The authentic yoga teacher

I'm not being myself. At least that's what I was told after I taught during the last weekend session. Feedback like that confuses me. I understand what they're saying, but I'm not sure how to give them what they want. Being "authentic" is one of those touchy-feely-soulsearchy-shareyourdysfunctionalchildhood sort of things. Been there, done that and * yaaaawn * not interested in doing it again. And what if my "authentic" self is an asshole? I guess that depends on who you ask. I already know that I'm sarcastic and too direct for my own good. I tend to say things to people that they may not want to hear, like "You could stand to buy a new bra, the twins are riding low". Imagine that personality teaching a yoga class and it seems to me it only spells disaster. So, what now? I looked around and saw that I wasn't the only one taking in my feedback with confusion and not a little panic. That helped some. I'm going to have to get back to you on how this goes. It seems like it will take more than a few trials-by-fire to fully understand what they're looking for.

We, as in the students, are all getting more comfortable with being in front of the group, which is nice. There's a level of trust that comes in handy when you're leading the class and the teachers are throwing suggestions at you as you're trying to focus and keep the flow going. Sometimes we just desolve into laughter. Like when one of us got up to teach and sounded like a cross between Ernest Angley (toupee wearing evangelist from the '80's) and Dolly Parton. Now SHE was authentic! And she laughed along with us even when the teachers kept telling her to stop sounding like a carnival barker-- "STEP right up folks!" But she was sincere and we all love(d) that about her.

Our assigned chakra this time was the root chakra. Located at the base of the spine and accessed between our most private parts at the floor of the pelvis this power center grounds us in matters relating to the physical and material world. Our stability, security, courage and patience come from here. The negative aspects of this chakra are self-centeredness, insecurity, violence, greed, anger and...believe it or not....constipation. To make it even better, we're getting all this information from Cute Tattoo Guy. Now, I don't know about you, but the only person I want to talk about this part of my body with is my gynocologist! And even then it's not a comfortable conversation, and I only want to do it once a year.

Oh God, I think I'm whining! Argghhhhhh! Have....to....stop!

Does this mean that I don't even like my authentic self?