Yesterday, I posted some observations on how I perceive my own process of learning and teaching.
One of the most valuable things about my yoga teacher training experience is that the senior teachers at Willow Street, who include Joe and Natalie Miller, Maria Hamburger, and Suzie Hurley, are so aware and forthright in their ability to give feedback. I also need to acknowledge teachers Pat Blum, Anna Karkovska-McGlew, and Francesca Cervero, who have all been both inspirations and sources of key insights for me.
Hearing how others see me and my strengths and weaknesses, and comparing those to my own perceptions, is very valuable - helping me see past my own blind spots and have a better idea of how to grow. This has also helped me see my own shortcomings in giving meaningful feedback to others, which would be a very powerful thing if I can apply it in my personal and professional capacities.
In terms of yoga, I've learned that I am perceived as smart, able to grasp and explain, with a great deal of clarity, key concepts - qualities that would make me a good teacher for beginning students. Also, that I have a calm and measured - perhaps reassuring - presence as a teacher.
I can own that feedback. While I enjoy the challenge of more difficult postures and the advanced level classes that I take, my strongest interest in sharing, or teaching yoga, is in the fundamental aspects of the practice - the connection of mind and body through the breath. I agree with the thought, from Leslie Kaminoff, that people gain the most benefit from the simplest things we teach them. For instance, simple movements that engage the body in full, deep breathing coordinated with movement, which can simply and powerfully interrupt long held patterns of tension and stress in the body and mind.
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