YOU Are Your Best Teacher

A woman with arms wide open welcoming the sunrise on a beach

I’ve never had guru syndrome. I’ve never pretended to have all the answers about someone else’s asana practice. Heck, I don’t even have all the answers about my own. But today I was reminded yet again how much unwarranted faith we put in our yoga teachers. Someone asked me what things (aka poses) would be bad for her body. While I couldn’t possibly know that answer, and it would be way out of my scope of expertise, I still wanted to help her. Perhaps you, too, have been wanting someone to tell you what poses are good or bad for you. Here’s what you need to know.

First of all, there are no “evil yoga poses,” or poses that should be diametrically omitted from practice. To me, there are no bad/dangerous poses, only bodies who aren’t ready for them. It’s important to understand the each body is complex set of muscles, bones, and tissues with different lengths, strengths, and habitual patterns of movement. Some have had injuries, and all have different histories. For these reasons, every ‘body’ is different in every pose. Yes, the shape may have a general look and feel, but no two people are the same.

Along our yoga journey, we begin with the basic shapes, breathing, and how to inhabit our bodies. As our practice progresses, we start to have preferences for certain poses, and aversions for others. Eventually, we may become curious about why certain poses are easier or more difficult for us. We may discover things we can address (like weakness), or we may decide certain poses need to be retired for our own safety and well-being.

If you make it into the space of curiosity, stay there as long as you can and revisit every time you practice. Because it is in this space where the magic happens *cues Disney music*. Approaching our practice with curiosity allows us to understand the language of our own bodies, and we become more comfortable using props, taking variations, and/or opting out of certain poses. We pay attention on purpose and let our body’s language guide us into a beautiful practice that helps us to feel whole.

As a final note, and maybe most importantly, whenever you are taking a yoga class whether online or in person, please stop putting all your personal safety in the hands of the teacher. No yoga teacher will ever know you better than you know yourself. I don’t care what they say. Trust yourself, listen to your intuition, tell the teacher “no, that’s not for me.” Because you’re the one who will be waking up at night and popping the Advil when you push too hard, not your yoga teacher.