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This text references racial discrimination and violence.
If you happen to teach yoga, it’s highly likely that you’re going to fart in front of a category, experience a wardrobe malfunction, and get kicked in the top while helping a student come into Handstand—hopefully not all on the identical day.
But not all gaffes result in laughs. Sometimes embarrassing moments also can unintentionally offend or confuse students or change into extraordinarily awkward and uncomfortable for everybody. Some situations are obvious in the way in which that they disrespect or upset someone. In those instances, you’ll be able to only apologize and check out to repair—or at the least own—the damage incurred.
Other times, your actions might offend someone in ways which will never make sense to you. All you’ll be able to do is trust that your intentions were good, own your role within the situation, and let that inform your future behavior. Once you keep the intention of practicing ahimsa, or non-harming, on the forefront of your teaching, you’ll be able to let go of needing to grasp a student’s perspective with a view to respect it.
Just because the physical practice of yoga teaches us to confront discomfort, it also familiarizes us with facing unwanted or difficult circumstances in life. Just like how we change into physically stronger as we proceed to practice difficult poses, we are inclined to learn probably the most about find out how to handle our interactions with others by attending to the opposite side of humbling incidents.
Following are some unexpected, and infrequently offensive, situations that teachers have encountered and the way they handled them.
10 Ways Yoga Teachers (Unintentionally) Offend Students
1. Joking at Someone Else’s Expense
“I’ve had plenty of small screwups as a teacher,” says Rachel Land, a Recent Zealand-based yoga teacher and co-host of The Yoga Medicine podcast who describes herself as “a playful and flippant type of teacher.” So it wasn’t surprising when she mentioned, during a joint mobility class, that students would appreciate the advantages when “they were crusty and old.”
But as she met the gaze of certainly one of her longtime students, who was (obviously) the oldest person within the room, she added, “No offense, Sam” [not his real name). The second the words got here out of her mouth, Land says, “I used to be horrified at what I said.”
What You Can Do in a Similar Situation: “I apologized and he seemed tremendous,” she says. “But I still use that shame to remind myself that I may be playful and humorous once I teach, but only at my very own expense, never at that of my students. It was a precious lesson.”
At all times apologize to the coed after class. Keep it sincere, avoid excuses, and be concise so that you don’t force the person you unintentionally offended to attend uncomfortably as you grovel. And keep it about them, not you.
Also, consider offering a right away apology as soon because the incident happens. It could feel doubly awkward to attract attention to the incident with a public acknowledgment, but this enables your gaffe to be a lesson in accountability and forgiveness. You possibly can bring some slight humor to the situation, but provided that it feels appropriate.
2. Getting a Student’s Name Mistaken
There was a time once I had a daily student, “Kimberly,” who I sometimes asked to exhibit poses during class. I at all times requested that the remainder of sophistication thank her by name. At some point after the category called out “Thanks, Kimberly” for the nth time, she whispered to me, “My name is definitely Danielle.”
What You Can Do in a Similar Situation: After I quietly and profusely apologized to Danielle, I took a number of slow breaths, turned to face your entire class, and corrected myself aloud. As embarrassing because the experience was for me, I wanted Danielle to feel fully seen. I also wanted my students to know that I, too, am human.
As teachers, we encounter dozens of scholars each week. It’s human to forget a reputation. But since that have, I ask students their names time and again once I forget. I also make sure that that I learn the right pronunciation. I consider it an act of respect for my students.
3. Making Yoga Inaccessible
Michelle El Khoury, PhD, is a health and wellness educator and runs Yogamazia, a family-friendly yoga studio. Although she’s well-versed in teaching students of all ages and skills, her talent for making yoga accessible to an array of scholars is informed by an incident that took place years ago.
While teaching yoga for a children’s after-school program, El Khoury cued the group to face and jump around. After leading them through some basic postures and movements, the category sat down. That’s when El Khoury realized there was a student in a wheelchair in the back of the room. That moment impressed upon her the importance of observing who’s in your class and offering variations so everyone within the room can take part in their unique way.
What You Can Do in a Similar Situation: “Know your audience,” says El Khoury. She suggests you fastidiously observe students as they move through the initial warm-ups so you’ll be able to begin to familiarize yourself with their needs. If you happen to’re planning to show a pose, ensure that you recognize find out how to teach several practical variations for it.
You may also memorize a few go-to sequences of basic poses which might be beginner-friendly for those times when you might want to unexpectedly change what you had intended to show.
