"Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.
- W. Buffett
I like to learn. I like to prep the mind with new information. I read books. I listen to podcasts. I take online courses to learn new things. I also try to attend in-person classes and seminars. I enjoy the interaction of students and teachers in off-line education.
It's about 5:45 am. I spent about an hour with my pal Kenny, walked down to his shop at 4:15 and got home about 5 minutes ago. I just pulled a double shot of espresso and am sitting at the kitchen counter thinking about today.
Today is webinar day at my company, StoryboardEMP, LLC. We offer online education for various professions. Today we're hosting a one hour talk about appraisal best practices in the morning and a one hour chat about mitigation investigations in the afternoon.
I read a post yesterday on instagram panning the very notion of online learning. "You must have hands on teaching," they said. "It's the only way," they said. I disagree.
There are several ways to learn. There are several stages of learning. Yes, in person education is best for initial phases of learning a craft, a posture, a technique. But, after a certain level of mastery, I believe it - actually I know it to be - possible to learn through a more scalable delivery. Online is perfect for some things.
While it's true that you can't get hands on adjustments in an online course, you can learn a specific sequence of poses. You can learn about human anatomy. You can learn about the history of yoga. You can learn about health and wellbeing and best practices and ... and .... A dedicated student can take advantage of the online format to further their practice and their business.
That said, I am a fan of in-studio daily classes. I am a fan of specific instruction on specific poses from an actual human being. There's nothing that can take the place of the energy of a group of people moving through the poses together.
In fact, I'm heading out now to take in the 6:00 am practice at my home studio, Liberation Yoga in Nashville.
Today, we plant trees. Trees of learning and knowledge for people who have a strong baseline of learning that want to take their career, life, practice to the next level.