As a yoga instructor, you're always focused on your training, teaching, and student experience, but there's often feedback you wish your students would share, and this article offers some of that humbling and honest insight.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:  

• Create a calm and peaceful environment before class starts, including thoughtful music choices.
• Demonstrate more poses to cater to different learning styles, while maintaining a balance between demonstrating and adjusting.
• Speak less during class to allow students to connect with their inner voice.
• Offer inclusive pose variations without labeling them as easier or harder.
• Avoid making assumptions about students' abilities; provide options for all levels.
• Teach using your authentic voice instead of imitating others.
• Embrace imperfections; students appreciate relatable, human teachers.
• Avoid showing off advanced poses unless relevant to the class.
• Allow ample time for savasana, as many students value this period for rest.
• Be approachable and open to conversations with students after class.

What Do Your Students Wish Yoga Instructors (Like You) Knew?

What would your students say if they were asked about your teaching? What would they like about it and what would they want to see change? We have the answers or at least ten of them! Teaching yoga, especially if you’re just starting, can elicit many emotions. I’ve left classes with feelings of elation over a great class, and I’ve also been left feeling raw and exposed after a difficult one. If you’ve ever felt this way or just wondered what makes a good class, this is for you.

Every yoga teacher is unique and that is what brings students to you. They come for the yoga but often return for the teacher. We spend our classes and private sessions coaching, adjusting, and uplifting students, but don’t always get feedback ourselves. After feeling a bit stagnant in my teaching recently, I reached out to students I know well, along with the forums of Reddit, to ask what yogis want their teachers to know. Here are their answers:

Yoga Teaching Tips From Loving Students

Create A Calm Space

While it may seem obvious that a yoga class is quiet and meditative, the few minutes prior to the start of class often are not. Rather than encouraging side conversations before class, cultivate an environment where students want to walk into a peaceful, calm room.

Another often-heard comment was about music selection. Many students prefer music without words, so they can focus inward, rather than on your voice and another voice singing in the background. It can create a sense of chaos where there should be calm. It is also worthwhile to consider playing music that your students don’t know. Music has the powerful ability to recall memories – good or bad. The last thing you want to do is play a popular song in class that may be triggering for a student.

Demonstrate More

Yogis online and in-person often wish their teachers would demonstrate more. This can seem almost contradictory to what many of us learn in yoga teacher training. I’ve read several articles from yoga teachers on the need to spend more time adjusting and walking around and less time demonstrating. There is a fine line here. While adjustments have their place and walking around releases students from the need to imitate a teacher’s every move, there is a sense of connection when we engage with the movement ourselves.

As you teach, keep in mind that people have different learning styles. Some prefer the visual reference of a teacher while others like to learn by listening. Providing exceptional visual and auditory cues makes your class more inclusive and easy to follow. Depending on your YTT lineage, poses are often named differently,  and students may not know what to do if you give only pose names without cues.

Talk Less 

As yoga teachers, we can get caught up in this idea that we need to be a serene being, full of wisdom when we teach. That is simply not true. We don’t need to narrate the entire class. Students are not there to be entertained. Yogis come to class to hear their inner voice, not your outer one. The oft-quoted adage still stands: silence is golden.

Offer Inclusive Pose Variations

Yoga is meant to unite, so make your classes inclusive and inviting. Remember that everyone’s abilities, needs, and practice are different. Offer variations for poses without labeling them. Terms like easier, harder, beginner, and advanced are all relative terms and don’t need a place in classes. Everyone deserves to feel empowered and be able to choose for themselves how they want to practice. When we label poses, we make yoga a competition, on the outside and the inside.

Don’t Assume Our Abilities

Ability becomes a two-edged sword in yoga. We don’t want to make our classes so difficult they’re impossible to follow, but we want to challenge students at the same time. As teachers, we are taught to teach to the room, but that can be difficult to do if you are new to teaching or if you have a class with varying abilities. When students arrive or as they practice, choose to view them without judgment or bias. Don’t categorize or stereotype students based on their appearance. Provide variations and see what sticks. Your students might just surprise you as they rise to the challenge.

Teach In Your Own Voice 

In the 8 limbs of yoga, we learn about Satya, or true essence. It encourages us to speak and act truthfully, which includes being true to ourselves. When we are learning to teach yoga, we often seek to emulate mentors or teachers whom we revere. While this is a valid way to begin, you will never truly find your own path in yoga if you’re always following someone else. Experiment with your teaching and practice until you find your unique voice and style.

You Don't Need To Be Perfect 

You really don’t need an effortless, ethereal practice to be a teacher. You can be a teacher who occasionally falls over in tree pose or forgets whether they’re doing the left or right side next, and still be a great teacher. Your students don’t expect you to be perfect; in fact, they may even appreciate seeing a human element. It can help them feel more connected to you and not so distant.

We're Not Here To Watch You Show Off 

Teachers come to class to teach, not to perform. If a pose or transition isn’t pertinent to the class or that is realistically going to be done by students, it’s not the time to share it and show off. Demonstrating a pose for the sake of showing students “what they could do” or “where this transition could lead” just reminds students that they aren’t there yet and takes them away from their current practice.  

Let Us Spend More Time In Savasana 

This one is certainly a mixed bag of opinions. Savasana is hard for a lot of people. It is challenging to allow the mind to rest, wander, or do anything else besides think of what they’re doing after class. For others, it is the space they seek for rest and recovery. Be it easy or hard, it is an important part of class. We are often tempted to reduce time in savasana to fit in one more flow or when another part of the class runs long. This is not what students generally want. They would rather skip the last flow and spend the time in peace.

Be Open To Conversation After Class 

This is the time to get to know your students. Whenever possible, rather than rushing to your phone or shoes, continue to be present as students make their way out. Be open and approachable, so that students can ask questions. It can be difficult for students to ask for a personal teaching moment in the middle of class, but post-class time gives them the privacy to learn whatever they are seeking.

Continuing To Learn as a Yoga Teacher

These tips are certainly not an exhaustive list, nor do they apply to every class and teacher. They are meant to be taken in a spirit of learning and with open hearts and mind. If something does not feel authentic to your teaching or practice, you have every right to do as you see fit. Not everyone will love your teaching, and that’s okay. Part of becoming a better teacher is learning how to take criticism and judgment. Your students will appreciate you showing up as your best self, not trying to be anyone else. After reading and talking to people, one of the biggest takeaways I found was that our students know we’re human and they think we’re doing just fine. I know, by the fact alone that you’re reading this, that you’re also doing great. You’re trying to become a better teacher and want to give your students the best experience you can. They may not love every sequence and every song, but they love what you’re trying to give them, and that is one good practice.