Here comes our newly arrived Thai massage student to study having a well known master in Thailand. To his shock and dismay, the teacher keeps on smoking one cigarette after the other while he is teaching.
He goes to some other renowned healer/teacher and discovers that he does not smoke, however, his private life is just a mess, and he’s lots of girl friend trouble.
Again yet another well known ssru teacher comes with an amazing ego. These are not examples which I simply composed, but twenty years back I was this newly arrived Thai massage student in Thailand, also that I did study with those teachers.
Life is infrequently how we think it needs to be. Our ideal perception of a Profession is a serene, spiritual, small, kind person, ideally a vegetarian, meditator, non drinker and non smoker. A saint in different words. Should the healing skills of the master not interpret into every component of his life, shouldn’t there be an congruency between all aspects of his own life? Logic tells us that it ought to be so, but lifetime tells us otherwise.
The very first time I ever saw the chain smoking ace that he took one look at me and stated I experienced a problem with my own ankle. This was very true since I had sprained my ankle severely several months earlier and the ankle retained causing me lots of problems. So that the master told me to lie down and he started to work in my ankle for a few minutes. He then corrected my buttocks with a thumping noise like when a nurse adjusts your spine. Cost: No Thing.
I had trouble reconciling his great talent, his instinctive powers, and his smoking. After I ran in to several such challenges with Thai massage teachers, I decided that I needed to change my fantasies. There is no point in trusting that life should be one way when actually it is not too.
It’s like a relationship or union. We frequently make the mistake to trust that our partner should be absolutely harmonious in all are as – a ideal fit sexually, a perfect trainee, dancing partner, sports partner, intellectual companion, mentally stable and inviting, a excellent cook, gardener or aide…
Exactly what an amazing burden for someone to surpass this amazing image! Of course no body can fulfill this kind of task, and having such expectations is the fastest path to a failed relationship.
I had to understand my courses within this stadium, and it helped me with my less than perfect Thai massage instructors. Many students put teachers up onto a base and turn them into a guru. I have observed this both from the Thai massage landscape here in Thailand and in the yoga community. The students expect them to adapt with their idea of the ideal teacher. Certainly there are some healers and educators who are really balanced in all areas of life, but they’re a minority.
It’s likely to produce the very amazing tunes and have an entirely erratic personality. Ask Mozart. It’s likely to be an inspiration into the world and have an entirely messed up personal life. Ask Marilyn Monroe and a lot of other renowned characters. And it is likely to be a fantastic Thai massage teacher and healer and be addicted to smoking.
Better accept their gifts and skills without even expecting them to be saints around the board. It can not help educators to be adored and idealized. It just causes it to be much tougher for them to maintain their egos in check.
Humans are filled with imperfections, and these really are our learning and growth opportunities. Some individuals have great talents, but a wonderful skill in one area doesn’t translate in to human perfection and should we expect it to achieve this.