(Photo: Thomas Barwick | Getty Images)
4. Trust Fall Fail
“A great friend of mine got here to class once,” says Milan Sundaresan, a yoga teacher in San Francisco. “At one point he practiced a Handstand hop while I used to be talking to a student next to him. I saw him from the corner of my eye and gave him some feedback. I turned around and began to walk away, pondering he was just going to practice a brief hop again.”
That’s when Sundaresan heard an enormous thump behind her. “I turned around and realized with horror that my friend had hopped fully right into a Handstand expecting me to identify him! Since I had not been in front of him, he landed on his back, flat as a pancake, quite than right into a wheel or to the side.”
Fortunately, he was unhurt. Although he still teases her concerning the trust issues he developed from the incident.
What You Can Do in a Similar Situation: Things could have gone very in a different way if it was someone she didn’t know who had expected her to anticipate their movement and proper their alignment. Sundaresan is now exceptionally mindful when students are attempting to come back into any difficult pose in her presence.
If you happen to’re assisting a student in a challenge pose, ask students to initiate movement in your count, simply to be secure. That features Handstand in addition to Forearm Stand, Scorpion, and Headstand.
5. Making a (False) Emergency
You never want the police to indicate up during your yoga class. But it may well be especially confusing when the police are called for a false emergency.
Tamika Caston-Miller, owner of The Ranch Houston, was demonstrating Natarajasana (Lord of the Dance Pose) for her students one night during a hot yoga studio when she fell out of the pose. It’s commonplace for a teacher to wobble or abruptly slip out of a pose, but her Apple Watch was in “fall mode” and sent out an alert that she was having an emergency. It pinged her family and friends contacts in addition to local emergency services. And since her phone was connected to the studio’s sound system, it began to ring over the speakers. Suddenly the police were asking if she was okay in front of her entire class.
What You Can Do in a Similar Situation: Such a incident could make for a superb story later, however it’s jarring within the moment Take whatever time is required or available to honor the nervous system upset which may occur from any emergency, real or otherwise.
Luckily, Caston-Miller is a good Yin and restorative yoga teacher, so she had an arsenal of calming poses she could do afterward to assist calm her—and her students’—nervous systems. It may be clever to avoid wearing an Apple watch while you teach or, on the very least, check your emergency settings.
6. Being a No-Show
One in every of my biggest anxieties is disappointing people. So you’ll be able to imagine how panicked I used to be the times once I forgot to indicate as much as teach. The primary time this happened, I had signed as much as substitute teach some classes but had misread the dates that were included in an email. The second time I forgot to line up a sub for my usual class once I was out of town leading a retreat.
Getting the text or call out of your manager or studio owner asking where you might be is usually a gut-wrenching experience for you—and annoying for college students who made space of their day to attend your class.
What You Can Do in a Similar Situation: All you’ll be able to do is apologize and do whatever it takes to stop the identical situation from happening again.
When someone asks you to sub a category, write out the date in your response and ask them to substantiate it. Once you arrange for others to sub your classes, list the dates and times of every class in your email and replica the manager or front desk on the studio.
7. Falling Out Over Funds
Pranidhi Varshney, founding father of Yoga Shala West in Los Angeles, operates her studio on a sliding scale payment model to make the practice more accessible. Some students pay a modest amount while others offer more.
“I had one student who was with me for a few years. She was a dedicated student and contributed diligently every month,” says Varshney. “We were doing annual weekend retreats, run on a sliding scale as well, and this student got here to the primary one and gave generously. For the following two retreats, she said she was going to attend, but then backed out on the last minute.”
Resulting from the late cancellation, Varshney was left to cover the fee of the client’s room and board. Because the coed didn’t contribute anything, Varshney felt it vital to talk with the coed.
“I sent her an email letting her learn about my disappointment and frustration. It took her aback,” says Varsney. “I give a number of credit to her because she then arranged a time to have a phone call with me and expressed her feelings concerning the situation.”
“From her perspective, she had given generously to the shala for years, and from my perspective, I used to be feeling the fear of scarcity,” says Varshney. “We had an honest and loving conversation. She then continued to contribute to the shala all throughout the pandemic, although we were closed. We’re still in contact and remain big supporters of one another.”
What You Can Do in a Similar Situation: Money conversations may be incredibly uncomfortable and are inclined to change into problematic within the yoga space when teachers publicly disclose which students profit from a scholarship or discounted rate or ask questions on an individual’s financial situation.
