Give and You Shall Receive

Maybe Yoga-X has turned me into a Zen master or something (of course, I'm kidding), but I woke up this morning feeling incredibly grateful for the life that I am living and the community that we are collectively creating and that already surrounds me.

This has been a most amazing week.

On Monday night I shared with you that the doctor had found a lump in my breast. I debated for a few hours that day whether I should share such an intimate part of myself with an online world of people, most of whom I have never met and most probably never will. If one of my goals as a coach is to help people see and understand that we can take care of ourselves no matter what messy stuff life throws our way, how could I not share? And so I did, feeling a bit vulnerable, but with a strong sense that that was the right thing to do.

You all came out of the woodwork, flooding my inbox with words of encouragement, prayers, personal stories to share, progress photos, and even an inspirational video to view! My friend Tina from Australia, who I didn't even know read my blog, wrote to say she was thinking of me.

And when on Tuesday I expressed my dissatisfaction with my 30-day results, I once again received a torrent of emails and posts telling me how far I have come.

Truly, my cup runneth over.

When I became a coach in September, I did so because I wanted to help others achieve the same great results that I had and I admit, I became a coach because I enjoy the role of teacher and leader. I've come to realize that my coaching philosophy and my teaching philosophy are one and the same:

I am, as Ken Bain, the author of What the Best College Teachers Do, likes to say, not the sage on the stage, but the guide by the side that wants to lead (my students) my readers and the people I coach to optimal levels of (learning) of health and fitness.

One of the things that I learned when I became a teacher and that I am learning once again as a coach is that the teacher-student, coach-coachee relationship is one of reciprocity. The student is not the only one learning.

Before I sat down to write this entry, I found a Buddhist interpretation of the phrase "Give and you shall receive" in the online journal Buddhadharma that I would like to share with you:

"Each offers not only what one has but...what one is. The potential intimacy of this kind of reciprocity need not be doubted."

In sharing what I am, in providing encouragement or occasional butt-kickings to all of my peeps, I have received much more than I ever expected or imagined I could receive.

So, thank you.

Now let's keep Bringing It!

Barbie, PhD