Sh*t Yoga Teachers Do (5 Habits to Cut from Your Teaching)

The other day, while on a recent trip, I went with my friend to a yoga class. Half way through class I found myself looking up at the ceiling tiles while the yoga instructor had the audacity to pull my hair bun back to “encourage me” into a deeper back bend. It was in that moment I thought, “ It’s high time I share my honest-to-God thoughts on the sh*t ( excuse the color) yoga teachers do!”

As someone who’s been a practitioner of yoga since the age of 8 and a teacher for 10+ years, I’ve observed and taken ALOT of yoga classes. So I wanted to jot together my honest, uncensored feedback and talk about 5 real pitfalls yoga teachers can fall into. Because hey, once we become aware of things we do, well, we can figure out how to change and become empowered leaders of yoga!

Let’s dive in!

 hands on assist  

First and foremost one should always ask:

Are my assists helpful or harmful to the person I am assisting?

There’s 3 components I want to talk about here:

#1 Be mindful of injuries- This is a kind reminder that you NEVER know what’s going on in a persons body so don’t assume because they look a certain way that they are injury free. There’s a difference between challenging your students verse pushing them to do a risky pose in which they might injure themselves without knowing their preexisting conditions.

#2 Be Trauma informed -This is extremely important. Just because someone is joining a yoga class does not mean they feel comfortable having hands on assist. As a teacher you must ask permission. Take 1 minute while everyone is in child pose to ask for a signal or wave or confirmation before offering assists. Again, just because hands on assists may feel therapeutic and relaxing for one person does not mean it won’t trigger or cause panic in another. As a teacher, there are plenty of ways to give support without laying hands on your students. Always ask first and do not assume.

#3 Get educated in proper hands on assist-This should be additional training - not your 1 hour course you had during your 200hrs. Do not grab people if you have not had proper training on how to lead safe assists

As for the teacher who grabbed my hair as a way to assist my neck to go back further. THIS IS NOT AN EDUCATED ASSIST.

Rule 101 from art of assisting - open palm assist only . Meaning no grabbing, no cupping, and certainly no yanking with your hands while “helping” someone in a yoga pose. For the people in the back of the room , if you have not had proper training on how to hands on assist then DO NOT feel qualified to do so - because you are not.

An uncomfortable, triggering or unsafe assist can ruin someone’s experience to yoga - so please educate yourselves first!!

Name That Pose

We’ve all been in that class where the teacher says “now bring your right food forward, next to your right wrist and your left foot back and your back up straight” instead of just simply saying, ‘Crescent Lunge’ and behold! Yoga student goes in pose.

I think often times teachers are afraid that students won’t know “what to do”. Teachers literally cause greater confusion by over queuing the pose prior to just naming it!

In my level 1 training, at the Baptiste Institute, Baron had all of us just start with calling the poses. No extra stuff, no clutter. Just say the pose. Now obviously if you have a group of all new students and you say “Crescent Lunge” and they all just stare like deer in a headlights, you can surely give them some much needed queues and/or a demonstration, but if you teach a group of regular practitioners LESS IS MORE.

So if this is you, don’t get discouraged, just become aware. Next time you are teaching try just saying the pose, then observe, and based on what you see your students doing offer a queue if needed.

Non Stop Talking

Ahhh the non stop talking class, this is a big one!

Think of the last time you were in a yoga class and the teacher did not stop talking. They were your cheerleader, yoga master, and life coach the entire time. Constantly telling you where to go, what to feel, how to adjust, how to breathe, and how to relax. They were telling stories, filling the brief moments of space with counting, queues and additional tid-bits. It’s a lot!

And in reality, all this chatter is really just nervous energy.

Whether or not you realize it, you radiate energy. We all do. If we, as teachers, find ourselves being chatter boxes, then it’s a sign that we need to get grounded in our own bodies first.

