Ep 95: How to Talk About Pain in Class Without Creating Fear

One of the hardest things for yoga teachers is knowing what to say when students mention pain. The language we use can either empower our students or unintentionally create fear that makes them feel fragile or unsafe in their own bodies.

In this episode, I explore how to talk about pain in yoga classes without reinforcing fear-based narratives. You’ll learn why traditional alignment cues like “never round your spine” or “don’t let your knee go past your ankle” can actually plant fear, and how to replace them with supportive, empowering language that helps students explore movement with confidence.

This episode is for you if you want to build confidence in supporting students with pain and injuries without overstepping your scope of practice. When you shift from using restrictive cues to empowering ones, you’ll realize how they create an environment for safer & more supportive spaces for every student in your class.

Transcript

Monica: 0:00

Have you ever thought about how to talk about pain in class with your students without creating fear? This is one of the most important topics in our profession because the way we use language has the power to either empower our students or leave them feeling more anxious, more fragile and more disconnected from their bodies. But we were never taught how in this episode we will. Welcome to the Essential Conversations for Yoga Teachers Podcast with me. I'm Monica Bright and I've been teaching yoga and running my yoga business for over a decade. This is the podcast for you. If you are a yoga teacher, you're looking for support. You love to be in conversation, and you're a lifelong student. In this podcast, I'll share with you. My life as a yoga teacher, the lessons I've learned, my process for building my business and helpful ideas, tools, strategies and systems I use and you can use so that your business thrives. We'll cover a diverse range of topics that will help you, whether you're just starting out or you've got years under your belt and you wanna dive deep and set yourself up for success. I am so glad you're here. Listen, I don't take myself too seriously, so expect to hear some laughs along the way. Now let's do this together. Welcome back to the podcast. I'm Monica, and I'm so glad you're here. Here we talk about the anatomy, the injuries, the nervous system, insights, plus all the real life knowledge. You wish had been included in your yoga teacher training. Have you ever thought about how to talk about pain in class with your students without creating fear? This is one of the most important topics in our profession because the way we use language has the power to either empower our students or leave them feeling more anxious, more fragile, and more disconnected from their bodies. But we were never taught how in this episode. We're going to. I acknowledge that many of us were not taught how to handle conversations around pain. During our 200 hour trainings. We might've been told to cue alignment in a certain way to prevent injuries or to offer props and modifications. When students say something hurts, but beyond that, there's usually not a lot of depth. So it's very normal if you feel unprepared or even nervous when a student mentions pain. But today I wanna give you some tools and frameworks to help you feel more confident, and most importantly, to help you support your students without making them afraid of movement. Let's start with the problem. Traditional yoga cues often come from a place of fear. You've probably heard cues like, don't let your knee go past your ankle, or never around your spine. Hear. Or make sure to never shrug your shoulders or over time you'll get injured. If you ever use these cues, I'm certain you were trying to be well intentioned because they come from a desire to protect students, but what they actually do is plant fear. They suggest that the body is fragile, That certain asanas are inherently dangerous and that the student has to move in very specific ways to avoid harming themselves. The problem with this approach is that it doesn't reflect what we know now about the body, about pain and about injury. Research in pain science and biomechanics shows us that the body is resilient, adaptable, and it's strong. There isn't one magical alignment that prevents injury, nor is there a single wrong position that will automatically cause it instead. Injury and pain are complex experiences influenced by many factors including tissue capacity, nervous system sensitivity, previous experiences, and even the student's psychological state. When we use fear-based cues, we narrow our students' experience of movement and sometimes unintentionally reinforce their pain. So how do we change this? The first step is to recognize the weight of our words. As yoga teachers, our students often view us as authorities on the body. if we say something like, don't let your knee move past your ankle because that will hurt your knee. Students may internalize that idea and become afraid of letting their knee move in everyday life. That's a huge responsibility and it's why we need to always strive to be more intentional with our language. Instead of queuing from a place of restriction, we can cue from a place of exploration and choice. For example, rather than saying, don't move your knee past your ankle, you might say, notice how it feels in your knee as you bend. If you feel discomfort, try adjusting your stance or backing off slightly. The difference is subtle, but it's powerful. You're inviting your student to tune into their own experience and make choices based on their own needs and experience, rather than telling them a specific position is dangerous. This leads to another important concept, which is. Pain does not always mean harm. Students may feel discomfort or sensations that are new or unfamiliar, and sometimes that can trigger fear. As teachers, we can normalize the fact that sensation is part