Wisdom from the mat: truth or scare?
In yoga, just as in life, we are bombarded with rules and regulations. How many of you can relate to being in a yoga class and being asked to move into a particular position, or to breathe in a certain way. Perhaps, the instruction didn't even sound like instruction, but instead a directive. I've been to many, many yoga classes where the directives are stated with clarity and authority (sometimes even with an edge of aggression), but in my head I know that clarity and authority are the tools - not the essence - of teaching.
New students may take such directives in one of many ways. For some, such directives make the teacher seem authoritative, as though they speak from a place of deep, ancient, sacred knowledge (I'm using a list of words here I often hear in classes). And so they might think "this teacher really knows her stuff." I suspect that this response is actually quite rare.
For other students, such directives may seem like too much, almost as though the students are being yelled at or demeaned. In most cases, I would argue that the intention of the teacher is not in sync with how the students receive the directives, especially when teacher and student are not familiar with one another. We never know how our teachings will be received. So what happens then if our students listen doggedly to our directives out of a fear of failure?
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