Do your students ask you questions, give you feedback, and share any physical or other concerns they may have in regards to practice? Do you wish they did that more often and/or in more depth, and wonder how you can encourage them to do so? Students know themselves - body, mind, and spirit - better than we instructors ever could. Yet they don’t always know what to do with that knowledge.
Our knowledge of practice with their insight on themselves can come together to lead to their best practice. Yet students don’t always consult us. Modern Western cultural traditions can put yoga instructors on a pedestal of authority, who are to be listened to and not questioned - rather than to engage and collaborate with.
This can go to the point of us asking individual students if something feels all right, and they can answer that it does when they are actually feeling pain. We should of course take students at their word, but also use other signs and tools to get to the root of their experience - so we can best serve them from there. So, how can we guide students towards that truthful, authentic engagement?
The first way in which we can do that is more of a practical one - class structure and the common cues (to whole classes) that we offer at different points in class. For instance, certain questions are important to include in a class opening - if anyone is injured or has a more chronic anatomical issue, if anyone is relatively new to yoga (first to fifth class), and if anyone might be pregnant (but anyone a good deal along, with a very evident “baby bump”, should be directed towards a prenatal class).
You can ask these questions when all students have their heads down (such as in Child’s Pose), or with closed eyes during a seated start - so that no students will feel self-conscious about revealing these things in front of other students. A bit later on, in the first resting pose after more active asana and flow, you can remind students that they can come to such a resting pose at any point during class when they might feel they need it.
To end class, you can offer students the opportunity to take versions of more restful poses (such as supine twists and gentle hip openers, including Lizard Pose and Figure-4) that work best for them. Throughout class you can remind them to take what they need for themselves, in such ways.
A fun way to allow students to make their practices their own is to - if the class duration is long enough - include a “free flow” section. In these sections, students can hold and flow through poses that feel best for them, partly guided by upbeat music. This has an additional benefit of training students in, and building their confidence for, building their own home practices.
Yet this method is likely not best to include in classes specified as beginner classes, wherein students will most likely need more guidance (for safety and benefits of poses) and confidence to flow on their own. With more experienced students, however, you can assure them of their capability to flow by their own intuition - and trust that they can really do so.
These steps truly do begin to show, or reinforce for, students that they have agency in your class. With that agency, they can feel empowered to collaborate with you to help create their best possible practice. That collaboration can be indirect, such as them making modifications to the poses and flows you offer them.
It can be direct, such as direct conversation or non-verbal working together (such as through gentle hands-on assists, with permission understood through other ways). To bring forth something even more specific, I would like to describe a particular method of a favorite teacher of mine. What specifically strikes me about her teaching is her use of questions - sometimes verging on a Socratic method.
In her classes, this use of questions makes me feel as if I’m truly learning. She asks students about their experiences, and to reflect in certain ways - such as if one side felt different from another. This may put students in a place wherein they feel challenged, or perhaps even uncomfortable; it’s certainly not conventional for yoga instructors (at least the ones I’ve learned from).
Yet the advantage of leading students to be more reflective, and truly more engaged in class through that deeper thinking, is certainly all the worth it - in my humble opinion. In addition, her kind and assuming - very much non-intimidating - demeanor likely balances out any of that discomfort. That addresses another significant aspect of teaching that determines students’ levels of willingness to engage as students - the energy the teacher brings.
Confidence (in both self and students), positivity, non-judgement, and supportiveness can put students in a place wherein they’re more likely to engage - being accepted, supported, guided but not ordered, and in a place where they can reach for their highest selves.
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