my waist and it was pulling me back, if he wasn't pulling me forward.

We were literally connected by that body bar. I was doing the work, but he was all in. He wasn't just watching my form or counting, although he was doing that, too; he was part of the exercise with me.

In connecting with you, they help you connect to your own body awareness. I read in a yoga article once about the pros and cons of hands-on adjustments. One of the cons was that students might get used to them or dependent upon them. I say, let them get addicted! I'm addicted! I love it when the teachers adjust. With training, it could just be telling me to move my foot or put the weight in my heels or lower my shoulders.

With yoga, the touch can even be massage. Many of the teachers use massage during the poses where your back is exposed and you are relaxed or in a twist. It is the best! My teacher today even did a scalp massage behind the ears when she put the cloth across my eyes in final relaxation! I gave her lots of gratitude energy while she did that!!

I'm thankful for the connections I've made at my gym and my yoga studio. I have learned to open up a little more and to receive. I don't always have to be the teacher. You have to be a student to learn. I like becoming a student again.