of movement. we can also remind students that not every sensation is a sign of injury. At the same time, we can encourage them to listen to their bodies and respect when something feels sharp, unstable, or persistently uncomfortable. Think of it as a balance of empowerment and caution without instilling fear. One of the most effective strategies is to use language that emphasizes capacity rather than limitation. For example, in a forward fold, instead of saying your hamstrings are too tight to do this pose, you could say, notice the sensation in your hamstrings, and you might explore using a block underneath your hands to support yourself. As you fold, rather than labeling bodies as deficient, You'd be directing students' awareness to what's happening in the body and offering options to support them in feeling successful in your classes. We can also bring in language that builds trust in resilience. For instance, if a student says, my back hurts when I fold forward, you might respond with reassurance. It's okay for backs to feel different in certain poses. You might try bending your knees or keeping your spine a little bit longer and see how that feels. That's very different from saying, don't ever round your back in a forward fold. It will injure you. The first response encourages curiosity and safety. The second plants fear and avoidance of movement in the student. Now let's talk about your sequencing, because this also impacts how we talk about pain. If your sequences are designed only with creativity in mind, you might feel thrown off when a student comes in and mentions pain, but if your sequences are grounded in the principles of balance and adaptability, you'll have more confidence. For example, you might build in. Multiple entry points for opposed like lunges, either with the knee up or down. So students can choose what option works for them. When you present these options, frame them as equally valid rather than as a hierarchy of, say, the full expression of a pose versus a modification, this avoids shaming or creating the impression that somebodies are less capable. Another key piece is understanding the nervous system. When students are in pain, their nervous system may already be heightened. Scanning for threats. If your language amplifies fear, it increases nervous system reactivity. But if your language is calm, supportive, and focused on safety, it can help regulate the nervous system and create a sense of ease with your students. Even your tone of voice matters here. Speaking slowly. Giving students time to make choices and avoiding harsh corrections all contribute to a safer environment. Now, I would be remiss if I didn't mention one of the most common fears that yoga teachers have. What if I say the wrong thing? It's important to remember that you don't have to be perfect and you don't have to know everything. What matters is that you don't default to fear-based queuing. If you're unsure how to respond to a student's pain, it's okay to say, let's try a different option and see how your body feels. You don't need to diagnose because we're not trying to do that, and that's not in our role as yoga teachers. But what you can do is support the student's agency, create a sense of safety, and remind them that their body is adaptable. So how can you begin to practice this in your teaching? Here's something you can do. Take a common cue that you use and ask yourself, does this cue empower or does it restrict? For example, instead of saying don't lift your shoulders towards your ears, you might say, experiment with lifting, then softening your shoulders down and see how that changes the sensation. The cue still guides students, but it gives them space to explore rather than warning them of harm. Another good practice is to reflect on your own experiences. With pain or injury. If you're anything like me, I've had multiple injuries from my yoga practice, so my reflection on them is huge. I want you to think about how certain words or cues can influence the sense of safety in your students. Many of us have had the experience of being told we shouldn't move a certain way, only to later discover that movement was safe and even helpful. Use that awareness to inform how you communicate with your students. The bottom line is that language matters deeply in how we support students with pain and injuries. Creativity and sequencing has its place, but what truly builds trust and empowerment is the confidence you have in your ability to guide without creating fear to offer options without judgment. To hold space for students to explore their bodies safely. If you take nothing else from this episode, remember this, your students are resilient. Your role is not to protect them from every possible risk, but to support them in discovering how movement feels in their bodies when you shift your language from. Fear to empowerment. You help them rebuild trust in themselves, and that's one of the most powerful gifts you can give your students as their yoga teacher. Understanding anatomy, biomechanics, and the effects yoga also not have on the body, helps you help your students if you've been enjoying these episodes. I know that you are a yoga teacher who's ready to teach with more intention and less fear around injuries. Let's continue to raise the bar for how yoga supports real bodies in real life. It's so important for us to have this conversation so that you remember that students of all shapes, sizes, alignment, and abilities come to your classes and you can serve all of them. You know that my goal is for you to love the yoga teaching life. It's important to understand movement and the issues students come to your classes with. Subscribe to the podcast so you're always in the know when a new episode drops, and share it with another yoga teacher who you think would love to be in on these conversations. thank you for helping to spread the word about this podcast. All right. Thank you for listening. That's it for now. Bye.