I had my second yoga teacher training weekend over the past couple of days, which was intense. And loads of fun. I'm learning so much it'd probably be pointless trying to sum it up right now. Maybe towards the end in June. Anyway, there's a lot of talking, and while listening to all the talk, I was struck by a couple of things. I've noticed some women, a lot of them closer to middle-age than not, have a tendency to take on this sort of knowledge they don't actually have. I don't know, maybe it's true about younger women also, but I just haven't noticed it. And there's a couple of women like that in my class, And they kept talking at times over the teacher or explaining postures they were learning at the same time as the rest of the class. It wasn't ill-intentioned and it wasn't particularly annoying. They were trying to help. But I kept thinking you know, it could be risky making out as if you know more than you do, especially when someone could take your advice, do something improperly and end up hurt.
Once or twice in the beginning of the weekend, it irritated me. Shut up, and let the woman speak, will ya. After all, we're not interrupting or trying to impart knowledge. But then towards the end, I got this little sort of aha moment. I was dead tired and just lying on my belly like a little kid and relaxed, head on a bolster, listening to the chatter. And I thought, what if maybe I'm just at an age where I listen more. Don't get me wrong, I can talk a lot, but I'm quite comfortable listening. I don't have that tendency to speak as if I know, but maybe it's just not that point in my life.
I'm not sure if that makes much sense to you, but I'm hoping it does.
Strangely enough, once we're out of school, we take on this attitude like we know everything there is to know. Sort of puff out our chest and act all high and proud. Except I don't think that's very healthy or normal at my age. I have friends who recently finished their studies (past couple of years) and I see that tendency in them, and it's awful. That impression that now you're a grown-up. Now you're knowledgeable on everything.
I think we're really scared to shut up and let others teach us that we try to compensate. End up talking about things we don't understand or know. Just so nobody can think about us "look at her, she's come all this way and still doesn't know everything".
I'm not sure that's the case with these women in my class. It's a possibility. However, another possibility is that they're at a different point in their journey. Carl Jung thought the latter part of someone's life, particularly women's lives, was naturally drawn toward a "wise woman" image. That when the world (i.e. rearing children, taking care of house, etc.) no longer "needed" her, it was a woman's time to turn to wisdom, to knowledge. This means both study and devoting yourself to enriching your own inner well, but also imparting. Maybe these women are at a time in their life when they feel naturally drawn to imparting knowledge. In which case, who the hell am I to mind? Especially when there's a good chance there's things to be learned by listening to them.
As is true with a lot of people. It's harder with people who have stopped growing, who've kept themselves trapped inside their own mediocrity so to speak. It's interesting, especially if watching people is what you do, but it's not necessarily as insightful.
But there's other people out there who have stuff to share. Even if they get on your nerves or seem weird or in-your-face at times. Maybe they're at a different point in their story and that's why what they're doing is looking so weird to me. Who knows.
I find that exciting. The thought that at any bend in the way, there's people you can meet and learn new things from, don't you?
