Student as teacher, Pope as servant
Disclaimer: I love Pope Francis - I call him my birthday Pope - because it was on my birthday in 2013 (3/13/13 to be precise) that he was elected Pope after Benedict decided to resign that previous month.
I hadn't planned to blog today - much less blog about the pope, but as I was scrolling through Instagram, I saw he honored an 85 year old nun named Maria Concetta for her 60 years of missionary work in Africa. She serves as a midwife - and has helped bring some 3,000 babies into this world.
I am named for my paternal great grandmother, Maria Concetta. I never got to meet her, but my father loved her so much, he gave me her name. I wrote a college entrance essay about her - the prompt asked "if you could meet anyone, alive or dead, who would it be and why?".
For the essay, I chose to write about my great grandmother Maria Concetta and my aunt Mary. These two women I share names with both died before I was born, but not before leaving a tremendous mark on the lives of my parents. I wish I still had that essay.
Once again - the universe finds a way to connect me to this pope and to my faith.
Pope Francis has been in the news lately because of a kissing controversy. No not that one. It was over his visible pulling away from people who bent to kiss his ring. Perhaps you saw it? People reacted to the video, which went viral, with varying degrees of disgust and upset. Every manner of hot take was represented, up to and including calling him a "chastisement from God". I mean, really.
Dig deeper into the story all while keeping in mind, this Pope wants little to do with the regalia that often accompanies the papacy. Pope Francis, in his humble manner, has done much to remove the air of subservience to the pope since he was named to the papacy.
To be fair, he'd much rather be seen washing feet than encumbered by a monarchical tradition. Though he allowed many to kiss the ring in the past, I have read multiple accounts that he wants to leave that "kissing the ring" practice in the past.
The same day that original story went viral, he posted a message on Twitter:
Sounds pretty aligned with someone who wants to abandon the practice of kissing a ring - and aligned with someone who is not attached to the material. He wants to serve, be humble, detach from any glamour or royalty. There is something yogic in this.
There's no ring-kissing in yoga - but many gurus are highly revered. At the same time, every yoga teacher is at once a guru and a student. I would never presume to teach anything to my very experienced and knowledgeable teachers - both of whom I highly respect - about yoga, however, yesterday in teacher training, my teacher quoted something I said back to me. She didn't realize she was quoting me per se, because she didn't recall who had shared the story. At the moment, the group was practicing as she lead us, so it would have been poor form to say anything to jog her memory. She shared back something I had shared to the group about one of my first experiences practicing at Powerflow.
When I was a beginner yogi, a very experienced teacher said something very simple, but very empowering. Five years later, I still remember it. She asked us to come into downward facing dog and said "welcome to your inversion!" By doing this, she made inversions accessible, even though it would be a full year before I would even attempt a headstand.
That same encouragement came out as we moved into downward facing dog. At that moment I knew she had learned something from me and the teaching came full circle.
I hadn't planned to blog today - much less blog about the pope, but as I was scrolling through Instagram, I saw he honored an 85 year old nun named Maria Concetta for her 60 years of missionary work in Africa. She serves as a midwife - and has helped bring some 3,000 babies into this world.
For the essay, I chose to write about my great grandmother Maria Concetta and my aunt Mary. These two women I share names with both died before I was born, but not before leaving a tremendous mark on the lives of my parents. I wish I still had that essay.
Once again - the universe finds a way to connect me to this pope and to my faith.
Pope Francis has been in the news lately because of a kissing controversy. No not that one. It was over his visible pulling away from people who bent to kiss his ring. Perhaps you saw it? People reacted to the video, which went viral, with varying degrees of disgust and upset. Every manner of hot take was represented, up to and including calling him a "chastisement from God". I mean, really.
Dig deeper into the story all while keeping in mind, this Pope wants little to do with the regalia that often accompanies the papacy. Pope Francis, in his humble manner, has done much to remove the air of subservience to the pope since he was named to the papacy.
The same day that original story went viral, he posted a message on Twitter:
The culture of appearance, which leads us to live for passing things, is a great deception. Because it is like a flaring blaze: once it is over, only ashes remain.
Sounds pretty aligned with someone who wants to abandon the practice of kissing a ring - and aligned with someone who is not attached to the material. He wants to serve, be humble, detach from any glamour or royalty. There is something yogic in this.
There's no ring-kissing in yoga - but many gurus are highly revered. At the same time, every yoga teacher is at once a guru and a student. I would never presume to teach anything to my very experienced and knowledgeable teachers - both of whom I highly respect - about yoga, however, yesterday in teacher training, my teacher quoted something I said back to me. She didn't realize she was quoting me per se, because she didn't recall who had shared the story. At the moment, the group was practicing as she lead us, so it would have been poor form to say anything to jog her memory. She shared back something I had shared to the group about one of my first experiences practicing at Powerflow.
When I was a beginner yogi, a very experienced teacher said something very simple, but very empowering. Five years later, I still remember it. She asked us to come into downward facing dog and said "welcome to your inversion!" By doing this, she made inversions accessible, even though it would be a full year before I would even attempt a headstand.
That same encouragement came out as we moved into downward facing dog. At that moment I knew she had learned something from me and the teaching came full circle.
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