By Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500

If you ask any Yoga teacher if he or she needs improvement in communication techniques, you will receive a variety of answers. After all, Level 1 Yoga teacher training courses usually cover cueing, demonstrating, and assisting; so how much more can there be to optimizing your communication skills in a Yoga class?

Let’s review a few issues that should have been covered in your Yoga certification course. When you teach classes, are you listening? Some of us make the mistake of talking and explaining, so much, that we do not really listen to our students.

Worse yet, some Yoga teachers do not allow questions at all. There is a belief that questions “will interrupt the flow of the class.” To prohibit Yoga-related questions during class is extremely unsafe.

What if a student is experiencing pain, while he or she is performing a Yoga technique in your class? Should he or she keep quiet about it? Should a student wait until after the class is over to mention his or her pain in your class?

Yoga teachers should be listening and observing their students at all times. To do otherwise is extremely unsafe. There is no room for unsafe habits in Yoga teaching methodology. One unsafe teacher shames all of us.

When teaching a Yoga class, we must be able to see two sides of every issue. Each situation, which comes up, must be governed by logic, compassion, and ethics. These guidelines are essential for us to build trusting relationships with our classrooms.

This requires each of us, who teach Yoga classes, to take the time to know our students, in an atmosphere of mutual trust. Seek to understand, and recommend solutions, to each student’s obstacles with complete integrity.

© Copyright 2008 - Paul Jerard / Aura Publications

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