We had a substitute teacher in my Yoga class recently. Like a child who's routine has changed or a mouse with moving cheese, I did not adjust well to this. My class is very early in the morning, so I think I'm working mostly from the early, animalistic base of my brain at that hour. I wondered to myself if our local correctional institute had a Yoga Teacher Training program, harumphed a lot, and then left early. I left, for the first time ever, more stressed out and bound up than I started.

I went back to a different class later that day to erase the memory. I had a totally positive experience, erasing my foibles from earlier in the day. This had me reflecting on what make a yoga teacher work for me. Here are some random thoughts. These look more thought-out than they are, thanks to the handy formatting features of Trusera!

• Unconditionally supportive: Yoga is not a decathalon or a football game. My greatest teachers continually give the class support.
• Meets you where you are: Everyone's body is different and each person is different in each class. Trying to reach the bottom of your foot to the back of your head might be relaxing for some people, some days. Great teachers have been able to guide me to the point of "right effort."
• Challenging: All this being said, I am there to learn more and find that point. They find a supportive way to keep guiding me in that moment.
• Authentic: It's easy to talk supportively but telegraph to the class that actually you're measuring success in inches between your head and the floor. This is comes out in tone and body language, but I bet it starts in the head and heart.
• Very clear: I really like explanation over demonstration. I like a teacher who can clarify the pose by describing it clearly and creating the image in your brain. If you have to rely on watching it, you're either waiting around or you're contorting your head to try to match yourself to their pose as you're doing it.
• Balanced, invididual coaching: It's hard to lead a big class AND make people individually feel like you're helping them stay safe and deepen or improve their pose. Great teachers find a way.
• English-speaking: I love the sound of Sanskrit, but I can't connect Utthita Parsvakonasana to Side Angle Pose unless I hear it en anglais. (Yes, I had to Google that :)
• Experienced, beginner mind: My greatest teachers have seemed like great students. They embrace their practice with the patience of the first time and they are constantly learning. They practice like they are working through this with you.

Naturally, I think this first starts with me, not the teacher, meeting in the middle. In all of these ways, maybe yoga is not too different from real life! I am blessed with two great teachers right now: Laura at the Merideth Matthews YMCA and Joel at the Yoga Shack, both in Seattle. Thank you, teachers!