Why do so many yoga teachers fall into these common bad habits?

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There is an aspect of teaching that we rarely talk about in yoga. Although many of us share the questions and worries that keep us awake at night as newbie yoga teachers, and give others insights from thousands of hours of experience for students, not much is said about the astonishing complex space between the two.

The messy in the middle of the educational experience is where even the most attentive of us is stumbled by common obstacles. And that can lead to creating habits – Bad -Bad – that can be difficult to change.

Although the habits themselves may not be good, the experience of this is a useful and inevitable part of learning something new. Here are some of the sneaky stumbling blocks that we all have to watch out for – and talk about.

4 bad habits among yoga teachers (and how to avoid them)

The only way to change behavior is to first become aware of what should change.

1. Don’t prepare

In your first few weeks, months or even years as a yoga teacher you have probably spent hours planning every class – investigating philosophy, studying anatomy, creating and rehearsing sequences and remembering signals and variations.

But it is difficult, if not impossible, to maintain that kind of intensity in the long term. Despite your best intentions, once the nervous fear of your newbie stage has passed, there may be a time when you arrive to teach without having planned anything completely.

Being willing to surface it, at least a bit, can be useful. It creates the necessary space between the class that you had planned and the one who really needs the people for you.

But showing up unprepared to teach is something completely different. If you ever followed a lesson where the teacher seemed to get poses out of nowhere without any external logic for their choices, you probably remember how confused and not supported you felt.

A better habit: You do not have to micromanatie and pass every pose, remember every word and to offer it to Cue, or to offer something complex or extensive to influence your education students. But you still have to be prepared for a clear goal.

Your students deserve a deliberate experience. Even if that means that you go back to a go-to series that is simple and trusted, you must arrive with a clear goal and offer various contact points through the class to support that theme or experience.

2. Not being present

If you are newer in teaching, it can pay all our attention to facilitate the class. Between the cueing of your order, the sharing of prophescent options, observing alignment, managing the lights and the temperature, and desperately trying to leave room for silent, there is not much capacity to think about anything else.

But somewhere along the line, without even noticing it, things become easier. It may not seem like you start teaching. But in the end you repeat the process sufficiently that some aspects of teaching no longer require full and complete attention. Some aspects will even become routine.

The following you know, you can notice that you are going through the movements while your attention to consider your dinner options (leftovers or collection meals?), Your task list (stop at the supermarket on the way home?), Even your reflection in the mirror (time for a cut?).

A panic level of Focus is not a condition for being a great teacher. If you feel more relaxed, you feel more approachable and you will certainly make it better to adopt the subtle signals that your students send. But if you notice that you check messages on your phone during class or just check out in general, you probably have a little too much relaxed.

A better habit: It can help yourself remember for every class that your students expect and deserve your full attention. It could be the first class of a student ever, their provisional return after injury or illness, or the only respite they experience of a life spent on the care of others, or the space they need to deal with sadness or loss. Even if it’s just a normal Thursday evening yoga class for someone, you want them to receive the full advantage of their time on the mat.

3. Get aid

If you are new to teach, you still identify the experience of being a student. That can look like being calm and compassionate for students who show up or leave early. Or endless empathetic when the student refuses to use with tight hamstrings, regardless of how often you propose blocks or they even place next to their mat. Unfortunately, that patience does not always survive your hundredth experience of a frustrating situation.

There is a good chance that there will be a day that instead of feeling compassion, you will encounter impatience. Students will frustrate you instead of intriguing. Whether you will feel that you have seen it all and assume that you know exactly why they act as they are instead of being open to every situation as an opportunity to remain unbiased.

A better habit: The next time a student runs in late, leaves early, refuses props, asks a question that you have answered countless times earlier, or distract something during class such as checking their phone or holding a conversation with their friend on a neighboring mat, take a moment to try to see things from their position.

Perhaps the new student came to class at the only time they could land a babysitter and it was the only “I time” in their entire week. Maybe the student refuses props because they don’t know how to use them. Perhaps the stressed Exec leaves before the end of the class, because still and still in a room of strangers is more than their fear can deal with.

It can be easier to feel me compassionate if you remember that there are countless reasons for any behavior that you may never be able to fully appreciate or understand. And there is a reason why Ahimsa (non-damage or compassion) is an important principle of yoga silosophy. But that does not mean that it is always easy. It is a practice, just like everything else we do.

Oh, and that repeated question? It can just be inspiration for your next class or workshop.

4. Review other teachers

As a student, it probably never occurred to you to question your teachers. You probably never criticized the accuracy or suitability of their words or you have wondered if they have prepared you sufficiently for the peak position or then you have sufficient coolness. If there is something, you might tend to align your teachers by placing them on a pedestal of perfection.

This probably changed when your teacher became. You have learned certain ways to do things in Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) or yourself immersed in the opinions and debates in the wider yoga world.

Whether you have recorded the values and priorities of your YTT or have formed your own opinions by experience, you can notice that you assess other teachers according to these standards. You start asking, is their teaching style safe enough? Skilled enough? Sincerely enough? Spiritual enough? After all, a “good” teacher would learn how you want to teach, right?

A better habit: Teachers differ in their experiences, perceptions, values and priorities. It is a reality. It is also absolutely necessary. Just as the styles of teachers differ, the preferences and needs of students do. For some, a sweaty and fast current can be just as transforming as the most esoteric meditation practice.

Instead of immediately writing off a teacher whose approach you do not fully agree, you ask yourself: “What can I learn from them?” Sometimes resistance can draw your attention in areas that you should pay attention to and pass by. Other times you learn how to not want to teach. Anyway, a step back from judgment helps to focus your consciousness on your own education and also helps you concentrate on the positive.

And don’t forget that there is a student for every teacher and a teacher for every student. A teacher whose values differ from yours can be exactly what their students need.