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In a world where there’s no shortage of affordable and free online yoga classes, why would students bother sitting in traffic, dragging themselves to a studio, and paying more when they could just stay at home? Novelties such as DJ sets, fancy wall projections, and cacao ceremonies might draw people in for special events, but how can you ensure that the everyday class experience is one that students will make sacrifices to attend?
I think the answer, or at least part of it, relates to how we teach. Specifically, whether or not teachers tend to demo most of a class.
There is a time and a place for demonstration. A beginners’ class could benefit from a significant amount of it. As would class in which you observe students challenged to come into a pose. But if teachers spend most of a class demoing, students may as well be watching you on a screen.
What Happens When You Demo Every Pose?
In many ways, demoing a class is the path of least resistance for teachers. You’re able to sneak in a physical practice, you can feel the sequence rather than need to remember it, and you can experience far less vulnerability than if a room filled with students was looking at you and listening to your words.
I’m not going to present a black-and-white argument asserting that you shouldn’t demo most of a class. I’d rather explain the implications for students when you do demo without watching what’s happening on their mats. Then you can evaluate how you choose to use demonstration as a tool.
1. It Takes Your Attention Away From Students
Ask yourself if you can teach the room if you can’t see the room.
If you’re hanging out on the mat, not looking at your students, then any cues you give will be ones you’ve memorized rather than indicators specifically chosen to assist the students in front of you. That’s no different than what students would experience in an online class.
When you truly take in the students in front of you, you can follow the tried-and-true method of starting with general cues to get students into a pose and then offering more specific alignment instructions and variations based on what you see.
As much as you need to see the students, they, like all human beings, also want to be seen. It’s a basic human need that, sadly, is not often met in our busy yet isolated lives. Meander around the studio. Look students in the eye. Show them you are present. Establish that you are there to teach them, not just to instruct them. Build community with them.
Take yourself out of the hierarchical pedestal of being front and center. Then, as you walk the room, offer very specific cues directly to individuals. This is the gift of being present with someone.
2. It Promotes Comparison
You probably advocate for students not to compare themselves to others. But when a teacher is at the front doing asana (poses), students will inevitably fall into comparison with what shapes the teacher, with their decades of experience, can do.
I know that’s not your intention. But there’s a high chance that, rather than slow down to understand the alignment and go only as far into the pose as works with their body’s integrity, students will instead see the teacher’s shape and do everything they can to replicate it. This is a problem not only for students who are new to yoga but those who are experienced.
I like to take myself out of the equation wherever possible. I don’t want my body to be yet another distraction from students’ self-inquiry.
3. It Contributes to Teacher Injuries
One surefire way to injury is moving into complex poses without adequate warming up. If you prefer to injure yourself in a slightly slower way, then demoing all poses on one side for a length of time will create an imbalance in your body after a length of time. Similarly, teaching 10-plus classes a week and demoing every pose will lead to extreme fatigue and, potentially, injury.
Simply put, demoing significantly is not safe or sustainable for teachers.
4. Demoing Plays Into the Ego
We all have ego. (Yes, even us yoga teachers.) Ever been tempted to demo a version of a pose that you know your students can’t do? I, too, am a little guilty of that.
Then eight years ago, a motorbike fell on my foot and ruptured several ligaments. It was just the thing I needed to take my teaching to the next level. Leading conferences, workshops, and classes while sitting on a block was the perfect opportunity to refine my verbal cueing skills and truly become aware of the benefit of less demoing and more seeing.
I learned my lesson and behave differently these days.
Admittedly, some students may be drawn to a teacher who can do cool-yet-inaccessible stuff. But a public class should not be your chance to perform. It’s your responsibility to facilitate learning, safety, and self-inquiry while also getting out of the way of your students’ experience. Allow space for the yoga to do the work.
Next time you teach, set yourself the challenge to demo less and move around the studio more. If you find it challenging, that’s helpful information and means you need to practice it more. You might find it just barely less awkward than some of your most embarrassing moments in life. But that doesn’t mean you should stop. As a teacher, you need to teach with intention rather than defaulting to demonstration.
