THE FORUM (or my own personal mission)

Have you seen it?  The Forum?  It is a page on the Anusara website where students and teachers are able to ask questions, offer suggestions/comments, etc.

Currently it is divided into categories of discussion. For example:  General Questions, Not Related to Yoga Stuff, Event stuff, Therapeutics, and - I'm sure - a couple more (and, these are not exact titles).  I loved when it appeared -- an opportunity to ask questions and get an answer, I thought.  An opportunity to offer an opinion, I thought. My initial impression was that this would be one of the most actively-used pages on the Anusara webpage.

It started off actively. Then appears to have stagnated. I see a couple reasons for this. (Note, I've been watching this site for a couple months consistently, and off and on since it's inception.)  One, if you ask a question (or answer one), you are pretty darn close to the head office and exposure of all you do AND don't know.  That might discourage people; on the other hand, it might also encourage people who want to be seen. Not sure what can be done about that -- human nature is human nature.

The second reason, in my opinion, is lack of feedback or response from us in the community.  People ask questions. To many of the submissions, there is no response (or, if there is one, it's not reflected on the page).  Not even acknowledgement that the question / comment has been received.  For example, last week I read a submission -- a yoga teacher introducing herself to the group (6-8 months ago).  No one responded to her -- like, to say "Hi", "Welcome", "Glad to have you join us".  None of that, it's like she just wrote her excited introduction into the air.  So, I wrote a belated 'welcome' back to her.  (Wish I had a really small font to write that last sentence in -- I was embarrassed, as I wrote that note.)

Now, I am not an activist.  If you read my bio on the Anusara website (under Anusara-Inspired Instructors), one of the questions asked is "what title should you have received in high school?" (or something like that). My answer:  "Least Likely to Make Waves".  It's true. I will / have in many cases followed the path of least resistance, gone with the flow, kept up with the jones's.  I am not one to make waves, but this - The Forum - has my attention.

Last night, I logged back into the Forum.  One recent submission (2 weeks old), was from a student in Long Beach looking for Anusara Yoga in her area.  No response reflected yet, so I offered one.  I wrote her a reply in which I told her I didn't know the area well enough, but would give her the name of 2 Certified teachers to contact in the L.A. area (which I then did).  Then, I notified the 2 teachers that I had given this person their names.  It took 7-8 minutes, in all.

All this to say, a potentially vibrant page on our website is going virtually unused.  Enough.  It's frustrating, as are a lot of things in life. But, it just takes minutes - maybe even seconds - to help someone and to make them feel that we care. Why not do it? Enough, again.  And, we all can do it -- help with the page.  Respond to questions.  Respond to comments.  It's not too much to ask of us or for the community to do.

Today?  Going to RIVERDANCE! Seen it before, but will love seeing it again. Then to Balboa Park in San Diego for a look at the Christmas lights. Then to spend the evening watching over the Grand-Dudes.

Hope your weekend is a great one!