Who’s In Charge of Your Yoga Practice?
We yoga teachers are endlessly giving our students options, telling them to listen to their bodies, ‘inviting’ rather than ‘instructing’ them to move. Yet despite our best efforts, so much of the time these cues don’t land with our students. We still see many students reaching for the ‘hardest’ modification or taking yet another vinyasa. As a student I know that these cues can sometimes feel disingenuous, like the teacher is giving me an option but doesn’t really want me to take it. As a student I have definitely felt like I knew what the teacher really wanted from me, so instead of listening to my body, I did that thing, whether or not it was right for my body.
This is no-one’s fault, rather it is an inevitable side-effect of the teacher-student dynamic. Teachers are in control of the situation and students are often eager to please, so why would they listen to their bodies instead of listening to their teacher?
Let’s unpack this dynamic in more detail. A student arrives at a yoga space, it’s probably nothing like other spaces in their lives. It is a space which is owned or held by the teacher, it is the teacher’s domain. The student is told which props they will need and how to prepare for practice. The teacher then directs the students through a sequence of movements, giving instructions about how to do those movements as well as possibly giving physical adjustments. The teacher tells the student when to lie down for relaxation, when to sit back up, when to open or close their eyes, when the practice is over. There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of these things (so long as the student is comfortable with physical adjustments). These are simply the practicalities of teaching yoga. The studio environment and codes of conduct help set the mood for a yoga practice and allow students to focus. The sequencing gives us structure and a framework within which to teach yoga. The teacher does probably know more than the student about yoga philosophy, yoga postures, anatomy and physiology and meditation, and this set up allows the teacher to effectively pass this knowledge and understanding to their students.
Except, there is one crucial topic on which the teacher knows much less than the student, which is the student’s own body. Every yoga teacher I know is hyper-aware of this fact. We are all trying really hard to encourage our students to listen to their body and to take the option that works best for them. We are afraid that our cues may not work for our students or worse may cause them injuries. So we say ‘listen to your body’, and we try to give adjustments non-judgmentally, trying to offer them all as equal alternatives. But we know this doesn’t always work. We know either through our own experience as students, or from what our students tell us, that often when we give 3 options for a pose as equal alternatives, the students are working out quickly which one is the ‘best’, and deciding which one to take on that basis.
I think this happens because we’re all (teachers and students alike) failing to acknowledge the teacher-student dynamic that permeates the class. So often a teacher gives their students just 2 or 3 moments where there are explicit options about what to do with their bodies. The teachers know that the students can decide what to do with their bodies throughout, but this isn’t necessarily how it comes across to students. Students are responding in kind. If we spend 95% of the class working along the lines that the teacher is in charge and knows best, then that one moment where there is an option is not going to be enough for students to feel empowered to make the right choice for their bodies.
I think the main responsibility for addressing this lies with the teacher, we’re in the key position to do so after all. But I also have some advice for yoga students about how to take more control of your practice.
For teachers, how to put students in the driving seat:
Three things to recognise:
Recognise that the teacher-student dynamic has an inherent flaw which will get in the way of our students listening to their bodies, no matter how many times we cue it.
Recognise that as teachers we have put a lot of time and effort into understand how to listen to our bodies, we are good at it, the average person will find this very hard.
Recognise that our students will want to please us (most of the time) and will try to decide which option we’d prefer they do, even if we call them out as equal alternatives.
Three things to do:
Try teaching autonomy and control as an intention in your classes. Create a sequence that has options throughout, not just an option for opting out of the peak pose. Give options in downward dog, and supine twist, and seated forward fold, as well as in dancers pose and bird of paradise. Encourage your students to try all the options, see what they think, and then decide.
Don’t just call out “listen to your body”, be more specific. We need to teach our students how to interpret what their body is saying to them, and what to do about it. Too often ‘listen to your body’ is interpreted as ‘don’t do that it’s too hard for you’.
Normalise doing something different to everyone else in the class. This is easier at the moment while we’re teaching online and everyone is in their own home, it will be harder when we’re back in studios where students can compare themselves with each other. We need to make it ok for everyone in the room to be doing something different, because they’re all in different bodies.
For students: how to take control of your practice
Three things to recognise:
You are the only person who knows what yoga feels like in your body. You are the only person with all the information on which to make a decision about how to practice.
Taking charge of your practice and listening to your body doesn’t mean you can ignore the teacher, they are there to help guide you through your practice and avoid injury, listen to their guidance, test it in your body, and talk about it with them after class if you’re unsure.
It’s ok to be doing something different to everyone else in the room. It will feel a bit scary and you might think everyone is staring at you, but they’re not, they’re all much to worried about you staring at them…
Three things to do:
When a teacher gives options in a class, try them all out before you settle on one. Don’t decide which one to do because you always do the most-gentle or the most-challenging version.
Be curious about your body, when you notice something about a particular shape or movement you are making, wonder why that is, see if you can find the answer.
Trust your body and your teacher. They’re both going to be able to help you with your practice, but you need to listen to them both. Know that comparing yourself to other yogis won’t help you with your practice.
Let me know in the comments if you have other advice on what to do either as a teacher or a student to encourage students to be more empowered in their yoga practice. I’d love to hear your suggestions.