Taking a Teacher

by Christina Pratt

True teachers connect us to rivers. They connect us to a flow of information that existed before the teacher and will continue to flow after we are gone. As students, our attention, questions, and sincerity pull the river through the teacher to us. There are different rivers. Qi gong is a 4,000 year-old river; authentic shamanism is a 40,000 year-old river. Hip Hop could be seen as a creek just a few decades old or the vast ancient river of humans using dance as a means of self-expression.

The purpose of a teacher is to help us to use the river to create a more essential, authentic expression of our self. I remember taking classes in college on subjects in which I was completely uninterested, just to experience learning from the really good teachers. It was exciting to be in class. Learning from a really good teacher is like being carried in the current of a river directly into the self.

Great teachers assist many in discovering unique expressions of their true selves. It is their calling. No matter the topic, they are connected to great rivers. Nonetheless, even great teachers are powerless to teach us if we do not take them. It is the student who has the power. It is the student who chooses to bow down low enough to receive the river. In that act of surrender to the river the student accesses the powers of transformation in that river.

[This does not excuse teachers who abuse their power and rank. These are false powers of the ego. We are discussing the powers that abide and take us to the soul.]

What does it mean to take a teacher? While the following is true of anything, let's use yoga for example. If you go to yoga class twice a week you will experience benefits in body, mind and spirit. The transformational powers of this path are present, however at this level of commitment you will not access them. It is akin to standing beside the river and drinking from it. It is temporarily refreshing, but fundamentally you are the same.

If you begin to go to class every day, or guide yourself through the yoga moves and postures on the days you don't go to class, then you have made the practice your own. You have stepped into your power on the path and yoga becomes your practice. The transformational powers of the path are available to you, however you will access them by trial and error. This is akin to wading in the river. You have left the old shore and you are getting wet, but your feet can still touch bottom. You remain in control and rooted to your old belief system.

If you practice every day, in class or on your own, and engage in a formal relationship with a teacher, you have taken a teacher. You have a guide in accessing the transformational powers on the path. You step into your power in your practice. Then you use that power to choose to bow down and receive the teaching. In this there is the choice to surrender and to trust the river. You push off from where you can touch the bottom and allow yourself to be carried in the current of the river. You have chosen to leave the old shore and the old belief system behind. You trust the teacher to guide you in the current of the river toward a true expression of your self.

This is taking a teacher. This will allow you access to the transformational powers of the ancient rivers like yoga, meditation, qi gong and shamanism. Nothing short of this level of commitment will allow you to evolve and to shift your paradigm. Don't fool yourself and don't sell yourself short. You will never know the treasures on the path, no matter how good the teacher, until you can choose to surrender to the river and take the teacher.

Without surrender we see life through the same patterns we always have. When we take a teacher, the surrender inherent in that relationship allows us to learn another way to view the world and our relationship to it. We can begin to lay down new patterns of thought and behavior. Life becomes conscious cultivation not reaction and repetition.

Taking a teacher, even with all of its benefits, is still a challenge for us. Unconsciously we know that our lives will change and we resist change. Consciously we resist the surrender and trust necessary to engage that relationship. Instead we keep looking for "the right teacher," moving from practice to practice expecting the teacher to do for us what we can only do for our selves.

"Soon we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy."
- Dumbledore

This is particularly important today. We are only six years away from December of 2012, the time marked by the prophecies of shamanic peoples around the world for change on a global scale. While we don't really know what that looks like, we do know what it means. It is a quickening.

The tricky thing about a quickening is it is not directional. A quickening simply shoves you suddenly in the direction you are facing. If you are depressed and unhappy with your life, you will be pushed deeper into your depression. If you are committed to a path of practice, you will be pushed deeper into that practice. If you are actively envisioning a new way of being and taking action to create that inner transformation then you will be shoved along that path.

The true direction you face, day-to-day, is critical. Not only does it affect your daily life, but it also becomes your future. In six short years, like it or not, it becomes your destiny. Now is the time to take a teacher and learn to cultivate the life you choose as your destiny.

Fundamental transformation and paradigm shifts take time. Traditionally it takes at least four years to learn at the depth necessary to access deep inner transformation. Your path in life doesn't care about your calendar. The quickening certainly doesn't care about shoulds, cultural expectations, and other sources of self-deception. There is no right time. There is only this time to give to your inner transformation and true self expression.

Choose a practice that moves you toward your true self and nourishes your soul: Take the next step along the path of that practice, even if it is inconvenient or costs money. Take another step and another step until you take a teacher. Give yourself to the teaching that touches the longing of your soul. Then push off into the current and surrender to the river.

© 2006 Last Mask Center for Shamanic Healing. Do not use without permission.
http://www.shamansense.org