Yoga Teaching and Learning
​at www.yogauk.com

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Hello Reader

Welcome to the April newsletter.

I hope you're enjoying the blue skies and sunshine.🌞

This month's article is about maximising the healing effects of yoga by small adjustments in our teaching. You'll find some ideas and tips for you to explore.

The next community Q&A get-together on Zoom is this Friday at 1pm. Do come along to discuss how to support our students in their healing, or to add your own ideas to those in the article. And of course anything else relating to any aspect of your yoga teaching is open for discussion. See you there!

Love and light,

Keep scrolling for:

📆 Dates for your diary

🤷🏻 Article: Yoga as a gateway to healing

👉 News and resources

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Dates for your diary

🤩 Friday 4th April 1-2pm - Yoga Teacher Q&A Zoom meeting - all teachers are invited (more here)
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🤩 Saturday 3rd May 10-11am - Yoga Teacher Q&A Zoom meeting - all teachers are invited (more here)
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Article:

Yoga as a gateway to healing

As yoga teachers, we already know that yoga is far more than just about yoga poses. When approached in the right way, yoga can be a tool for deep healing.

When things are out of balance, there is a lack of ease and a lack of order in the body and mind. We call these dis-eases and dis-orders.

Asana practice, breathwork and mental focus impact the body, mind and flow of prana to increase balance, ease and order.

But how do we refine our teaching to maximise the body’s healing powers for our students?

This article explores practical ways to make your teaching more effective in supporting students' healing, both physically and emotionally.

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1. Language matters

Many students come to yoga looking for relief from physical or emotional pain. To help them practice within their limits and develop self-care, here are some ways we can use our language to empower their healing process.

🔹 Offer options instead of corrections: Rather than saying “your feet need to be placed like this” ask “how does it feel if you try adjusting your stance?” or “explore how it feels if you stand with your feet closer to together?”

🔹 Use neutral and supportive language: Words like “soften”, “release”, “allow”, “lengthen and lighten” encourage students to listen to their bodies rather than strive for an imagined ideal pose.

✅ Try this: Instead of saying, “Engage your core” say “imagine a gentle drawing up of your pelvic floor, finding stability from the inside.” Notice how this creates less tension and allows the breath to flow freely.

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2. Teach the nervous system

Many students arrive with a dysregulated nervous system. Either they are overstimulated (anxious and restless) or depleted (exhausted and disengaged). As teachers, we can help to guide their nervous systems towards a state of balance to promote healing.

🔹 Slow down – Fast movements can keep the nervous system on high alert. Instruct students to take time to move and settle into poses. Teach slow exhales through the nose to activate the parasympathetic nervous system.

🔹 Balance activation and relaxation – Alternate gentle slow movement with stronger held poses and more active practices. Teach mental focus and grounding throughout.

✅ Try this: Begin class with at least 3 minutes of breath awareness in semi-supine, instead of diving straight into movement. If students are very fidgety, add a simple arm raising movement with slow deep breathing. See how this shifts the energy in the room.

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3. Creating a safe space

Many students, whether they mention it or not, carry the effects of past trauma in their bodies, even after many years. Remembering that we are yoga teachers and not therapists, we can’t provide therapy but we can structure our yoga classes to be safer and more supportive.

🔹 Give students control – Always give clear, alternative options to practices, and avoid language that suggests you are ‘opting out’ and doing a lesser practice. For example “lower your body into a lying position and focus on the flow of your breath if you feel any pain or discomfort in the pose”.

🔹 Care with hands-on adjustments – Touch is very powerful and it’s easy to get a different response to what you intend if you are untrained. Use sparingly. If you do wish to touch, always ask permission first.

✅ Try this: Instead of leading a meditation where students focus inwards, which can be difficult during emotional stress, offer an external focus option such as listening to sounds or “feel the contact points between your skin and the ground underneath you”, which helps avoid overwhelm.
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4. Deepening interoception

Healing happens more readily when someone becomes more attuned to the sensations in their body, rather than simply following instructions and going through the motions.

🔹 Ask questions instead of giving answers: Avoid telling students what to feel. Instead say “notice how you feel in your body right now” or “where do you feel the greatest sensation in your body?”

🔹 Use pauses intentionally: Give time for sensations to register and to feel the after-effects of a practice before moving on.

✅ Try this: Instead of dictating what is the “perfect” alignment, invite students to explore, within safe limits, for example: “See which of these two hand positions makes this pose feel more stable or at ease for you?”
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5. Supporting real bodies

Students often arrive at a yoga class with pain or restrictions with a hope to relieve the discomfort. As yoga teachers we can support the healing process by helping them experience the benefits of yoga without reinforcing harmful movement patterns.

🔹 Observe each student throughout the lesson: Notice any patterns of movement that create imbalance or strain in the body. Offer guidance to nurture new more health-giving movement patterns.

🔹 Prioritise key elements over aesthetics: Focus on the key elements of a pose rather than what it looks like. For example, if a student struggles with downward dog, offer frog pose or ardha uttanasana using the wall or a chair, with everyone lengthening through the spine and arms.

✅ Try this: Instead of having students “push through” stiffness or discomfort, guide them into noticing: “Where do you feel resistance? What happens if you reach with your tail – do you find more ease?”

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6. Restorative practices

While developing healthy movement in practice is very valuable, deep healing often happens in the stillness afterwards. Restorative poses and relaxation practices like Yoga Nidra allow the nervous system to shift to relaxation mode, creating time and space to integrate the effects of the practices.

🔹 Integrate more rest, even in active classes – A mid-class seated meditation or time in semi-supine can help to integrate the effects of poses just practised, before continuing. See how adding short resting poses changes the overall experience of the practice.

🔹 Guide relaxation with awareness, not force – Instead of “relax your shoulders” also try “invite a little softness into the tops of your shoulders” or “let your whole body be a little bit heavier with each exhalation”.

✅ Try this: Invite students to notice the small fidgety movements in the body in relaxation, without trying to suppress them. Acknowledging the fidgets and observing them objectively will eventually settle them into stillness without force.
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7. Beyond the mat

Building a sense of belonging, acceptance and kindness in our yoga classes can have a beneficial effect on healing.

🔹 Create a welcoming environment – A warm welcome and acknowledgement can make a big difference our students’ sense of well-being.

🔹 Encourage a culture of kindness – Remind students that yoga is not about performance and improvement, but about self-care and exploration, on and off the mat.

✅ Try this: Invite students to reflect silently at the end of class, for example: “What’s one thing you felt during today’s practice that you want to carry with you into the rest of your day?”

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Teaching Yoga as a Healing Practice

As yoga teachers we have the privilege to be able to guide people towards greater well-being. Continuing to develop and refine our language, understanding how the nervous system works, creating a welcoming space, and encouraging deeper self-awareness, allows us to make our classes not just an asana practice but a place of healing and a source of support during illness or injury.

The more we create space for safe challenges, exploration, and deep rest, the more we allow yoga to become the healing practice of growth that it can be. Students may not always be able to articulate the subtle effects they feel, but they can sense when a practice is supporting them in their healing.

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News and resources

Knee function in asana ebook (free): Get the ebook here​

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The next two Q&A meetings:

Support and connect with other yoga teachers - more here​

• Friday 4th April at 1-2pm
• Saturday 3rd May at 10-11am

All yoga teachers are invited by email the day before.

But we don't want to clutter your inbox! Click 'Preferences' at the bottom of any email to turn off the mailings you prefer not to receive.

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Please feel free to pass this newsletter on to any yoga teacher friends or colleagues who might be interested in any of the content. They can sign up to receive newsletters to their own inbox at www.yogauk.com
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