Rock and roll

I finished my lunchtime class today with my usual closing words and a namaste. There was total silence and stillness through the room. No-one moved. There wasn’t the usual instant stampede when half the room leap up and rush out, due at their afternoon meetings I assume — or desperately hungry after lunchtime yoga class!

I looked up to see rows of people sitting quietly cross-legged, heads still gently bowed down. A moment of collective absorption. It was quite magic. I can’t help wonder what I had offered in my teaching that brought them to this place. I didn’t deliberately do things differently, but I did feel very focused and perhaps that communicated itself. After all I do feel on a bit of a roll. This is the third day in a row that I’ve taught and it seems that creates some kind of momentum for me, bringing a sense of cohesiveness to my teaching or to my thinking of myself as a teacher and stepping more fully into this role.

Certainly I feel full of gratitude for these people, who show up week after week, even packing out the booking system several times over (and complaining to the gym manager that there aren’t enough classes). In different ways recently they have shown so much appreciation for my teaching. I deflect it, as all about the yoga, nothing about me.

But it’s an undoubted joy to share something of my understanding and experience in yoga practice. It’s just a suprise that teaching starts to feel more like something that I do, not something I need to make a big deal about. Newbie teacher uncertainties aside, teaching practice seems honest and simple compared to the convoluted overthinking I regularly bring to my own mat.

Yes, I can learn a lot from my students if I stay humble and attentive. They rock!