a reflection on being a teacher
The best thing that I learned at the yoga workshop I went to on Saturday is that I'm not alone in the way that I teach.
I'd been feeling that I'd been stuck in a certain kind of box: seen as a easy teacher, someone who couldn't cut the challenge of teaching more difficult poses or a more rigorous class. But the teacher who led the workshop reminded me of me. He is a quiet teacher. Before the workshop, he sat on the couch, worked on his preparation, and made a small amount of small talk while waiting to go into the studio. His class focused on accessible poses, instead of grandstanding gestures; moved studiously from pose to pose, instead of rushing through each movement to get to the next; and introduced some new ideas and new practices, without excluding students who were unfamiliar with the breath practice or a philosophical concept being addressed. No fireworks. Just slow and steady, grounding, peaceful, and aware.
It's not that I'm comparing my classes to his teaching. More that it reassured me that offering students some moments of silence; some working into the body in order to open the mind; some warmth, emotional as well as physical; some laughter; and some new ideas can be very significant.
I know that I came home from the workshop feeling calmer, more settled, more relaxed than I had in several days. I felt as though a small furnace had been turned on inside of me.
Also, I felt very lucky to be a yoga teacher, hoping that occasionally I leave my students with the same grace and peacefulness that this teacher offered to his students.
I'd been feeling that I'd been stuck in a certain kind of box: seen as a easy teacher, someone who couldn't cut the challenge of teaching more difficult poses or a more rigorous class. But the teacher who led the workshop reminded me of me. He is a quiet teacher. Before the workshop, he sat on the couch, worked on his preparation, and made a small amount of small talk while waiting to go into the studio. His class focused on accessible poses, instead of grandstanding gestures; moved studiously from pose to pose, instead of rushing through each movement to get to the next; and introduced some new ideas and new practices, without excluding students who were unfamiliar with the breath practice or a philosophical concept being addressed. No fireworks. Just slow and steady, grounding, peaceful, and aware.
It's not that I'm comparing my classes to his teaching. More that it reassured me that offering students some moments of silence; some working into the body in order to open the mind; some warmth, emotional as well as physical; some laughter; and some new ideas can be very significant.
I know that I came home from the workshop feeling calmer, more settled, more relaxed than I had in several days. I felt as though a small furnace had been turned on inside of me.
Also, I felt very lucky to be a yoga teacher, hoping that occasionally I leave my students with the same grace and peacefulness that this teacher offered to his students.
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