Alexi and I were placed together — mentor and mentee.  She and I have a bright and peaceful hour after my early morning class on Tuesdays at the Arlington studio. Lex brings her son Freddy, who plays with the foam blocks and his trucks, eats snacks and draws on the draft of her thesis for the 300 hour teacher training.  We talk about profound things like teaching yoga through archetypes and parenting a young child; we delight in Freddy’s love of hiding in the curtains, and in our newfound friendship. I really don’t know who is mentoring who, since I’ve learned so much from Lex.

Three people or forty, this is community: the pause, the listening, the experience of another perspective and something big and true. Learning. Connection. Joy.  I wish everyone could find this kind of belonging in a yoga studio.