Replacing the Best

How many times have I said “That was the best teacher/yoga teacher/massage therapist I’ll ever have.  I’m sure I’ll never have another one as good.”  But then I have always found someone as good or better.

This started when I was in elementary school.  At the end of each school year, I would lament the fact that I couldn’t stay in that teacher’s class, that I had to matriculate to the next grade.  

Even more recently when my favorite yoga teacher moved, when I could no longer see my favorite massage therapist, I was sure they were irreplaceable.

But then through my piano teacher (who is indeed well connected), I found Dan, a man of many talents (including being the chef of an upscale DC restaurant) whom I see every 3 weeks for therapeutic massage.  I have the utmost respect for his ability to figure out exactly what I need to help my ever-tight hips, hamstrings, quads, and shoulders.  I hope he never retires.

My latest find is my new favorite yoga teacher Tara, who teaches a group class on Monday nights, as well as scattered other classes.  I also see her privately every two weeks in her beautiful home studio, where she has quickly zeroed in on my strengths and (mostly) weaknesses, coming up with some novel props and ways to address them.  Sometimes she harnesses me up with straps and gently assists me into the proper alignment of a pose.  Other times she provides the assurance that I won’t really fall over in a challenging balancing pose.  

I went to a 2-hour restorative workshop she taught today.  Even though it was a beautiful afternoon, my time was much better spent in the yoga studio as my body learned the healing poses of this discipline.  My first comment on seeing the carefully arranged room was it looked like we would each be burrowing into a little nest.  There was not even a temptation for my mind to wander as we settled into one delicious pose after another, to stay there for what seemed like a minute or two but which must have been five or ten.  Those two hours had an amazing effect on my body.  The best word I can use to describe my being at the end of the workshop is “serene.”  

The next time I start to worry about “the best” being lost forever, I hope I can remind myself of these and other experiences that have proven me wrong time and time again.