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“When will you start writing about the workshop?” The Cop asked within about an hour of my return home.

Why do I find that question so worrisome? I wondered.

This morning, I am slowly unpacking and kind of puttering about aimlessly. I have a cranky right Achilles and sore lower quads — the former from heroic attempts to deepen pasasana, the latter from a little kapotasana exercise I learned.

Coming out of the workshop, I feel like I learned a lot, but in the simplest terms of the exchange relationship, I got my money’s worth because Matthew Sweeney taught me two exercises that will help me learn kapotasana on my own. That, plus an objective look at my personal practice, is what I went to the workshop to accomplish.

***

Okay, so I am still thinking about writing about what I learned.

One thing that was interesting was how often I got asked, “Do you teach?” during the workshop. Yup, pretty much continuously. Is teaching yoga a given, if one is a practitioner? Or is the question simply the yoga workshop equivalent of “Hot enough for ya?”

At first I just laughed at the question, because it is so clear that I have no business whatsoever teaching, and if anyone sees my practice or (horrors) experiences one of my adjustments, that ought to be pretty apparent. I felt pretty disconnected during the adjustment workshop sessions. I love to coach people, and am frequently a “mentor” at work. But physically adjusting people? Gah! UNQUALIFIED!

Then I started getting worried.

At the risk of setting off some kind of riot, I have to ask: is the teaching bar set too low?

I’m not trying to be incendiary — this is just what’s on my mind. Seems a fair question. I mean, if I am traveling to work with a teacher in hopes of getting some kind of perspective on my own practice, how in the world could I be expected to help other people with theirs? Let’s get real here: I am at the very beginning of an intermediate practice.

Offering useful information based on my own experience? UNQUALIFIED! (Interestingly, Matthew specifically asked people NOT to go into “teaching mode” with each other during the adjustment sessions. He just wanted us to look and try to learn by our eyes and our hands and simple “yes, that’s better/feels more stable/etc.,” kinds of feedback from the adjustee. This is very wise counsel.)

***

“Knows enough to be dangerous.” That’d have to be the tagline on my yoga teacher business card. The thing is, people would laugh and possibly think the tagline a sign of humbleness, but then they’d probably STILL let me teach them.

I don’t know, maybe I will re-think this and it won’t seem like such a big deal. For now, though, it all just makes me want to step back.

What can I tell you about the workshop that will actually be practical and useful?

***

I’m going to try out the exercises I learned for a while and see how it goes. If they are fruitful, I will detail them (or video them). With a repeat of the disclaimer above, of course.

Because seriously, you shouldn’t trust me to be your teacher.