I went to a workshop for teachers today, and I learned many great things about how to communicate the practice of yoga in a more meaningful way. (I’ll share more about the workshop later.) But I also noticed something that’s been bugging me about yoga teacher workshops for.. well, as long as I’ve gone to them. When a group of yoga teacher get together to talk teaching techniques, there’s usually also at least some energy given to criticizing other teachers (and broadcasting how much more competent WE are).
In part of the workshop we were asked to voice our personality strengths and weaknesses as a teacher. For the weaknesses, a common theme emerged: Insecurity about making mistakes. When a brave soul spoke up about how she beats herself up when she said left instead of right, every head in the room nodded with understanding. We’ve all been there!
Later, the conversation took at turn for the worse.
Several people talked about their experiences in other people’s classes. There wasn’t enough instruction. There was too much instruction. This one teacher would NOT shut up… Yada yada yada.*
I bit my tongue.
All I could think is that there’s no wonder we beat ourselves up over our teaching mistakes when we sit through this kind of critique of other teachers. I mean, come on! That’s one of us you’re talking about! God (and anyone who’s suffered through one of my classes) knows I’ve made a TON of mistakes in my teaching efforts.
I have a better idea. The next time I’m in a yoga class and I can tell that the teacher is struggling. I’m not going to roll my eyes and make a note to bring it up in my next teacher workshop. I’m going to smile at her. I’m going to devote my Sun Salutations to her. I’m going to look around and see that even though this might not be working for me, someone else in the room is hearing exactly the message they need to hear in this moment. And when class is over, I’m going to make a point to tell her how much I appreciate her efforts–even if she didn’t teach her class the way I would have.
*To be fair, the critique segment was very short compared to others I’ve endured.
I love the idea of focusing on what a teacher may be offering someone else when you're not digging their style–as well as reflecting on what it's like to be in their shoes. Thanks, as always, for a great post! xo
Great post- there are so many things that rattle us as teachers. Some days we're on and we're ROCKSTARS! Other times…well, you know.
This is really great advice- thanks!
Erica, you are so right. It's really hard to turn off my teacher head when I take class, but I've learned when I do & surrender to what is being taught I have a much better experience. And as yoga teaches us, if we're having a positive experience then it's more likely that those around us will too.
Thanks for this post! As a teacher, I have these same insecurities. Building a loving and compassionate community of teachers and students will help us all get out of our own egos and support eachother on our paths! Namaste!
Oh how true! Compassion for ourselves and for our teachers… that is what we need more of.
So, so true, Erica. Thank you for this post! We cannot expect to treat ourselves with compassion if we can't do the same for others – and vice versa!
I always mix up left and right. ALWAYS. Compassion goes a long way for those like me! AND I want to add — if you are a teacher, develop a relationship with other teachers and give each other feedback! How can we grow if we don't know where we need to focus our attention?
Thank you, this was a very thoughtful post. I love the idea of smiling instead of rolling our eyes. Something I could start doing out of the yoga class too. 🙂
I really appreciate this. I was just reading some other yoga blog listing all the things this one teacher hates that other teachers do. Harsh. Once in a while I catch myself negatively critiquing a teacher — but now I'm going to smile and dedicate my practice to him/her. Boom.
Thank you for posting, Very interesting.