I could be wrong but I think most yoga teachers and I come from a different planet. Or, I am totally wrong because it seems like a lot of teachers give the exact opposite instructions than what I offer in my classes. I have been taking classes regularly after an extended hiatus to spend time with my growing children. That are both in school full time now and I take class Monday – Friday in the AM. I just love taking class. I don’t worry about who the teacher is, I just like to move and get my yoga on. It has been a long while and feels great. But I am fascinated by the differences between what I offer and what I hear in most yoga rooms.
It is very sweet to have a home practice but for the most part I don’t do anything. A little jumping, some twists and turns while waiting for the phone to ring so I can stop. Classes are a whole other beast. I work very hard pushing myself deeper than I ever would in my living room. I forgot that five breaths in warrior two is more like ten if a teacher is helping a student and my throbbing thighs that are genuinely trying to get parallel to the ground—and needless to say there is nothing remotely like parallel going on when I am enjoying my own choice of music in my apartment—are waving the white flag of surrender.
But the point of this post isn’t about me being right, it’s just that I can’t believe some of the things I hear that are so different from what I teach. And it isn’t to say that there is no room for difference but it makes me wonder about the nature of my teaching because there is always a little bird in the back of my head that suggests that I could be wrong.
I am not going to list exactly what I am talking about but you know from my blog posts about yoga pose what my general approach is. One of my standard raps in my own class is that I get paid to be confident and it would be silly for me to stand in front of the room and act as if I wasn’t sure about the instructions I offer. The same goes for the teachers I have been taking class with. So, I could be wrong but I don’t think so. But I could be.
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