A Twist on Generosity

I’ve been having some interesting conversations lately about generosity.

Specifically, we’ve been discussing what it means to be generous in the context of how we show up in our work.

If I aim to write a generous blog post, what does that look like?

In this context, a brief story that opened some new insights for me.

A Twist on Generosity

I was reading through my DayOne journal from this day last year. It was a Monday, and earlier in the day I had written that

Mondays are fucked.

So it was that kind of day.

The penultimate entry of my day was about my evening yoga at Trilogy Sanctuary in La Jolla, my favorite studio there.

I had signed up for a double-header: a fast-paced and challenging vinyasa class followed by healing yin. On that evening both were taught by Gabrielle Blachley, a former dancer who leads the teacher trainings at Trilogy.

Between classes, Gabrielle asked me if I had any feedback for her. She commented that I know and appreciate yoga on a deeper level, and said that she would welcome my feedback.

I was awed and also taken aback by her request.

Gabrielle is amazing; strong, powerful, flexible, confident in her teaching and also warm and embracing. She’s been teaching for years, used to run her own studio, and has led several yoga teacher trainings.

I had just completed my first 200-hour YTT a few weeks earlier.

What kind of feedback could I offer her?

And yet she was asking for my feedback.

In my journal I reflected on how that moment reminded me that we are all teachers and we are all students. We all teach each other.

Generosity Can Be in Asking

Reflecting on this today, a year later, it occurs to me that this is also an example of generosity.

Generosity isn’t always in what we offer others; it can also come in the form of a request.

Asking for feedback, being interested, listening, learning, holding space — these are acts of generosity as much as anything we share.