I recognize getting grounded may sound easier than it is, especially when we are checking students in, setting the music, and coming to teach while putting our own busy lives on pause. But offering space for quiet in yoga is so instrumental to leading an empowering and rejuvenating yoga class. Our students, and heck, we NEED less chatter in our lives. So take a few minutes, breathe, feel your feet on the floor and know that what you say matters. Don’t just talk to hear your own voice. Give your students the gift of silence every once and awhile. You all will greatly benefit.

Sanskrit Lingo

A teacher of mine, during a training once said, “Sanskrit is Foreign Language- remember that. Do not use it to show-off to your students leaving them in the dust.”

It’s one thing to educate our students on terminology, allowing them to feel informed and well versed in the roots of yoga. However, just throwing out Sanskrit terms like its common knowledge creates an unnecessary disconnect. I believe yoga should be an accessible practice and that begins by clear communication. If you are teaching a group of new students, it is more important to give English names for the poses (or whatever the local language is) so they know what to do, rather than aim to impress with Sanskrit.

This goes for you anatomy nerds out there too! Educate your students, help them learn their bodies and how they function in various yoga poses, but don’t speak to them like we are all graduate students in med school. Most of us don’t know where our ischial tuberosity is.

What the Flow

You see what I did there? :D

Alas, let’s talk about the flow/sequence of your yoga class. I was trained in Baptiste yoga where we bleed the Journey into Power Sequence, and I absolutely love it. If you’re unfamiliar with it, you can find it online. It is a great foundation and offers a structure for any class that has many opportunities for modifications and advancements. Now don’t get me wrong, I do not believe this is the only* sequence out there that is solid. There are a lot of amazing yoga flow variations. BUT, I do want to talk about the difference between creating an Instagram aesthetic flow verse a body conscious yoga flow.

Instagramable Flows: What do I mean by this? Well we’ve all seen the eye catching yoga flows that influencers and others post to social media, they string together a beautiful combination of acrobatic twists, flips and dips that will “invigorate” your practice and “spice up” your class! And I get it, as a yoga teacher you may feel uninspired sometimes, tired of the same old same, and you may want to switch things up. And its okay to draw inspiration, to be creative and to want to offer your students variety.

So there’s few check points I suggest looking at when considering your flow:

#1 Provide your students a holistic warm up

Heated studio, or not, give your students time to warm their bodies. Too many times, I’ve been in a class where the teacher calls out a back bend early on in the practice. This is just posing an unnecessary risk for injury. Move intentionally slow, like heat rising, let the body, mind and breath warm up.

#2 Build integration vs. tricks

Enter in the Instagram worthy flow. Our practice should not be centered around the tricks like we are in a gymnastic competition. We want to build students up so that they can have a long lasting and sustainable yoga journey throughout their life. As a yoga teacher, you have the opportunity to guide students to integrate further in their practice by full engagement. Example, there are two ways you can do a Warrior 2. Draping the arms up and just waiting to come out of the pose, OR pressing down into the floor, lighting up your legs, gaze dialed in, breathe a constant flow, core ignited, and crown of the head lengthened. One builds true integration.

#3 Allow time for “cool down”

Whether your class is 60 min, 45 min, or 75 min- be mindful of the timing. Savasana should not be your sole “cool down” . We need time for opening, for release, and to bring our heartrates back down. Our classes should not be all YANG energy, we need some YIN. So please give it to your students, dear teacher.

Last thing I’ll say on What The Flow, ultimately, read the energy in your yoga classroom. If you see your student are needing more time for hip openers, restorative poses etc. don’t lock yourself to your “plan”, be adaptable to the energy in the room. That energy is always clear on what’s needed. You only have to listen to it.

Before I end this blog, please note: this is not meant to shame or tear down any of you yoga teachers out there. I love the fact that yoga is like wine, their are SO many varieties and each teacher has a unique gift to offer. But we have to be honest with ourselves as teachers. We can make or break someone’s experience to yoga. So we must continually check in with the habits we form as instructors. I hope this help to shed light on some real pitfalls and how to climb on out and lead safe, mindful, and empowering yoga classes.

Please share your thoughts and comments below! For my yogis out there, what are some of your favorite attributes from your teachers?