Bossy Teachers in Everyday Ramblings

In my teacher training course yesterday there were only women, most in their 30’s and 40’s, about 12. There was one super fit woman in her 70’s who is a teacher for the main teacher who is an internationally known and much beloved anatomy and alignment teacher and physical therapist. She is 68, and a lover of cats, I found out.

She made reference on a number of occasions to a large tabby that has to be picked up and about learning how to do that safely.

There wasn’t much in the content I didn’t already know but I learned a few very nice partner moves and how to make adjustments safely with my family and close friends as I don’t make adjustments in class.

Towards the end I asked the teacher about a sense of congestion I felt in my shoulder, that I often feel, in my shoulder in a very common and traditional pose while I was in the pose. She asked if she could use me to show the class what I was doing.

She was very firm about the fact that basically my alignment was off and when she had me make the adjustment to the alignment the congestion cleared up. The adjustment was in my knee, the congestion in my shoulder. Never in a million years would I have thought of that.

We did a number of partner exercises and what I noticed was that the teachers I was working with were bossy!

I don’t talk like that to my students unless they are in immediate danger of hurting themselves and that is pretty rarely as I keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t get close. But these women were ordering me around like I was a dog taking commands for treats.

The workshop leader was quite stern but not bossy if that makes any sense. I really admire her and the work she has done over the years but I don’t agree with everything she says either.

The student in me felt like I had let her down though. After waking up in the middle of the night reviewing my insecurities and perceived insufficiencies as a teacher I spent the morning practicing self- compassion.

She has been a physical therapist for over 40 years and a yoga teacher almost as long. I have been working a desk job for most of that time. So yeah, if my hips are stiff, and they are, or my shoulders habitually rounded forward, and they are…it doesn’t mean I am not a worthy yoga teacher.

And I was sore from the work I had been doing all week.

Unlike most of the rest of the world, we are having wonderful spring like weather. I was able to go to church yesterday without a coat! Yeah I had on a heavy sweater but hurrah for a no coat day. Those usually don’t come until April here.

Okay, I need to get ready now to go be a non-bossy yoga teacher with her head stuffed full of new material and interesting insights.

If I were in charge I think I would design a miraculous rapture in which all firearms would magically lift up out of their owner’s homes and gun shops and ascend into the atmosphere to be unceremoniously burned into non-existence.

Not that I have an opinion about this or anything.

Last updated March 19, 2019