why gifted practitioners often make the worst teachers

This is Ashtanga Yoga Tech Support. Real questions from the yoga community, answered.

The Question

Why do I sometimes leave workshops with advanced practitioners feeling more confused than when I arrived? They make it look so easy, but their cues don't seem to help me at all.

— from a MJH note

Our Response

Survivorship bias. The practitioner who floated into Marichyasana D at twenty-two never had to understand hip mobility, spinal rotation, or leverage. Those elements weren’t obstacles, so they never became legible as elements.

When they teach, they describe what it looks and feels like from inside ease. Which is almost useless to you, for whom it isn’t easy.

This differs from adaptive instruction. “Here’s how it felt for me” is not the same act as “here’s how to work with your structure.” One is testimony. The other is teaching.

The most helpful teachers are often the ones who had to work hardest. They know the structural grammar of a pose because they had to learn it, word by word. They can teach you because they remember not knowing.

World-class practitioners can inspire. But inspiration and instruction are different skills, and natural talent often substitutes for the latter.