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Navigating the nuances of teaching yoga can be an intricate dance. You’re challenged to somehow balance the unique blend of your personal experience and training with your students’ needs and preferences while also addressing those intangibles that create the class experience.
Being exceptional at it requires many things, including being able to view your class from your students’ perspective. Yoga Journal reached out to both beginner and experienced yoga practitioners and asked them what they’d like their yoga teachers to know. Here are the yoga teacher tips they shared.
12 Yoga Teacher Tips Students Want You to Know
The following yoga teacher tips are intended to offer insight into students’ experience. Ultimately, it’s up to each teacher to discern what may be relevant to your situation.
1. Model, Cue, and Correct
It can be easy to assume that everyone in your non-beginner classes knows or remembers what to do in common yoga poses. Yet sometimes students rely on you to remind them of the subtle things, like activating your core or tilting your pelvis or keeping some weight in your back foot. Also, several students emphasized how helpful it is for a teacher to demo a pose or the transition into it as well as alignment in the pose.
“I pop into the occasional yoga class while I travel. Instructors have different styles, and because I don’t practice weekly, I often need a refresher,” says Christine H. of Galveston, Texas. “I like instructors to demonstrate, not just say the pose. And correct me if I’m doing it wrong. It helps me improve and get the most out of it.”
2. Encourage Serenity Before Class
While you want your classroom to feel friendly and inviting, it can be distracting when students engage in small talk before class. “Recently, the students in my class were chatting like it was social hour. I prefer to use the time before class starts to begin centering myself and find my breath. I literally could not hear myself think,” notes Shanna S., of Ely, Iowa. “I’d like instructors to take charge of their studio and ask for respect in what should be a quiet space.” Many teachers ask students to limit chatting to the lobby to ensure a serene environment.
3. Promote Timeliness
Being late happens. But starting class late or repeatedly allowing chronic stragglers to noisily enter the studio after the scheduled start time is disrespectful to everyone.
“It’s unfair to students who make it their business to be on time for class,” notes Jennifer B., of Orlando, FL. “I know this sounds unkind, and exceptions can be made. But for repeat offenders, it’s an opportunity to have a conversation about yoga etiquette.” If you experience repeat latecomers, consider taking a moment after class to remind them of the need for timeliness or ask the studio manager to do so.
4. Be Mindful of Volume (Your Own and Your Music)
If your voice is low, your music is blasting, or some of both, this affects your students’ ability to hear you. And being unable to distinguish cues or what pose comes next requires students to scan the room for clues and engage the thinking process that they’re so desperately trying to leave behind during yoga.
“Speak loud enough that everyone can hear—especially people in the back of the studio,” notes Italia E., Winter Springs, Florida. Of course, you don’t want to shout and kill the vibe, but pay attention if you see students looking around or missing transitions.
5. Know That We Don’t Need Constant Narration
While providing guidance, setting intentions, and cueing students play essential roles in fostering a positive experience, sometimes less is more when it comes to speaking.“My top annoyance is yoga teachers talking constantly through practice. I need time to be and breathe during class,” says Debbie A., of Charlotte, North Carolina.
6. It’s Okay to be Human
Students appreciate when teachers own up to their imperfections. “I love when yoga teachers laugh at themselves when they forget to do a side or fumble their words rather than trying to pretend nothing happened and hoping no one noticed,” admits Olivia W. of Greensboro, North Carolina. “If there’s anywhere I would hope people feel comfortable in their imperfect humanity, it’s with a yoga community!” Pro yoga teacher tip: It’s okay to be human.
7. Don’t Rely Exclusively on Sanskrit, Please
While the use of Sanskrit respects the tradition of the practice, relying on it exclusively can confuse students who are unfamiliar with it. “It can be disheartening to students trying to destress from the workday,” says Tia D. of Boston, Massachusetts, who prefers teachers who also cue the English name and instructions on how to come into it.
8. Watch Us
There’s a lot to juggle in each moment of a class. And if you’re new to teaching, simply recalling your sequence without leaving anything out can feel momentous. Yet there are other nuances as well. “I wish that yoga teachers knew how to regulate the intensity and pace of the class and the heat in the room,” says Cortney S., Orlando, Florida.
Unfortunately, navigating the temperature of a studio and adjusting sequencing on the fly isn’t always taught in yoga teacher training. But it should be. If you notice students struggling to keep up with the flow or look lost in class, perhaps it’s time to slow things down or offer alternate ways to approach a pose. And before teaching at any studio, make sure you ask how to adjust the thermostat and fans to try to keep the temperature from becoming uncomfortable.
9. We Don’t Expect You to Know Everything
It can be exhilarating when students look to you for answers. Yet know where your expertise ends. You are, after all, human.
“Even I fall into that trap as a yoga teacher,” shares Liza C., NY. “When you force the image that you’re an all-knowing yogi, it minimizes the opportunity for a bond to be built through learning. One of the joys of being a teacher is learning from your students—what works for them, what doesn’t work, and what questions you may not have even thought of!”
Also, it is never your responsibility to answer students’ questions about physical aches and pains. Come up with a standard response that works for you to use in response to questions you don’t feel comfortable so that you aren’t caught by surprise. Keep it simple and straightforward, such as “I don’t know. I suggest you consult with your physician.”
10. Keep Us in Savasana Longer, Please
Most teachers tell students that Savasana plays an essential role in a yoga practice, serving as a period of integration that allows the body and mind to absorb the benefits of the physical and mental work. An unrushed Savasana offers exactly that.
“Please add more time! A three- to five-minute Savasana is not long enough,” suggests Monica L., of El Paso, Texas. “It’s so frustrating not being able to get a good relaxation after class.” Hearing people rush out of the room isn’t exactly restorative either, she adds.
When the sequence takes longer than expected, it’s common for teachers to cut into the time they’d allowed for the final resting pose. Please don’t.
11. Give Us Attention After Class
Connecting with students as they put away props or linger in the lobby helps cultivate a welcoming vibe for students to ask questions.“I’ve had wonderful experiences with most yoga teachers who are willing to chat about that day’s class at the end,” offers Jacqueline D., of Exeter, Ontario. “I find that to be lovely and connecting. It often opens up dialogue that can be continued into future classes.”
Of course, you may have another class to teach across town in half an hour or want to maintain proper student-teacher boundaries with extra-chatty students. But a little extra attention can go a long way.
12. Know That You Make a Difference
You likely hear a lot of requests, complaints, and suggestions as well as yoga teacher tips from students, as if you’re a short-order cook. It can be easy to twist this into the story that you’re not doing anything right. But when you share yoga, others will respond.
“Yoga teachers have indirectly helped me heal from breakups, deaths, and daily pressures,” says Annie V., of Miami, Florida. “When my 15-and-a-half-year-old dog Elmo passed in August, that hit me hard. I spiraled into a deep state of grief, not wanting to do anything. One day, I showed up for a yin yoga class and it gave me a gentle, safe space to move and cry without judgment. I kept showing up. It gave me strength to get out of bed and start to heal.“
