LeslieUpchurch.com

The Yoga Teachers Today!  Love teaching them.

Nothing like teaching peers - people who you are learning from are so interesting to teach.  We share insights about learning.  There are so many parallels about teaching any subject.  This is particularly true of teaching adults.  Things are sometimes more transparent when you teach adults.  I am not sure why I think that.

How are adults different than children?  Well, children are of course learning new things daily and they have not settled on anything yet.  Every day is a stretch, a new project, a new assignment, etc.  Adults - we settle in on what works for us. Then, we make our living doing it, socialize around it, and basically become it in many ways.

Learning something new can be a threat to our very existence - particularly if we are not a quick study, not talented in that area, not predisposed to do well.  Of course some things are not really available to us as we age.  I get extremely dizzy and cannot turn or spin.  So, even when I was much younger I could not learn gymnastics or dance ballet when it came to the tondu - sp? - turns.  

Piano and yoga could be for pretty much anyone at any age. Each have their walls to climb, but you don't have to be "in shape" to do these endeavors.  The walls are physical, mental, spiritual, whatever!  But, we can climb them.  I always tell students, it's not like skiing.  What's the worst thing that can happen?  You won't break your leg if you play badly!

I am visiting my former roommate and his wife.  I went to their wedding in India. His family did not quite get it that I am a musician.  They had drummers at the wedding but no band.  The drummers led the Barat - the groom and his "side" walking and dancing from the tent where he had a reception to the bride's reception where the wedding took place.  Some brass players started this procession but did not appear again until hours later when the bride was leaving her home - at 4:30 AM - to go to the groom's home.  The musicians wore ratty uniforms and were not that clean.  This was not an esteemed profession in their family.

My former roommate has purchased a guitar, but has not learned to play.  He also purchased one for his nephew and insists that he take lessons.  I am not sure if he pays for the lessons, but he wants his nephew to be a "chick magnet" - to be good at getting girls.  He perceives, and rightly so, that if you play the guitar well you will attract girls.  His nephew is quite handsome too.  

The perception of what music is can be so different.  My one yoga teacher - the one who teaches me - was doing a "Dozen a Day" exercise and he was so interested in how ones brain cannot get and then gets the pattern with just a few repetitions.  He exclaimed "this is why kids should take piano" - or do music.  I wholeheartedly agree. My roommates idea is also a take on "why music"?

Another yoga teacher who takes lessons and had one today sent me the following message on Facebook.  It is one of the reasons I want to teach adults who really want to do this.

"Awesome lesson Leslie. You make learning so much fun. You make things manageable. I no longer feel like the piano is an insurmountable peak. It's more like a series of hills that I can climb with some persistence and determination. Thank You!"

Goodnight - and yes, getting a message like that is something that means so much, don't you agree? (Cannot seem to control font sizes - well, the words are what means the most.)