Yoga teachers see a lot. Body language, furtive glances, the way a person carries themselves speaks volumes.
We also hear things – assumptions about yoga or yoga teaching that make our eyes roll.
Here are nine things your yoga teacher desperately wants to tell you but won’t. Hopefully we put aside this silliness and get to the good stuff like connecting to ourselves and others;
1) “You teach yoga, you must be sooooo relaxed!”
Any time I encounter this assumption, I resist kicking them in the shins and running away yelling, “I regret nothing!” (This is why I do yoga. To release pent up rage and successfully avoid socially unacceptable reactions).
I adore what I do for a living. Even so, my week involves running around Toronto to several wonderful studios, people’s homes, teaching quite literally hundreds of amazing bodies, giving energy, time, a listening ear, adjusting limbs, dozens of mini neck massages, curating playlists, planning classes, mentoring young teachers, all while fitting in my own practice or workouts – I have to find ways to recharge. If not, there’s a good chance I will become that yoga teacher who stops doing laundry, deliberately pushes people out of tree pose, and ends up moving to a secluded island in Southeast Asia where I live off the land and drink rain water off palm tree leaves….not that I’ve thought of this as an alternative…ahem.
2) It doesn’t matter how flexible you are. Leave your ego at the door.
After several years of teaching I’ve noticed a theme – naturally flexible people who move well in a yoga practice are often harder to teach than inflexible people. They usually carry an ego of “I know what I’m doing” or treat the practice like a performance art piece. Well I’ve got news for you lulu-clad bendy gal – ain’t nobody watching. Contrast this with someone who is struggling to touch their toes. They are humbled by the experience, open to learning and eager to take guidance. I say this as a naturally bendy person. For some, their yoga practice becomes leaving their ego behind, learning to contain flexibility, and benching the know-it-all actress at the classroom door.
3) Sharing is caring
I find it comical how possessive people become of their “spot” in a classroom. If someone is in a person’s ‘spot’ you can witness some pretty heated conversations or passive aggressive mat movement paired with audible huffing. Yoga means union. Its precepts encourage acceptance of others as well as non attachment. Ergo; be kind and let go of your possessive claim to the left hand corner.
4) PUT YOUR CELL PHONE AWAY!!!
This is pretty self explanatory. Turn it off, put it away and do not bring it into class. Respect fellow students, the teacher, and your own practice. Unless you are an on call doctor, or your child is sick, you don’t need it. Even so, leave it with the front desk staff. They can notify you when your patient goes into B-fib. In the meantime – do not set that phone up by your mat and text during class (yes this actually happens).
5) Try not to take it so seriously
I get it. I go to yoga to decompress and unwind. However, not taking ourselves seriously is tremendously healing. Yes, yoga is sometimes a spiritual and intense experience. However 80% of the class has you in positions that encourage flatulence. And happy baby pose? Looks pretty ridiculous. Also, if you do fart, laugh it off. And yes, the teacher knows who did it, but we stay quiet and handle it like a boss by walking to the other side of the room while doing our best not to burst out laughing – because life is too short to take yoga and farting seriously.
6) Treat the yoga studio front desk staff with respect!!
I find it painfully ironic how the same people who utter the words “Namaste” at the end of class which translates to “the divine light in me acknowledges the divine light in you” immediately seek to snuff that light out in the front desk staff by walking all over them like a human yoga mat.
This is applicable to all people we come in contact with. Treat them how you would wish to be treated; with respect, dignity and kindness. We can start by being more patient and loving to the people we see right after our classes. The people who wipe your mats, clean the floors, make sure you’re getting a deal on a class package and ensure you have someone greeting you with a smile.
Take that magnanimous, inner yoga glow off the mat and use it in your day to day human interactions.
“The success of yoga does not lie in the ability to perform postures, but how it positively changes the way we life our life and our relationships.” — T.K.V. Desikachar
7) Try to avoid dualistic language in the yoga practice.
This is more of a helpful hint than a repressed rant. I want to encourage the student, especially if this student is new to the practice to be mindful of people who speak of postures, approaches to the practice or styles of yoga as “right” or “wrong”. Train little warning bells to go off when you hear language like this.
Instead, think critically and discover what is RIGHT FOR YOU. There are so many different ways of approaching yoga. Half the fun and sometimes frustration is discovering the styles, teachers and schools of thought that suit you and meet you where you are in your life.
8) Please don’t show up to class and just do your own thing.
I will never for the life of me understand this. A person, who has paid anywhere from $18 to $30 dollars for a yoga class decides to roll out their mat, ignore the teacher’s instructions and proceed to do their own interpretive dance of postures.
PLEASE STOP DOING THIS!!!
As a yoga teacher our hands are a bit tied. We’re encouraged by the studios we teach within to create a warm, hospitable environment. We want people to feel at ease and free to explore their practice. Heck, I say “Everything I say is a suggestion” all the time.
However I say it with the understanding of a preconceived, unspoken condition – that you as the student, have some trust in me, the trained teacher, to guide you safely through the practice.
Yes, listen to the body
Yes, modify to keep the body safe
Yes, take awkward instructions from young teachers who might still be finding their voice with a grain of salt.
But know, if you “go rogue” it is not only disrespectful to the teacher who has planned this class, it is also distracting, confusing and disruptive to the students around you.
Therefore, if you want to do your own thing, save $25 bucks, my sanity and STAY HOME!!!!!
9) You are incredible, and I want you to believe it!!
I’d like to change the tone of the article and end with a bit of a gushy love note from teacher to student.
(Shucks darn 🖤 )
I want to tell you how beautiful I think you are. How capable and amazing I see you as. I watch as you figure out mind and body, as they synchronize and make sense like a wonder-filled child learning to catch a ball or write their name for the first time. I see you fight against the whispers of the soul, until it’s yelling so loudly you can’t ignore its cries of love and eternal peace. I watch as Namaste transforms from a trendy overused word into the ancient, spiritual greeting it always was.
I want to tell you how amazing you are. The only issue is it’s not socially acceptable to come up to someone at the end of class and ask, “Do you know just how incredible you are?” I get it, I’d think my teacher was smoking too much Ganga if they cornered me with that kind of unexpected, intense praise.
So let me say it in a slightly less intense, less awkward blog format. You are incredible, and my hope is you come to believe it xo.
Showing up to yoga is half the battle. When you do show up, remember you are enough, you are incredible. Lay a mat and see what you discover.
