In most health care and social service professions, there is the named experience and notion of compassion fatigue: the tiredness and burnout that sets in when one exhausts his/her limitations of what he/she can give to another without ensuring a balanced output of compassion and care for the self. Prevention of this compassion fatigue is important for all helping professionals, parents, caregivers, and teachers/educators. As a yoga teacher, if you aren’t mindful of your own practice of yoga, self-compassion and self-nourishment, your Tadasana (mountain pose) may end up looking like a rounded lumpy bag of potatoes and your mind may end up getting cluttered, compounding the very obstacles that are getting in the way of your ability to truly be present, loving, and kind.

As I observe my own patterns and listen to the challenges experienced by many yoga teachers, I notice how the very obstacles that stand in the way of us humans cultivating a state of Yoga (stillness of the agitations of the mind) show up in many of our teaching styles, studio cultures, as well as in the way we respond/our ability to truly listen to the challenges that students are requesting support for.

According to The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, the 9 obstacles that interrupt mental clarity and the cultivation of continued growth are: illness, inertia/ depression, doubt/ self-doubt, impatience/ haste, laziness, greed/ overindulgence, delusion/ arrogance, lack of perseverance, and regression/ difficulty sustaining effort through challenges.

Our human minds do what they do best. Our minds will attach, experience aversion, let the ego get in the way, fear, and ignore objective reality.

Our best tool to preventing compassion fatigue is yoga: both the practice yoga and the practice of letting go/ relinquishing control, paired with the ability to discriminate between reality and what we interpret from our reality.

Someone reminded me the other day that a yogi is a yogi 24 hours per day. Part of the practice of preventing compassion fatigue involves:

– Being happy for someone who is happy (Love/ Happiness: Maitri – Sukham)

– Having compassion for others who are suffering ( Compassion: Karuna – Dukham)

– Rejoycing in another’s good deed (Joy: Mudita – Punya)

– Seeing someone’s inappropriate actions for what they are: just a part of the whole (Equanimity: Upeksa – Apunga)

When the above named obstacles get in the way of practicing love, compassion, joy, and equanimity, we always have the practice and our inner wisdom to come back to. When we practice what we preach, our life and our teachings become so much more impactful for ourselves and others.

Namaste

With 2014 upon us, I would like to thank my mentors and teachers for the lessons that have stuck with me from 2013.

In this moment, as I write, these are the top quotes/anecdotes/stories I have to share:

1. Just because you are experienced in something, don’t assume you are above and beyond the proposed cautions – accidents often happen when the ego interjects and awareness gets left behind. After laughing at the signs in the picture above, I snapped my ski pole in two by letting it dangle from my wrist and getting it caught on the platform at mid-station. I now ski with two mismatched poles because the lift attendant kindly gave me a pole that was left behind by someone else who ignored the cautions. We traded, actually – He took the two broken pieces in exchange for a pole that was intact. I didn’t ask if anyone had been choked by their loose scarf… I just choose to embrace my mismatched poles and trust the signs.

2. “The highest form of human intelligence is the ability to observe without judgment” ~ Saraswathi Vasudevan during a lecture weekend at Yoga Therapy Toronto’s studio.

3. “Pranayama (breathing techniques) are the only way to dissolve anger” ~ Prem Bakshi, one of the mentors whose presence in my life I will forever be grateful for.

4. “Through this experience, you will learn to protect yourself as you listen to and respect your own boundaries better” ~ my clinical supervisor.

5. My best friend asking me to be her maid of honour. I always knew I would one day play that role in her life, but the experience of being asked and invited into someone’s process of committing to a life of shared love with someone else is one that I don’t take for granted.

6. Age, love, and wisdom: there is a relationship between the three that became evident to me at my dad’s wedding in September. Committed, authentic, true romantic love requires wisdom. Wisdom just happens to (usually) come with age.

7. On the financial front: People who live modestly, within their means, without debt, and prioritize spending on the necessities balanced with what nourishes them, have all inspired me to reflect on our relationship with money and the impact it has on our wellness.

8. I love getting mail! One of my old tree planting buddies sent me a Holiday postcard. It was the only personalized mail I have received since his last year’s postcard. This time, he kindly used a picture of the two of us circa 2008 as the postcard itself. August Edward, from Thompson, Manitoba, thank you! The picture is on my fridge.This reminded me of the importance of connecting with the people we think about in ways that show that we care.

9. Anchorman 2 – the number of quotable quotes would require a blog post on their own.

10. Example of funny times: If you are sitting at a dinner table and are experiencing tension in the conversation, confidently change the topic by sharing that you have the ability to imitate an owl’s cry… and proceed to demonstrate. “You guys needed me at that dinner last night!” ~ Andre.

11. “Saying goodbye and parting ways with someone is sometimes the most compassionate thing you can do for yourself and the other” ~ A Buddhist Monk who led a meditation on transforming resentment into compassion. I attended the meditation in 2008 or 2009, but her words resonated most for me in 2013 as I explored what that actually meant in practice.

12. We live in a beautiful country.  With my mother’s persistence, we visited the last province I had left to visit in Canada. That trip to Newfoundland, a couple weeks out west, and photos shared by friends who traveled internationally, inspired an intention to explore more.

13. With a new found state of presence and attention to things that matter, I enjoyed time with and the company of my family more than ever before. Dear family (I include life-long friends), I love love love you.

14. Mountains, trees, oceans: you have taught me the balance between Sthira and Sukha (stability and ease) and given me a point of reference when trying to grasp the experience of that balance.

15. Treasuring the beauty of vulnerability: the people in my work and in my life who have shown the willingness of being vulnerable in their openness with me have taught me things about myself. 2013 babies who have been welcomed into this world within my social circle have taught me the same (Arlo, Wren, Naomé, Oliver, Benoit).

With much love and gratitude, Happy 2014!

Katherine