Published on July 15, 2026 at 08:23 AM
I’m in a morning yoga class, and the sequence takes us back and forth to the High Lunge. I feel better in my lower back when I bend my back legs a little, but the teacher goes around asking everyone over and over to straighten our back legs. I felt a little intimidated by her insistence, every time she passed by me, I straightened her – and then bent her again when she walked away. Eventually, though, she saw me with my back leg bent. She looked directly into my eyes, and repeated the gesture to correct her. So I followed her instructions, basically to not be singled out once again For not doing so.
Like most people in their 40s, I have some physical problems that are not serious but are difficult to describe. Since I practice and teach yoga, I feel comfortable adapting poses that suit my body. What’s uncomfortable is when the teacher tries to correct my version of the pose, and suddenly I feel as if I’m disobeying them if I don’t follow their cues exactly.
I’ve also been on the other side of this experience. As a yoga instructor, I realize that I’m unlikely to know exactly what’s going on with everyone’s bodies. However I will still want to help as best I can.
The truth is that yoga teachers need to be honest about whether Advice provided to students It is necessary to “fix” their situation somehow. In fact, it may be the assumption that a student’s posture is broken in some way that needs to be fixed, not the posture itself.
4 things to consider before “fixing” a student’s situation
Not all help, no matter how well-intentioned, is actually helpful. Experiencing this truth has made me more cautious as a teacher about intervening in students’ situations. So how do yoga teachers decide whether it’s worth urging a student to adjust their posture? The following points help slow down the urge to “fix” the situation and decide if it is worth it.
1. Students may be fine where they are
If you allow for the possibility that a student prefers a different format or alternative situation, your mindset may become more inquisitive than critical.
You don’t need to know how all the possible conditions or restrictions could affect someone’s practice. All you have to do is respect that they may have a good reason for doing what they do. Are you sure the student is not adapting his or her self-care practices? Or even do something a medical professional might suggest?
You can always open the door for students by saying, “Let me know if you need help or if you’re not completely happy right now.” Or ask the student: “Are you good?” A quick check-in can also help you determine if your intervention is welcome. If they say they’re fine — even if you have another view of the situation — get rid of the correction.
Another way to make yourself available to help without putting pressure on students is to say to the class: “Let me know if you want another way to try this extension.” This way you give students the ability to ask for help without assuming they want or need it.
2. The best signals have reasons behind them
Ask yourself why you assume the pose should be done differently. This is often because you heard from your teacher that a certain version of a pose is “correct” or “better.” But even frequent guidance about what will keep students safe It may have little basis in reality.
Respect for teachers and traditions has a long history in yoga, although that doesn’t mean there can’t be alternative approaches that suit your students better. Richard Rosenyoga instructor and book author Original yogaI learned this first hand. He was gesturing to the class to do alternate nose breathing (nadi shodhana) while seated when a regular student asked why they couldn’t lie down for this particular pranayama.
“I hesitated and got angry…and I’m sure I left the student feeling very uncomfortable about what was essentially an indeterminate answer,” Rosen says. He realized that he had been repeating the words of one of his teachers for decades without understanding them. Rosen later emailed the student to admit his ignorance. He now advises his students to sit and acknowledge that lying down is okay, at least until they learn more. “Ask everything and everyone,” Rosen says.
Until you know why you say what you say, invite students to decide what is best for them. You might preface a cue by saying, “If you want to try this pose the way my teacher taught me…” Or you could even encourage experimentation by saying, “You could try it this way or that way and see what works.”
3. Provide an explanation, not just instructions
Sometimes there is a strong reason behind the signals. Rachel Land, Yoga medicine The trainer sees the potential benefits of keeping a straight back leg in the High Lunge exercise, for example. “I hope it’s meant to activate the quadriceps in the back leg rather than dictate a literal external shape,” she says.
But she explains that working the quadriceps may not be a goal for all students, and not everyone can do it without causing discomfort in the lower back. You can present this option by saying something like, “If that would be helpful You Activate your quadriceps, go ahead and straighten your back leg,” or, “If you want to activate your quadriceps a little more, you can try straightening your back leg a little bit and see how that feels.”
Just as students may bend the back knee to find relief in their lower back, students may have similarly good reasons to keep Their socks off in practice Or open their eyes in Savasana. If you choose to offer them an alternative, try to explain Why You offer it, and respect their decision if they say no.
4. Realize that your suggestions may not be effective
Follow up and offer advice if a student does something that seems dangerous or uncomfortable or tells you they need help. But know that your suggestion may not be the magic wand. The best attitude is not, “This will make the pose look better,” but instead, “Let’s try this and see if you like it.” Make suggestions with curiosity and humility, and keep working to see how well they work.
This might mean asking the question: “Does straightening your back leg look better or worse on your body?” If it’s worse, you can follow up by asking: “Do you want to put your back knee on the floor for the High Lunge? Oh, that bothers your knee. Let’s try stuffing it.”
Think of yourself and the student as a team working toward a common goal.
Knowing when to speak up is not a perfect science
What one student finds useful another student may not like. For example, I was told that I could refrain from intervening as a yoga instructor. One time, when I was doing the eagle leg curl, one of the students was doing a sort of figure-four twist. When she finally realized that she wasn’t doing the same pose as everyone else, she turned to me and asked, “Why didn’t you tell me?” I said that the position she was doing was great and that I wanted her to do whatever she wanted. She told me what she wanted to do everyone He was doing it.
Since then, I have tried to validate my students on what they chose to do while also guiding them if they seem to have missed anything. Sometimes I say: “What you are doing is great. I love it. I used to teach Garudasana leg twisting. If you prefer to do something else, feel free, but without any pressure.”
As teachers, many of us like to give advice to students. It is a kind of offering our attention and care. Although for many students, less is more. They may benefit from the invitation to listen to their own sensations, breathe, or draw attention to a specific part of their body. I find that the greatest gift a yoga teacher can give students is the space to truly experience the practice on their own terms.
