One of the benefits of doing yoga is that it opens the door to beautiful friendships, ones that can last for decades. It’s easy to find like-minded people in classes, retreats and workshops, and yoga becomes the matrix that reinforces relationships.
I received a phone call from an old friend last week- we’re talking more than 30 years – who asked if he could come for a visit and an overnight stay.
Trevor Tangye and I did yoga teacher training with Martyn Jackson in the late seventies and early eighties. He and I also shared a house and later a flat in Sydney for a short time.
I was happy to have Trevor teach Astanga Vinyasa-style at Sydney Yoga Centre, my city school, for a period of time. He and I co-taught some beginners courses, which was an absolutely delightful experience. I still hear from students how much they enjoyed those sessions. Trev and I presented basic poses, alternating, one of us teaching a cluster of poses and then seamlessly segueing to the other teacher.
Over quite a few years our paths have diverged, so I was pleased to see Trevor show up at our country spread, We were able to do practice together in the Yoga Shed this morning. Just like old times. Well, not really. We were the generation of no-gain-without-pain yogis, an attitude which fortunately has mostly gone out of favour. The practice this morning looked to me to be attentive, internal, quiet. I suppose you could say we’re older and hopefully wiser for having inculcated some yoga philosophy along the way.
Something I’ve always admired about Trevor: his curious intelligence that keeps him learning about yoga and collecting general knowledge, too.
Oh, and something else that I admire. He has one of the most dog-eared copies of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra that I’ve ever seen.

Trevor and me