Train Yourself to See the Beauty

Today I had my very first experience assisting an Anusara Yoga class. The teacher for whom I am assisting gave me a form to review before class; it listed several tips for good assisting. One of the tips was "Train yourself to see the beauty". Though this may seem simple and/or obvious, it shifts your whole perspective when you look at students. You're not looking for what's wrong; you're looking for what's right and how you can enhance it and help to make their experience even better. It's hard for me to scan a room searching out the beauty; for some reason my mind goes to what needs fixin'. It actually feels a lot better to look for the good. It makes the practice about appreciating what you already have and brightening that rather than drudging yourself up out of the darkness of imperfection so that one day off in the distant future you can be "good" and "beautiful". I was so nervous when I was assisting (I didn't want to put my hands on anyone or make any "corrections") that I just went around the room telling everyone how beautiful they looked. At first I thought, "I didn't do anything; why was I even there?" And then I thought that simply by saying that to someone, I may have uplifted them and given the rest of their practice a little boost or maybe even made them feel good for the rest of the day. Now the key is to see the beauty and offer helpful tips for improvement!