Not Everybody's Teacher

Yoga is for everybody, but that doesn’t mean that every teacher is for everyone.

I think it’s a distinction that isn’t always considered in the discussions about yoga being for everyone who wants to try it and make it part of their life.

I feel very differently now in my 15th year of teaching compared to when I started.

While I feel there’s always something you can learn from different teachers, even if that something is, “I won’t be going to that class again,” as a student I don’t expect every teacher to appeal to me.

When I was a new teacher I really wanted to please everybody and would be mortified if someone didn’t like my class. I’d even view someone leaving before savasana as a failure on my part.

Now, all these years later I know that as a teacher I am not for everyone, and I am very comfortable with that. I also understand there’s a degree of self responsibility that students need to take in their practice.

Related to this, I also take feedback (good and bad) with a pinch of salt. For instance, I haven’t played music when teaching for years, so if someone told me they would prefer my class to be accompanied by a playlist (as has happened), I would say they are welcome to their opinion. However, that’s an example of a piece of feedback that I would not act on.

Not all feedback is equal or warranted and not all feedback should be taken on board. I am reminded of something Judith Hanson Lasater said during the first training I did with her over a decade ago which was, to paraphrase: when you have 10 students in a class, you’re teaching 10 different classes.

As a teacher, you may do your best to teach each person in front of you, but that doesn’t mean you can or will please everyone.

All of this relates to why when someone tells me they don’t like yoga based on only ever having taken one class, I say that it’s worth trying a range of classes with different teachers. This is because it’s completely normal for it to take time to find teachers you resonate with. If after that, you still feel that yoga isn’t for you, then it’s totally fair.

After all, just because yoga is for everybody, it doesn’t mean you have to do it.

Paula Hines is a London-based yoga teacher and writer and the author of the book Rest + Calm (Green Tree, Bloomsbury). Discover more at: ucanyoga.co.uk