title: How to access template instance from helpers in Meteor 0.8.0 Blaze
body: <p>The <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/a/22795437/586086">change in behavior for the <code>Template.foo.rendered</code> callback</a> in Meteor 0.8.0 means that we don't get to automatically use the rendered callback as a way to manipulate the DOM whenever the contents of the template change. One way to achieve this is by using reactive helpers as in <a href="https://github.com/avital/meteor-ui-new-rendered-callback" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://github.com/avital/meteor-ui-new-rendered-callback</a>. The reactive helpers should theoretically help performance by only being triggered when relevant items change. </p>
  
  <p>However, there is now a new problem: the helper no longer has access to the template instance, like the <code>rendered</code> callback used to. This means that anything used to maintain state on the template instance cannot be done by helpers.</p>
  
  <p>Is there a way to access both the template instance's state as well as use reactive helpers to trigger DOM updates in Blaze?</p>