Presence versus Performance

This weekend, I will be teaching my first yoga class to fellow teacher trainees. 

There will be no objectives, no standards, and no assessments, at least in the sense I’m used to.  In the field of education, we use these various tools in order to justify what we are doing; to prove that it is meaningful in a larger context.   

With yoga, it is somewhat different.  I will be following a set “lesson plan,” in that I will be teaching Dharma Mittra’s Gentle Sequence.  He developed this sequence based on his work with his guru, who got it from his guru, and so on back to the teachings of yoga based on ancient Hindu scriptures.  There’s a history here, a sense of groundedness and connection that often seems missing from the field of education’s ever-evolving standards of what should be taught, why, and when.   In yoga, student safety and well-being are far more important than whether s/he accomplishes a particular pose and to what degree.  There is a mutual understanding between teacher and student that every day is different, every body is different, and that yoga is a nonlinear process that evolves.  There is no finish line, no test that says yes, I am a winner, I am an “A” yoga student. 

Yoga students are not measured against one another.  I have never heard a yoga teacher say that a student has low skills, for example.  Some students are more flexible, some are more experienced, and some know their bodies very well, but the unique strengths and struggles of each student is recognized and appreciated.    

Thus, yoga teachers are not evaluated on the skills and accomplishments of their students.  It is up to the teacher to provide the structure and guidance for a thoughtful and meaningful experience of body, mind, and heart.  It is then up to the student to choose to what degree she accepts these teachings.  In schools, students are punished if they don’t accept what their teacher offers, whether or not these teachings fit with their learning styles, previous knowledge, and interests. 

With this in mind, how will I know whether I have done a good job of teaching? Because yoga is a practice, and this teaching is practice, it feels both low-stakes and high-stakes.  It’s low-stakes because these are my colleagues and they know the poses and know me; it’s a gentle sequence so nobody will get hurt; and I have my teacher’s support.  But it’s also high-stakes because I need to recognize each student’s strengths and fragilities of body and ego. 

Come to think of it, maybe teaching yoga is not all that different from teaching English.  Beginning English teachers focus on activities and methods; beginning yoga teachers probably focus on poses and sequencing.  But the real teaching, in both yoga and English, comes with being fully present to and for students.  Because this is difficult to measure, it will never be on any PRAXIS test offered by the Educational Testing Service.  However, as a teacher, teacher educator, and student, I know it when I see it.  Presence comes with confidence, experience, and a finely tuned sense of what is happening in the classroom or yoga studio; what is said, and what is felt. 

As I observe my English teacher candidates in the schools and teach my first yoga classes over the next few weeks, that is what I will be looking for and working on.  Good teaching is not about performance.  It’s about presence.