Teaching Power 'Vin' was fun!

...taking Yin from someone who knows absolutely, positively nothing about how to teach it...was not fun. I think the fact that I enjoyed teaching the Power Vinyasa class so much (even without music...since I am subbing, I think that IS appropriate to adhere to the teacher's wishes) made the completely frustrating lack of safety, or even actual knowledge of the postures bearable...at least for the first hour. Then I picked up my mat and quietly left. Something I've only done one other time since I've taken actual yoga classes. Since I've been taking yoga since 1994, this should communicate volumes. Nuff said.

Now I am at home, with my precarious cervical spine safely protected, searching for chocolate before I come into Bound Lotus and the peace and calm I did not find in Yin. Granted, there are some wierdly inappropriate postures in my beloved Kundalini Yoga that I shouldn't do, but no well-educated Kundalini teacher worth their salt would insist that I do them, if I were to tell them it is contraindicated for my spine. Kundalini Teacher Training is pretty comprehensive. I think the practice of Kundalini Yoga is pretty powerful too... For instance, I do a practice meant to help channel anger appropriately (as well as Bound Lotus and other Kundalini practices), and I suspect that had I gone to this 'Yin' class prior to doing that practice regularly, I would be enraged right now. As it is, I am simply, and appropriately dismayed that this person was ever allowed to teach Yin. By an instructor, no less, who micromanages everything. She should have micromanaged this fiasco.

And while I'm on the subject, there have been a few teachers passing through that studio's doors who are qualified to teach Yin, but they've left the studio, partly because, even though they are qualified (and currently no certification is mandatory to teach Yin), the studio owner has too much of an ego to allow anyone else but herself, much less a better teacher than herself, teach Yin permanently on the schedule. Incendiary and inflammatory words?Yes. But true. I know of two such teachers who got tired of only being allowed to 'sub' Yin, never being allowed to teach a regular class. She has many good qualities, but getting beyond her ego's desire not to have anyone show her up is not one of them. Two teachers have told me in private that for this and other classes she stopped asking them to sub for her when the students proclaimed that they liked the other teachers better than her. She doesn't ask me to sub very often anymore either. And now she has someone subbing for her who is completely and utterly unqualified - capable of injuring students. I'm saying this calmly, but honestly, as I prepare to eat more chocolate and come into Bound Lotus in a safe place.