.....when the student is ready

Yogis,
I’m not exactly sure of the timing, but it must be close to 25 years ago. There was a woman living up the street who word had it, was teaching yoga in her home. Now this was way before the current yoga wave had rolled in. No Lululemon or hot power yoga studios. I knew the word but very little about what it actually meant.

Her name was Jo Alexander and I began getting to know her through our street gatherings. She would have been in her mid to late sixties at the time, tall, slender and oh so regal. The way she carried herself and the aura of grace around her couldn’t be missed. I knew I wanted some of whatever she was having.

At that time, I along with the self-named ‘running girls’ group, were hitting the streets at 5:30 am with our dogs in tow, 5 or 6 days a week. We were runners through and through, with only an occasional aerobics class thrown in. In my mind yoga was ‘touchy feely’ and I wasn’t sure I wanted any part of that. Yet she kept crossing my path.

One morning on our run I asked the others if they had any interest in taking yoga if I could convince Jo to teach once a week before the sun rose. With their blessing I approached Jo, and much to her credit, after sleeping on it, she agreed. Yoga was about to enter my world.

For the next 5 or 6 years we learned to move our bodies in different ways, breathe consciously, watch our thoughts pass like clouds against a blue sky, and deeply sink into ourselves in savasana under the blankets she carefully spread on each of us. All in a quiet candlelit room. Seeds were being planted.

She also taught us how to chant.

Eventually as Jo and her husband Al began to age, they decided to move to a lovely apartment with a view and no leaves to rake, leaving behind their cherished home. This past year, at the ripe old age of 96, Al passed away. They had been married for 72 years.  I hadn’t seen them in the last year and regret not visiting them to have yet one more spirited conversation with Al. I didn’t want to make that mistake again…….

This week I headed over to find where Jo is living now with the hopes of being able to see her and the Universe complied. I found her surrounded by her daughter, cleaners and a compassionate aide. Jo is now 92 (or so she believes as her memory has become less dependable.) We reminisced about those Friday mornings and all our wonderful neighbors and friends.

I asked if she remembered that she had taught me to chant. She wasn’t sure.

Right before I left home that morning, something told me to bring my music and mala beads.  I took out my mala and gave her one and turned on a beautiful 108 repetition Ganesh chant. All it took was the first Om. I could see it in her body. The shift. Her eyes closed and a gentle smile appeared. 

Together we chanted.

When I had first arrived Jo joked that with her broken hip and wrist it was too bad we couldn’t do yoga together…..but I realized that we had. Yoga postures are only a technique. Yoga is a state of being and we were in it. Together once again. And I owe that to her.

It is said that when the student is ready…the teacher will come. She came and it changed my life.

Om,
SARAH