Teaching Yoga B Side; 2nd Weekend. Day 1

Today to "prepare," Alana and Uschi and I hiked up to the swimming hole in Matilija Canyon. We swam and lay like salamanders on the hot rocks.

I was so excited to gather this evening. Without much understanding about what exactly we were going to do, I had a list of questions and an outline of ideas.

Turns out we are going to be focusing on the relationship between teacher and student.

We practiced and I shared some of the latest tailbone to base of skull awareness work that we have been doing in class as a preparation for sitting. About a 90 minute practice. A 10 minute sit. Savasana


We circled and shared.
I asked each member to essentially "check in".
Let us know what they had been up to since we last came together. What is happening with their teaching and what they are hoping to cover while together. I learn again that teachers need connection to other teachers. There is so much to gain just by listening to another teacher voice success, difficulty, struggles, questions, etc. We can all feel so totally alone out there. I hope that we can begin an online area to continue the discussion.

Some of the primary questions:
- How do I stop taking care of everyone? How do I soften feeling responsible for making sure they have a good time?
- How do I work with bigger sized bodies?
- How do I touch people more easily?
- How help people let their guard down?
- How do I teach in an environment that seems closed to who I really am?
- How do I get back to teaching when I am so busy surviving?
- How do I be more intimate with the group?
- How do I stay connected to my practice without it getting corrupted by the teaching?
- Is the teacher/student relationship the same outside of class as it is inside the class?
- How come I am experiencing resistance to yoga philosophy? How come I seem resistant to learning?
- How do I rest in myself with the students?
- How do I connect the yoga practice to something bigger without sounding stupid?
- How do I maintain peace when I am racing around like a maniac teaching classes and doing 5 other jobs?
- How do I balance my sense of total responsibility for my students with setting clear boundaries?
- What is expected of me in a private lesson?
- What is the notion of progress in yoga?
- How do I ensure my privates end on time?
- How do I manage feeling like I can never do enough.

I offered these questions to write out at home:
1. What is happening in your life right now that has most of your attention?

2.What have you been practicing and/ore teaching lately?

3. What have you been learning lately?

4. Recall and write about a recent serendipitous series of events that lead you to an unexpected discovery/situation?

5. Recall and write about a recent insight into yourself and how you operate. How did you respond to the new information? What have you since done with it?


We circled, sat and closed. Then nobody left and we continued to talk. heehee.