I am grateful for Experience...

ex·pe·ri·enced

   [ik-speer-ee-uhnst]

adjective

1. wise or skillful in a particular field through experience: an experienced teacher.
2. having learned through experience;  taught by experience.
3. endured; undergone; suffered through.

This came in the mail last week and as I updated my  Bio with E-RYT  = Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher I thought what does that really mean?

For Yoga Alliance, the main governing body of yoga professionals it means  that I have taught over 1000 documented hours of yoga...and fulfilled and/or  exceeded the required continuing education hours.
For Studios where I teach it means that I have obtained a certain level of training and credibility to safely lead their classes, especially important since yoga has gained popularity and just about anyone can take a weekend workshop and hang out a yoga teacher shingle.
For my dear students it means  that I so appreciate the early classes where they (like #3 in the definition above) endured, underwent and suffered through - hopefully not on a physical level -  my first attempt at leading  yoga classes, as well as (#2 )  allowed me to learn along with them through experience which can only be gained through direct interaction in the laboratory of the classroom, so that now I can hear my own voice more clearly and see a unique teaching style emerge. And if... (as in #1)  I'm a bit wiser and more skillful as a teacher it is only because of that experience we shared.
For me it means I've been around the yoga block a few times, and though I feel more comfortable taking the "seat of a teacher" I am first and foremost a student and I will continue to practice, study and teach as I  endeavor to uncover my own true self.