What does it mean to be a yoga teacher?

Some days it melts my mind a bit to think of all the different things it can mean to be a "yoga teacher" and how different some of them can be from each other.

To many, this means being someone who is experienced and skilled with visualization, highly specific verbal (and often times physical) instruction and language around physical fitness, anatomy and somatic experiences. The intricacies that someone could engage in on this path are seemingly endless and complex to try and communicate.

To others, it means someone who is deeply studied in not only complex ancient and esoteric philosophy, but also has had enough life experiences and reflections on them through various lenses of different facets of the philosophy to be able to transmute all of it into something coherent, useful and manageable for various students, depending on where they are and what they need and often in ways that are impactful on helping students live a better life. Similar to the above, the intricacies here are comparable endless and complex.

And yet still, some have the rare experiences and qualities to be able to weave both of these seemingly disparate skills into a cohesive experience or some version of it, often in a distilled chunk of 1 - 1.5 hrs.

No real point here other than it can be a bit wild to think about the wide range of roles and skills that could fall under the description of "yoga teacher", and how it has probably never meant as many potentially different things historically as it does currently.