Setting my sights on teaching a class filled with anticipatory yogis today got a wee bit closer as I embarked on practicing my yoga flow with “my mom”. Sitting in Sukasana (easy pose), with one foot in front of the other facing mommy was just a little bit daunting. ...and I thought my yoga teacher and guide Shakti was a mental force to be reckoned with while in school. Who knew that I would have the heebie-jeebies when I gave directions for my mom to begin to breath through her nostrils and the reasons we don’t want to over extend our knees over our ankles.
What the flippin' caterpillars ... I thought I had this teaching thing nailed down and in the can... SO... I realized today that taking a few days off of my practice has me playing mind-games with myself. I know the moves, I know I have confidence that I can teach, I know that I will teach from the floor and do it with fun and flare... but today ego stepped in as my teaching assistant and slowly sizzled the front side of my left lobe of brain matter and there I was... feeling speechless and trying to catch up with my next thought and where mom should place her right foot and her left hand.
I am being a bit dramatic on some levels... I did have the mirroring down pat and I did click into “protective mode” to inquire about whether she was in pain or just a deep stretch. Safety is my number one mode and I’m so thankful that Shakti instilled that deep within us as teachers as well. I maybe had a few hick-upy moments and did let it get to me when mom wanted to “get on with it... cause dinner needed to be made” when in Savasana... cool your engine’s mom... this is the part where you get to chill and breath in some well deserved Prana... BEFORE you make dinner for the masses.
Back to practice mode with friends and colleagues in Medicine Hat over the next few days. I am looking forward to my return to Vancouver and the land of yoga... but in the meantime, I’m guiding my own intuition to let my ego take a back seat and just enjoy the ride of letting teaching settle into my blood.
...one mother of a session at a time!