This is an insightful post on so many counts, thank you for putting your thoughts together.

I remember beginning a yoga program too. The class I was taking, most students had been with the instructor many years, then there was me. And my girlfriend who could pretty much sit and put her nose to the ground in front of her.

I kept it up for several months and it got better, but I kept wondering what was wrong with my flexibility. My mom and sisters (none overweight, sisters still extremely athletic) have the same flexibility issues. I'm told if I kept it up I'd get much better. But I stopped. I was paying for everything separately (Jazzercise, bellydancing, yoga, kickboxing and now the Y) and yoga was actually the most expensive.

Thought I'd use the Yoga Today computer daily downloads and DVDs but I didn't. Yet in the back of my mind yoga is probably to me one of the most important practices to keep up as I age.

You're also reminding me of having beginning students in my Zumba classes. As a student myself I've been observing instructors who only teach one way-as fast as they possibly can go (showing no slower or lower impact moves and starting the class with a full on cardio). I'm learning from what the students say who are frustrated with that approach.

Glad you vented and shared. Learned from your post.

Deb

Hi Talia, This was informative for teachers as well as students of all levels. The advanced student loves to forget what it was like at the start for them. A teacher almost has to teach to the most skilled students and then give alternatives to the others, but she should always give the most instruction to the "newbies" especially adressing transitions from pose(asana) A to pose B. I only teach beginners now, since that's about my only speed. Yoga has a way of challenging you on many levels. Its not a place for "exercise ego" and many have a hard time with that. Just pretend that you are the only one in the room....just you, the instructor and your inner voice. It gets interesting. It's an opportunity to self observe. Lida

That's what my SIL says, but it is very hard to forget all the others in the room. I will try next week - and will let you guys know how it goes

Thanks for writing about this. I teach an advanced karate class, but occasionally someone who is a beginner will attend if he needs to make up a class. It is very hard for me to get into a beginner mode for him, and not fair to the advanced people the class is aimed at, but that's kind of the opposite of your problem.

I was recently reading something about the phenomenon of not being able to unknow something, which means that it is impossible to put yourself in the shoes of someone who doesn't know what you know. (I wish I could remember where I read it and what it's called -- I'd post a link.)

I found what I was looking for. It's from a book called Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. Here's an excerpt of the part I was referring to.

"In 1990, Elizabeth Newton earned a Ph.D. in psychology at Stanford by studying a simple game in which she assigned people to one of two roles: “tappers” or “listeners.” Tappers received a list of twenty-five well-known songs, such as “Happy Birthday to You” and “The Star- Spangled Banner.” Each tapper was asked to pick a song and tap out the rhythm to a listener (by knocking on a table). The listener’s job was to guess the song, based on the rhythm being tapped. (By the way, this experiment is fun to try at home if there’s a good “listener” candidate nearby.)

The listener’s job in this game is quite difficult. Over the course of Newton’s experiment, 120 songs were tapped out. Listeners guessed only 2.5 percent of the songs: 3 out of 120.

But here’s what made the result worthy of a dissertation in psychology. Before the listeners guessed the name of the song, Newton asked the tappers to predict the odds that the listeners would guess correctly. They predicted that the odds were 50 percent.

The tappers got their message across 1 time in 40, but they thought they were getting their message across 1 time in 2. Why?

When a tapper taps, she is hearing the song in her head. Go ahead and try it for yourself—tap out “The Star-Spangled Banner.” It’s impossible to avoid hearing the tune in your head. Meanwhile, the listeners can’t hear that tune—all they can hear is a bunch of disconnected taps, like a kind of bizarre Morse Code.

In the experiment, tappers are flabbergasted at how hard the listeners seem to be working to pick up the tune. Isn’t the song obvious? The tappers’ expressions, when a listener guesses “Happy Birthday to You” for “The Star-Spangled Banner,” are priceless: How could you be so stupid?

It’s hard to be a tapper. The problem is that tappers have been given knowledge (the song title) that makes it impossible for them to imagine what it’s like to lack that knowledge. When they’re tapping, they can’t imagine what it’s like for the listeners to hear isolated taps rather than a song. This is the Curse of Knowledge. Once we know something, we find it hard to imagine what it was like not to know it. Our knowledge has “cursed” us. And it becomes difficult for us to share our knowledge with others, because we can’t readily re-create our listeners’ state of mind."

Talia, did you go back?

Yes, have been going every Thurs at 6 AM (can you believe it???)It is getting better and I'm not dreading it, but Yoga may turn out not to be my thing. It is fun to hang with my SIL, so I'll keep going while we're still here in Boca. Don't know if I'll keep it up when I go home. THANKS for asking.