Last week I attended a week-long yoga retreat with Patricia Walden.  

Now, in the glow of my return, I’m pondering the qualities that draw me back week after week to this special teacher.

Here’s the countdown of my reasons.   You know what’s curious about it? The more I practice yoga…
…the more I’m attracted by the items deeper down the list,
…the more sharply I discriminate how far down the list a teacher’s gifts extend, and
…the more grateful I am for the teacher who traverses the list and can dwell in the deeper numbers.

I’m wondering, dear reader, if you have such a list…or if you think your students do.

10. I know where she’s teaching; she shows up on time.

9.  I feel better after her class than before.

8. I learn more about the physical poses in every class.

7.  I often discover new emotional and spiritual dimensions of the poses in her class.

6. She remembers my name.

5. She shows me how to adapt poses to my limitations.

4. She draws my attention to my progress, challenges, and innate strengths.

3. She uses the yoga teacher’s tools with skill and respect:  voice, body language, and touch.

2. Although she’s not perfect, she deeply exemplifies personal qualities I aspire to.

1. In her classes I have felt a resonance and waking up…when I experience her attitude toward her students, her practice, her own teacher… of my own feelings toward the divine.