Nevertheless, Varshney’s situation reminds us that all of us approach financial situations in a different way and to ask for clarity prior to creating an assumption. It may possibly be difficult for a lot of teachers to ask for compensation because they’re offering something that’s needed. Proceed having the tough conversations when vital and setting the suitable boundaries around cancellation policies. It may possibly help to first pause and change into inquisitive about your perspective and any stories or fears which will lurk behind your response.
(Photo: Thomas Barwick | Getty Images)
8. Underestimating Your Student
Andrea Marcum’s classes are known for being physically difficult. So when a student with muscular dystrophy showed up at her Los Angeles studio years ago, Marcum was nervous that her teaching may not be accessible. She immediately brought two blocks and a bolster to the coed’s mat and “hovered conspicuously” throughout most of sophistication.
Toward the tip of the hour, the coed asked Marcum to identify her in Headstand. Marcum was nervous but quickly saw how well she knew her strengths and the way competent she was at working around those points of the pose that challenged her.
“She was so savvy about what she needed and what she didn’t need,” said Marcum. “She said, ‘This arm won’t straighten’ and ‘Stand here.’ Her level of honesty and self-awareness were incredible.”
That day helped Marcum realize that we regularly jump to conclusions about our students. “But we will actually learn far more from our students than our students will ever learn from us,” she says.
What You Can Do in a Similar Situation: As humans, we are inclined to make unconscious assumptions about people based on those characteristics which might be apparent to us, including body type and age. Unconscious negative assumptions a few person—what psychologists call implicit bias—may be reinforced by media portrayals.
The scholar didn’t must say anything to Marcum concerning the well-intended but unneeded attentiveness. But we will all probably recall a time when someone underestimated us. It doesn’t feel good. The more aware we’re of our interactions with others, the more aware we will change into of our biases—after which work to alter them. For yoga teachers, this includes resisting the urge to hover or offer adjustments in each pose. Allow your students to have their practice.
9. Playing Offensive Lyrics
I once included the Nina Simone song “Strange Fruit” at school. I had attended a dance performance that featured it the night before, and its haunting melody had stuck with me. But a number of bars into the song, a student took me aside and asked if I knew that it was concerning the lynching of Black Americans. I had no idea and was mortified and ashamed.
What You Can Do in a Similar Situation: All I could do was apologize, own my ignorance, and immediately switch to a distinct song. I won’t ever play that track during class again.
Since that have, I research the lyrics and meanings of every song I include on my playlists. Also, on condition that we are inclined to be distracted by lyrics and the memories we associate with them, I limit the variety of songs with words that I play—especially music that accommodates suggestive or offensive lyrics. You possibly can search online for resources offering yoga-appropriate music, including DJ Taz Rashid’s music library.
10. Navigating Suggestive Comments
Social media is an important marketing tool for a lot of yoga teachers. It may possibly even be a source of unintended intimacy and unwanted access. Several years ago, yoga teacher Derek Doritis, who teaches along the Mediterranean, posted a photograph to advertise an upcoming retreat. “One in every of my students replied in a non-public message, saying something like, ‘You look sexy on this photo.’”Understandably, Doritis immediate response was to reply that he preferred to maintain their relationship platonic and skilled. In response, the coed became defensive and insisted it was only a compliment, unfollowed him, and didn’t speak to him for greater than a yr.
What You Can Do in a Similar Situation: Doritis was correct in setting boundaries. But looking back, he feels that he could have handled how he conveyed that information in a different way. The “we’re not friends, I’m your teacher” talk doesn’t at all times go over well, says Doritis “But these are also conversations which might be best handled in person, in the event you are able, so you’ll be able to take care to maintain the coed coming back. After all, if things change into lecherous and you might be uncomfortable, you’ve got every right to ask them to stop coming or stop working with them.”
RELATED: 18 Most Embarrassing Moments That Can Occur to Yoga Teachers
About Our Contributor
Sarah Ezrin is an creator, world-renowned yoga educator, popular Instagram influencer, and mama based within the San Francisco Bay Area. Her willingness to be unabashedly honest and vulnerable along together with her innate wisdom make her writing, yoga classes, and social media great sources of healing and inner peace for many individuals. Sarah is changing the world, teaching self-love one person at a time. She can also be the creator of The Yoga of Parenting. You possibly can follow her on Instagram at @sarahezrinyoga and TikTok at @sarahezrin.