As teachers and practitioners we have to understand that our ability to stay present — and therefore our annoyance with students on the mat texting — is something that we have cultivated through practice. And even in light of all that practice we all get caught in our technological lives and miss opportunities to #lookup — or whatever the current hashtag is encouraging people to stop looking at their phones.

One of the most common things I hear on a weekly (sometimes daily) basis in my office at Back Bay Yoga Studio is “I was going to come to your class, but I just need to move today”. Upon hearing this usually just shrug it off, but there must be a split second where the person “needing to move” must catch the truly confused look on my face. To this day I don’t really know what people mean by this, but I have a few ideas.

A few weeks ago a student came into the office with an urgent question. She had overheard me explaining to another teacher why I don’t tend to give manual assists in class. Being a new teacher herself, she wanted some further clarification on this point. Quite honestly, she is not the first person to approach me regarding this topic, and I have grappled with this for quite a while.

Years ago, upon discovering I was a yoga teacher, everyone from friends to perfect strangers would respond with, "wow you must be so flexible". However, as yoga became increasingly part of society that trite response has morphed into "what kind/style of yoga do you teach?". To be honest this question makes me cringe, mainly because I don't have an answer.