Ep 110: Teaching Yoga As A Personal Relationship

Yoga has evolved into a practice of performance. It's become more about the depth of a pose, the complexity of a sequence, or how much a student can practice asana. Yoga was never meant to be a performance. It has always been intended to cultivate a relationship between one's body, mind, and awareness.

In this episode, we explore how you can shift from helping students “do” yoga to helping them experience it. You’ll learn how to reframe your language so that your cues foster curiosity instead of achievement, and how to encourage students to learn to trust their own bodies through choice, awareness, and adaptability.

This episode will help you see teaching as presence, where awareness replaces perfection, and growth happens through exploration, not execution.

If you’ve ever felt the pressure to keep your classes exciting, impressive, or “Social media-worthy,” this conversation will help you return to the teachings of yoga that truly matter: connection, awareness, and trust.

Transcript

Monica: 3:59

The most transformative teaching happens when we stop trying to perform and begin relating to ourselves and to our students. When you shift your focus from trying to perfect shapes to tune into your awareness, your students will begin to see their practice differently. They'll learn that yoga isn't something they do, it's something they learn to experience. Inviting curiosity into your cues, offering choice and creating space for silence will help you usher your students into a relationship with their body rather than a set of expectations set upon them by you or by what they think you want. Right. The more they learn to listen, the more self-trust develops, and this is where embodiment and transformation truly begins. So let's talk about it. 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. You've probably noticed how easy it is for the yoga practice to turn into something performative. I know you see it. Students often walk into class focused on how opposed is going to look rather than how it's going to feel. They wanna get deeper into the stretch, make the shape right, or push to the edge of their range. And it's not just students. We as teachers fall into this pattern as well. We can become preoccupied with how our classes flow, how creative our sequences are, and how our cues sound. Somewhere along the way, the yoga practice begins to feel like something to execute rather than something we should explore. But yoga was never meant to be a performance. It was always meant to be a relationship, a living, breathing, dialogue between body, mind and awareness. The goal should not focus on how to perfect the oana shape, but to deepen understanding, not to control the body, but to listen to it. When we remember this, everything about how we teach and practice begins to change as teachers. Our role is to help students develop that relationship with themselves, with their bodies, and with the practice. This relationship we're teaching is built through awareness, curiosity, and adaptability. Awareness is the ability to observe what's happening in the present moment. Curiosity invites exploration without judgment, and adaptability allows both the teacher and student to adjust To meet what's happening in the now, right there, rather than fight against it. When students come to class, they often have the mindset of achievement. They wanna feel progress in measurable ways. To reach the floor in a forward fold, to hold a pose longer, to stretch their hamstrings a little bit more, or finally, balance in a handstand. These goals aren't wrong to have, but if that's where the focus stays, they miss the deeper work. Yoga isn't about what the posture looks like, it's about what the posture reveals to us. Each pose offers information, whether it's about tension, breath focus, or an emotion. When students approach yoga as a relationship, they begin to see that every sensation is communication. Their bodies and their minds are speaking to them. They just need to learn to listen. As a teacher, one of the most powerful ways you can guide this shift is through your language, the words you use to create the lens through which your students experience their practice. If your cues focus on achieving the shape, like straighten the leg, square the hips, or point your toes forward, students start striving for a physical outcome. But if your cues invite awareness such as, notice how this feels in your hip, or explore the amount of weight bearing in your back foot, or even see if you can soften your breath here. Students learn to start listening and your language can transform their practice from external performance to an internal dialogue. Another way to support this relationship based approach is to offer choice. When you encourage students to make decisions about their practice, you help them build trust in their own bodies. For example, instead of teaching everyone to take the same variation, you might say you can stay where you are or explore a little more depth if it feels right. Or if your body is asking for stillness, take it. Giving permission to choose fosters and builds autonomy. It teaches students that yoga isn't about following your strict cues. It's about cultivating awareness and responding authentically. It's also important to remember that adaptability is not a sign of uncertainty. Instead, it shows skill. When you adjust a sequence or modify what you've planned to teach based on what's happening in your yoga room, you aren't winging it. You're responding to the reality of the present moment. Students' energy, emotional states and physical readiness vary from day to day. Adapting your teaching allows you to meet them where they are. You are modeling the very thing you want them to develop, the ability to listen. Respond and adjust without judgment from anyone including themselves. One practice that can deepen this approach is incorporating a pause. More often you might feel pressure to keep the class moving, to fill every moment with verbal instruction or even your theming, but pauses are where awareness deepens. When you leave space for silence, students have a chance to process what's happening, to feel, to integrate. You might say, take a breath and notice what's shifting, or pause here and see what your body wants to tell you. These moments of reflection remind students that yoga isn't about constant doing. It's about consistent awareness. This philosophy also extends beyond the mat. When students begin to relate to their practice rather than perform it, they transfer that awareness into their daily lives too. They begin noticing patterns, how they respond to stress, how they hold tension, how they approach discomfort, and yoga becomes a mirror for how they navigate the world. As teachers, our goal is to plant those seeds of awareness while we guide them through the class. Teaching yoga as a relationship also requires self-awareness. As a teacher, how do you relate to your own? Do you approach it with curiosity or pressure? Do you make space for imperfection or exploration? The way we relate to our own bodies and movement directly influences the energy we bring into the room. When we allow ourselves to be learners too, to explore, to question, and to stay curious, our students will feel that it creates a learning environment rooted in humility and presence. To bring this into your classes, try weaving relationship based reflection into your teaching. Instead of asking students if they can feel the stretch, ask questions that direct their attention inward, like, what's your breath doing right now? Or, what sensations are you noticing in your feet? And can you move with a little more ease? These questions don't have right or wrong answers. They create awareness. Over time, students start asking themselves those same questions without you having to prompt them. That's when the real transformation happens when yoga becomes their own conversation. You can also model this mindset through your tone and pacing. Speak as if you're in conversation with your students. Instead of giving cues and directions, slow down when needed, pause and observe. And invite interaction. These subtle shifts communicate that yoga is a shared experience, not a one-way exchange. When we stop treating yoga as a performance, we make room for authenticity for both you and your students. The practice becomes more forgiving, more sustainable, and more honest. It is no longer about perfection. It's about participation. It's not about controlling your body, but collaborating with it, and that collaboration builds trust. The kind of trust that allows students to move through both their practice and their lives with more confidence and compassion. Yoga as a relationship reminds us that teaching our students isn't about achieving an outcome. It's about cultivating awareness and connection moment by moment. When you approach your classes this way, you'll notice that the Asana alignment becomes. Secondary. What matters is what's happening within them. Their breath, their sensations, their emotions, and their awareness. That's where the true gift of yoga lies. Teaching yoga as a relationship also means living it yourself. It means being curious about your own body, your own tendencies, and your own patterns. As a teacher, when you lead from that place of curiosity and compassion, your students will naturally follow. Yoga isn't about achieving something magically impressive. It's about staying in conversation with the body, with the breath, and with the present moment, and when we teach and practice from that truth, yoga becomes what it was always meant to be. A lifelong relationship of awareness, adaptability, and self-trust. So the next time you go teach, ask yourself, am I teaching students to perform or am I teaching them to relate? and then guide your students toward the same question. Because the deeper goal isn't to get into some kind of mastery of a pose. It's to master the ability to listen. To the wisdom that emerges when we stop performing and start relating. Understanding anatomy, biomechanics, and the effects yoga Asana have on the body helps you help your students. If you've been enjoying these episodes, I know that you're 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 finally, thank you for helping to spread the word about this podcast. Alright, thank you for listening. That's it for now. Bye.