31/07/2026
Sometimes the guru is the one you least expect.
Last Saturday morning, our Yoga Brave students arrived at the church hall for their usual practice… only to discover that the hall had been transformed for an afternoon function.
There was no yoga space.
No alternative venue.
No clever solution.
Just a group of slightly bewildered yogis, a very gracious teacher, and a situation none of us had planned for. We had to cancel the class.
Later, Kylie sent me a message:
“With Guru Purnima next week, today’s guru is the church hall - it teaches us how to graciously accept the unexpected with humour and forbearance.”
I laughed but also felt disappointment.
And then I thought… she's onto something.
Because this is, after all, the practice.
Not just the beautiful moments on the mat when everything feels spacious and settled.But the moments when something interrupts our plans.
When we're disappointed.
When we don't get what we expected.
When our carefully constructed version of how things should be meets what actually is.
Yoga doesn't ask us to pretend we're not frustrated. It asks us to notice what happens next.
Do we look to blame or understand?
Can we respond rather than react?
And perhaps most importantly, can we recognise that the teaching doesn't always arrive in the form we were expecting?
Sometimes it's a teacher.
Sometimes it's a difficult conversation.
Sometimes it's a change of plans.
And sometimes…
it's a church hall full of recycled cardboard, muddy bollards and someone else's afternoon function. 😂
With Guru Purnima here, perhaps we might look a little differently at the teachers already woven through our lives.
Some are obvious. Others are disguised as inconveniences. And some, if we're lucky, teach us to laugh, take a breath and begin again.
ॐ गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णुर्गुरुर्देवो महेश्वरः। गुरुः साक्षात् परब्रह्म तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः।।
Om. To that beautiful and benevolent Guru who is Brahmā, the Creator, Viṣṇu, the Maintainer, and Śiva, the Great Lord through whom all things return to their origin.