Assimilate knowledge, ideas, adjustments from all teachers into the teacher
within you.  Try not to focus on a Guru or teacher (as great as they may appear),
but rather on the ideas and material they convey.  The inner teacher is like a dry
sponge that absorbs wisdom from all around, digests it, and then re-applies it in a
manner and context that is appropriate for your practice.

 Everyone has a story to tell and something to teach.  Be respectful.  What seems
boring or irrelevant may be a corner of ignorance; allow light to be shined upon
it.  The process of learning is never staying in the comfort zone, it is never
passive or indulgent.  Competition & greed must soon be replaced by wonder and
contemplation.

 Trust your teachers.  There must be an element of trust and suspended belief to
allow the teacher to navigate you through new territories.  However, maintain
your sense of inquiry.  Ask questions and wonder why.  

 Trust but don’t idolize. If you ascribe super-human qualities to your teacher
you will be disappointed. Your teacher is also a student; they too are on a path of
discovery.  Nobody “gets there”.  The “goal” of yoga is to have no goal.  

 Immerse your awareness in the posture you are doing now.  Develop the habit to
ask yourselves these questions in each posture?
  •  What do you feel?  
  •  Where do you feel it?  
  •  Is this the intended effect?  
  •  Do you feel pain or discomfort?  
  •  Are you off balance?  
  •  Are your limbs properly aligned?
  • Take note of your breath – is it even and  deep or shallow and labored?  
  • Scan your body for unintended stress (neck, shoulders, hands, toes, jaw,
    eyebrows) and then try to let go.
  • How do minor adjustments make the posture feel different?
  • Are you working towards strengthening & opening the body so that with
    time the posture will deepen, or are you “cheating” to create the
    appearance of the posture?
"Although devotion is to be given to many institutions and teachers, the essence is to be taken
from them all, as the bee takes the essence from many flowers." Yoga Sutras, Book IV.13.
Cultivating the teacher within