Mono Monday : : Solo

Solo is defined as something done alone without accompaniment...
Thanks to MerrilHope for hosting this month...

This man, sitting by himself in a cafe full of people, concentrating on his device as if it were a piano, oblivious of everyone struck me as a perfect subject for the challenge 'solo'. The fact that he was in a cafe with no sign of any other beverage than water somehow underlined the impression. I was really curious about what he was doing, but reluctant to break his concentration to ask him.

I almost had a solo Pilates class this morning, but one other person turned up so we had a duet. Because there were only two of us we worked on the equipment instead of the mat. I queried the instructor about something we did in an equipment class in Boulder...something I found very difficult impossible to do. She had us try it and I had no problem doing it....an interesting discussion of teacher/student  and situational dynamics ensued. 

As a teacher myself, I know that such things as language, terminology, observation  and manner all make a difference. I once had a student come to me after the first teacher training class I ever taught at the Iyengar Institute in San Francisco, He announced that he had signed up for the class because it was "the only three hour class in town" and he thought I talked too much. I told him I was sorry he hadn't liked the class but that it was a teacher training class and therefore perhaps not what he really wanted. He stayed in the class, years went by and one day he turned up again in a class I was teaching. This time after class he told me that he had really learned a lot in my teacher training class, had gone on to to start teaching himself and would like to take me out to lunch.

Teaching is definitely a two-way street.