As I walked out of a class from a new school that I attended this morning as a student rather than a teacher, it suddenly struck me how so many yoga classes seem to have lost their way.

When did yoga become scary and intimidating? I was truly terrified this morning when once again, after having already said twice that I have bad knee from a skiing accident decades ago, I was told to straighten my knee. I felt like an order had just been barked at me and I’ll confess that I lost my cool slightly and told her to leave me alone.

Yoga isn’t a Sport

I’m not proud of that moment but I truly believe that yoga needs to be inspiring and soothing. It isn’t a competition about who can balance on their little toenail whilst looking like a pretzel twisted round on itself again. In fact, yoga isn’t even a sport but a tool to help us focus and clear the mind. It’s about relaxation as much as it is about forming the postures. I can now see why I’m reading about a worrying increase in yoga injuries as I’m sure many people are intimidated into pushing themselves too far.

Teaching

I believe that it isn’t just yoga teachers but all teachers who have a duty of care to adapt to their students and to provide guidance and encouragement. Yoga teachers are not carrying out their own personal practice but are there to motivate others in theirs. Of course many teachers respect their students and are very encouraging and there are some great ones out there. I do also find these experiences, however, to be useful reminders to always check in on my humility and why I choose to teach yoga – I want to help others, not be a show off or know-it-all in front a roomful of people.

Yoga-Mindfulness Combined

It’s actually for this very reason that I’m going to combine my mindfulness training with my yoga training. Whilst I will also be teaching mindfulness separately, I believe it is a useful addition to yoga for both students and teacher alike. Mindfulness teaches us to be in the present with no judgement and I feel that incorporating techniques such as compassion and loving-kindness breaks into the relaxation moments in a yoga class can help us connect together as a group and feel part of a whole. I will then also be reminded of my human-ness and weakness, such as my knee injury, and that I can never be perfect. But that’s not my job as a teacher, my job is to guide and encourage.