Grounded and Courage

The first of (hopefully) many yoga classes that I will teach was a fine class. I had four lovely students join me for an hour of hamstring lengthening, hip opening, and chest expansion. Yeah! And I know that there were other people out there who will be coming in the next few sessions, so it looks like we're good to go for August.

Following advice from my lovely husband, I journaled my internal experiences as I practiced my teaching sequence yesterday morning so that I would have words to express the feelings to my students. As I was going through this process, two words came to mind: Grounded and Courage.

It seemed simple enough to me. Courage, yes, I was starting a new class. Must have courage. At 4:18pm when no one had shown up yet and I started to worry and wonder about what I would do for an hour with no students. I didn't run away. I didn't hide in the bathroom. I had enough courage to even show up to the studio, unlock the front gate, and prepare myself for whoever would arrive. Being grounded (or grounding) was some of the work we did in class preparing for some challenging balancing poses. But how else do these words work together?

One thought: The student must focus on grounding the standing leg before entering poses like Tree Pose. The top leg is more interesting but the bottom leg (the leg actually keeping you up) is more important... rooting down as you lift up through the torso and arms. This strength in being rooted to the earth enables the student to have courage to lift up one leg and stand on the other... to risk imbalance for a moment.

Is this true?

Here are my still unanswered questions:
Is it easier to have courage (to risk change, to step out into an unknown, to challenge oneself) when one is grounded (when one knows who they are)?
Does being grounded inhibit courage?
Is there some resistance to change that happens because you are grounded/rooted?
Is it easier to have courage when you are not grounded in anything at all? (having nothing to lose? or don't know the difference) Or is that just being reckless?

Perhaps it is true for me. I need comfort, dependability, stability, small steps, very controlled risk, very planned spontaneity. That is the comfort that Yoga gives me (or at least the kind of yoga that I have been practicing). I can see the goal ahead and I know that the steps to get there might be very small as my body learns to move in new ways. But from that strong foundation I will be able to challenge myself to do things I never thought I would have done before starting my practice... like headstands and handstands and ... teaching yoga!