JTAP complete in Barcelona.
After six months of teacher training in Barcelona, I completed the Jivamukti Teacher Apprenticeship Program with Karina as my mentor.
Six months in Barcelona
I started in March with a lot to learn—and finished with an even deeper sense of how much there still is to learn.
Thank you, Karina, for your guidance, honesty, and attention to every little detail. I could not have wished for a better mentor. Lisa, I am so glad we got to do this together. And Moana and Laura, thank you for being the satsang along the way; Janet, thank you for your support and belief in me.
From the Dharma talk in my final class
For six months, Karina sent me back to the practice again and again: practise it again, look again, come back, learn how to teach it—and then teach.
There is a story about Rāmānuja receiving a mantra from his teacher. He returned eighteen times before the teaching was finally given to him, with one condition: do not share it. The mantra was considered so powerful that whoever received it could attain liberation.
Rāmānuja left his teacher, climbed the temple, called the people together, and gave them the mantra. His teacher was furious: “You could go to hell for this.” Rāmānuja answered, in essence, “If all these people can be liberated, I am willing to go there alone.”
After six months, I do not feel as though I am returning to Hamburg with something I have collected. Practice is not something to possess. Someone gives something to you. You return to it again and again. Eventually, you pass it on.
Oṃ Namo Nārāyaṇāya.