You'll find in some yoga classes, especially traditional ones like Ashtanga or Bikram, that they love getting you into the perfect pose. The New York Post ran an article highlighting a Bikram teacher who took it to extremes. When a student veers from the prescribed pose they're viewed as doing it wrong. It's considered wrong due to the students lack of flexibility in the pose and the teachers lack of openness that not all students are Gumby, so they will push a student farther than they can go. When a teacher sees a student doing a pose in a way other than how they are teaching it, they think the student doesn't understand the pose. They will adjust the student to fit their idea of the perfect pose. What the teacher doesn't realize, is that the student is experimenting with the pose or going as far into it as their body allows. What looks like the perfect pose in the teachers mind, may not be so perfect for the student's body.
Some teachers will tell you over and over again to do it a specific way. Tuck your tailbone, reach for your toes or straighten your knees. They will push you to your edge and beyond, all to fit the mold of a pose. But what if that mold will hurt you rather than give you the release that you are looking for? What if all that pressure to do the pose perfectly is distracting you from the real reason you came to class, what if you just came to relax? Many people avoid coming to yoga altogether because they don't think they will be able to do it right. The pressure to do perfect yoga is high. It's intimidating to walk into class with the slender, super bendy yogi's in their designer yoga pants.
A yoga class should be a place of refuge. A place you can go where there is no judgment. You should feel safe and not have to worry about injury. As a teacher, we must respect that. When a teacher is giving instruction, especially new teachers, we are teaching what we were taught. We were taught how to give cues and make adjustments to get our students into a pose. However, it's easy to let the perfection of the physical practice overwhelm the other benefits such as the breathing or meditative aspects. If a teacher is so focused on how you look in the pose or barking at you to breathe, how are you ever going to relax or explore? In order to learn from your teacher, or from yourself, you need to feel comfortable.
Teachers can be easily idolized, especially with new students. Students will latch onto them as their guru's, hoping to learn from them as much as possible. They believe everything that comes out of their mouths as pure truth. However, as the research of yoga is growing, we're finding that some of what we're teaching isn't giving us the results we preached about. Teachers can be full of knowledge and help us move along in our yoga journeys, but the true guru's aren't necessarily our teachers, but ourselves. A teacher can't feel what is going on in your body, but you can and you must speak up for yourself. This is necessary to avoid injury and to achieve success in your physical practice.
Specific styles of yoga are going to teach perfectionism in their poses, that is just the way they are. If you are a lover of those types, but a bit sick of having your poses nick picked, let the teacher know, especially if you are a regular. Explain to your teacher that you like to explore within the poses and ask them to please ask before adjusting. You'll want to do this so you can relax and enjoy your practice without interruption. You may be exploring in a pose, but to the teacher you may look like you're out of alignment. When they come over to fix you or speak across the room to ask you to adjust, you'll lose your concentration, your rhythm of breath. You'll stop and think, wait, am I doing it wrong? You'll have gone from a great place of exploration to a place of doubt.
Ask the teacher that she only make adjustments on you if you look like you are going to hurt yourself. You should never feel a stretch in your joints and it's important not to put too much pressure on them or your spine. A good teacher will give verbal cues before making adjustments. That allows you to be the one to decide if you want to make the adjustment or continue exploring.
I love watching my students explore in their yoga poses and encourage them often to do so. Especially if they have been practicing for years. I tell them to find something new in the pose. Rotate a hip, expand through the chest or perhaps do something as simple as rotate your palm up. You never know what goodness you'll find. Perhaps you'll discover a great stretch for that muscle in your back that is constantly causing tension.
Yoga is not a prescription. You don't have to do exactly what the teacher says. Don't wander off the path so much that you are a distraction to the class, but allow yourself the opportunity to play a bit. You know your body, so listen to it. If something hurts, back out of it, even if the teacher is telling you to go deeper. If something feels really good and the teacher is telling you to come out of it and into the next pose, perhaps linger for one more breath. A good yoga teacher will allow you to explore, but also keep an eye on you to make sure that you don't hurt yourself.
A teacher can enlighten you to the wonders of yoga, but only you can find it's true beauty. Our goal as a teacher is to create an environment that will allow you to relax and enjoy your practice. Yoga affects us all in different ways. The path one takes to enlightenment won't necessarily be the path for you. Explore, ask questions and most importantly, follow your gut.
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