We Love Brooke Welsh
Name: Brooke Welsh Year Started Practicing Yoga: 1998 Location: Philadelphia Area Style/School: Scaravelli Yoga, Diane Long
Why do you teach yoga? Because I love it. Because it’s never been a question. Because I can’t not teach, even if I wanted to. Through the teaching, I learn.
What makes you a teacher? Having people who are interested in what we have to share.
What’s your biggest hope for mankind, for your students? That our collective consciousness evolves; to learn that through our consciousness we can heal and create.
Do you have any pre-class rituals before you teach? I practice before I teach asana to be sure I am in my body.
Who are your favorite teachers? Diane Long has been my primary asana teacher for nearly 15 years now. She was Vanda Scaravelli’s main student for almost 25 years. This way of working can seem illusive and ethereal, but asks for so much to be given and in return, one is met with emerging certainty, clarity and a solid sense of being home in the body. It’s not for everyone. It challenges and frustrates because there is no technique or method. You ask yourself to be a beginner over and over and over... to be revealed to, not to do the revealing. It’s a way to use the physical body in the process of being witness to the mind. Gradually, over time, changes happen not just in our bodies, but also in the space which gets created in our minds as a result. However, it takes patience and a willingness to celebrate our achievements in the baby steps of undoing. I have breath-work teachers I have worked with for years, as well as gifted body-workers. I have a Sat Guru and a woman who I visit regularly in India. All of these teachers and all of these practices help me arrive, through different avenues, to the same place. There is a consistent quality in all of the teachers I hold close and dear and to me, I see the same message in it all.
What type of person pisses you off? A person with a sense of righteousness.
Who or what has been your best teacher? Being stubborn by nature.
What’s the most important thing for you in maintaining integrity? Following through on my word.
What’s your biggest fear? Probably getting sick in India.
What was your first experience of yoga and what is your experience now? My first experience with yoga was expansive. It was the deepest breathing I had ever experienced up to that point. When I began, yoga asana felt like a doorway which was going to lead me to a new world. Now all the practices I employ give me a deeper experience of freedom, peace and a sense of sanity in the constant shifting of the world in which I live and observe.
Any secret or special talents? Ask my mom, or a friend... then again, they might be biased. I don’t know…
What is your favorite four-letter word? CAKE
If you weren't a yoga teacher, what would you be? Teaching asana, working with people through their body and breath has always felt 100% appropriate for the past 15 years. I’ve had many other jobs and have done all sorts of things, but I can’t imagine anything being more appropriate than what I am, at least for right now. I’m fully in... following my being.
What is your favorite thing about living yoga? How everything is my teacher, so long as I am open to seeing it.
What are some obstacles to living yoga you’ve experienced? Using the yogic/spiritual jargon as a way to excuse bad behavior.
What is the most significant thing yoga has taught you about yourself? All of my yoga practices - asana, pranayama, bhakti - have taught me that I am not the doer. I am a participant in a greater dance. Sometimes it’s an easy dance and I feel as though life is what I want it to be, that the choice is mine. Other times, it can be an intense and ferocious dance. I may feel overwhelmed to keep up, it is in these moments when I find myself leaning into my practices the most, to reassure myself that I am safely being led by an energy which is greater than my sense of self-identification as 'Brooke' and all that’s wrapped up in it. Over the years I have learned about being gentle, with myself and others. I have cultivated the quality of being a good friend to myself and others, I have learned about patience and the perfection of life as we move through time and how to be open to the unexpected.
Also, everything that happens is really for my highest good. Everything. There is a gift in every exchange and every experience no matter what.
What specific part of your practice is influencing your personal life right now? The lesson of acceptance has been a big piece of my learning curve lately. How much can I accept things exactly the way they are? Can I accept the perfection of what is, even my own disappointment? What can I learn?
I am still working on being comfortable living with ease in the face of the ever present “unknown”.
How do you stay inspired? By practicing gratitude, appreciating natural beauty around me and being as generous as I can with the abundance that surrounds me. I am fortunate to have life full of really good people around me... and an obsessive brain that will question and turn things over until I feel satisfied.
What does yoga mean to you? Truth and liberation
What is the future of yoga? I have no idea. I only know what I am doing at this present time and the wondrous journey I had arriving to this moment. Had I told myself 20 years ago the story of my life now, I would have never believed it. I can’t imagine what lies ahead, for myself or anyone else. It’s an adventure to be lived in the day-to-day, moment-to-moment.
What makes a good teacher? The common quality in so many of my teachers who I have been drawn to - Diane Long, my yoga teacher, breath work teachers, bodywork/massage teachers, spiritual teachers - has been a willingness to be both vulnerable and not have all the answers. I have repeatedly been struck by the strength and integrity of a person who can be present with what they are feeling and experiencing, and allowing themselves to be revealed to by what they share. It’s a way of embodying the spirit of what we share as teachers, rather than owning information. Anyone can memorize, but who can feel safe enough to follow energy to an unknown place, especially when you’re supposed to be “the teacher”?
Learn more about Brooke at: www.brookerose.com