Off the blocks

Three lessons

Shoulder-stand, set-up

We were in a difficult position or asana, revolved triangle and our faces must have been contorted. Our guest yoga instructor, DL (Nancy Desert Lizard Hearty), said that her teacher says that in each position our face should have the same countenance as that of the relaxing savasana, corpse pose — the one at the end of class in which we lay down in peace. Then she said, “that’s what I do and then I add a smile.” I had noticed her smile as I’ve become sensitive to them since I read that people, as they get older, tend to frown naturally. This gives the appearance of unhappiness when they might be giddy inside. As I’ve glanced at several pictures of myself, I think that this is true.

I didn’t know that DL was a teacher. I didn’t know her name was DL though she had been a student in our class for quite a while. I had noticed, though, that she was very good at yoga. I will think of her now as my teacher of smiling.

Earlier in the week we held a management off-site and had a fellow new to us, Bob Krasa, as a facilitator. Bob had managed some big companies, like Dow and Haworth in his long career and he led us through several exercises to get a sense of where we are as a company and a team. At one point, after we had been moaning about something he said, “there are no free lessons in business.” I will think of him now as my teacher of reality-based learning.

My third lesson was to look forward to guests, for they come bearing gifts.