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Realization: The Moment You Knew You Would Become a Teacher

jeffreylsimons
Mon, 06 Jun 2016 05:30:38 GMT

What was the first moment that you thought of yourself as a teacher, rather than as a student? Where were you, what were you doing, and what did it feel like?

hchasin
Thu, 11 Aug 2016 02:31:11 GMT

I teach, but I still consider myself more of a student. I think many teachers feel this way. A student teaches a teacher, as much as the teacher teaches the student. That said, the very first time I taught a class, I swear it felt like I was flying home on a magic carpet, fueled by gratitude and amazement.

jazminment
Sat, 13 Aug 2016 05:49:57 GMT

I used to do my home practice out on the bluff in front of the ocean at sunset when I was in college at UC Santa Barbara. One day a few girls asked if I would teach a class for them because they always saw me doing yoga. So I did! I was so scared and it felt awkward but I did it anyways. I guess this was the first moment I realized I could actually teach. (It was a horrible sequence!) Then, a few months after this event, I took a class with Rodney Yee and our lovely interview host, Colleen Saidman, when I came back east to visit my family. After that class they told me I had to become a teacher. As soon as I graduated from college I took my first teacher training and have been teaching yoga since!

jazminment
Sat, 13 Aug 2016 05:57:26 GMT

It seems like the more I learn about yoga, from teaching, from trainings, from my teachers, from my friends teachers, and especially from my students, the more I want to dig deeper and know more-the more I dig deeper the more I realize there is so much I have yet to learn. Is anyone else with me on this? Hchasin, I love what you have to say about always being a student. I think that it is key to keep this mindset. There is always more to learn. If we think we got it all figured out, then don't we limit ourselves from going further and understanding more fully? Albert Einstein said, "the more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know." May we remain students, always. Jazmin Ment, student always, and yoga teacher who hopes to never stop learning