I have been teaching yoga (specifically, Anusara Yoga) for almost 20 years now. Each day I learn more about myself and my students learn more about themselves (I hope - at least, that’s my goal).

Yesterday’s basics class started out with child’s pose, cat/cow, etc. (the usual). After moving a bit, I asked students to take down dog. BTW, if I haven’t told you this before, I always start my first down dog with bent knees and I ask students to do likewise. You may know this — bent knees release the hamstrings’ hold on our pelvis and allow the spine to extend fully in a more anatomically true position. Once in this bent-kneed down dog, everyone (including me) pedals heels for a bit, goes back to bent-kneed down dog and - remembering how the back feels with knees bent - begins to press thighs back, heels towards the floor. If we lose that nice back position when straightening the legs, we go back to bent knees.

As I looked around the room, it looked as if a few were still experiencing hamstring tightness. So we warmed the legs up a bit more, then came to the floor for a ‘down-dog tutorial’. Seems pretty boring, right?

Wrong

The interesting comment I heard was ‘no one has ever taught me to do down dog, I just started doing it’. (I also saw a couple nodding heads after this comment was made.)

This lines up with a conversation I had months (years?) ago with a fellow teacher about jumping to the front of the mat from down dog. I had watched a great video that demonstrated a graduated method of jumping to the front of the mat. I asked my friend how she teaches jumping. Her comment ‘I haven’t taught it, I just figure students can do it or they can’t'.’

These two comments beg the question(s) — do I teach mountain pose? do I teach forward folds? do I teach lunges? etc., etc., or do I make an assumption that everyone can do it.

I remember classes where I broke a light sweat trying to follow the cues for mountain pose — and, believe me, there is a lot to be incorporated. From the feet, to the knees, engaging muscles, moving tops of femurs to back plane, engaging belly, remembering to refrain from sticking lower ribs out, drawing shoulders up slightly and back, standing with chin parallel to floor. Maybe I’ve forgotten something, but doing all this for a single mountain pose is a LOT and can induce a bit of sweat.

So, what’s my point?

In every class, I will remember that there may be a student who hasn’t been taught about down dog, mountain pose, forward fold, lunges, etc. And, rather than move along, thinking everyone will be upset if I focus on one ‘simple’ pose; I’ll be willing to make the mistake of teaching everyone that ‘simple’ pose.

And - importantly - I’ll remember that I appreciate a trip back to my ‘beginner mind’ once in a while.

Happy Thanksgiving Week to you all. Wear your masks.