Raise your hand if you’ve heard one of the following phrases in a yoga class:

Bend your knees to protect your back.

Draw your shoulder blades down to protect your neck.

Stack your joints to protect your knees.

Tuck your pelvis under to protect your lumbar spine.

You all have your hands raised, yes?

What do all of these commonly heard phrases have in common?

They all use the word protect.

First, let me say that any guidance you’re given in a yoga class is hopefully coming from a kind, well-meaning place. Yoga teachers have all sorts of reasons to use certain words, phrases, or cues in their yoga classes. At the same time, the words we use have power and can leave a lasting impression on those around us.

I am 1000% guilty of saying things like “engage your abs to protect your lower back” in yoga classes. There’s plenty of things that I once said regularly in yoga classes years ago that I will not even consider mentioning in my current classes. There’s value in learning, growing, and constantly questioning the reasons behind the words we choose.

Let’s take a shape like Cobra. For the longest time I recall my teachers telling me to not use my hands in Cobra. Cobras don’t have hands. Don’t use your hands in this posture to protect your spine. So there I was. Trying my best to be a cobra and not use my nonexistent hands in order to reduce the risk of injury to my spine.

Eventually I started practicing with a teacher who encouraged me to use my hands in Cobra. Well that changed the shape entirely! I was able to engage my middle back more and experience a bigger lift in my chest. More importantly, I used my hands in Cobra and did not experience a devastating spinal cord injury.

Is there anything problematic about lifting your hands in Cobra? Of course not!

Is the shape wrong if you do/do not use your hands? Nope!

Are there many ways to explore Cobra (and all yoga shapes)? You better believe it!

So where’s the issue?

The idea that I am protecting my spine by not using my hands in a shape like Cobra is misguided. In my baby yoga teacher days I definitely said something about lifting the hands in Cobra. I was doing what a lot of new yoga teachers do - I was a simple parrot of my teachers because that’s all I knew!

So what’s the issue with the word protect in a yoga class? It’s important to keep our bodies safe, right?

Yes! In a perfect world no one would get injured in their yoga practice. Unfortunately, it does happen and there’s plenty of trolls who want to make others think that everyone ends up injured on their yoga mat.

Yes, some yoga classes have a no pain, no ego approach and that elevates the chance for injury.

No, not all yoga classes are oozing with the push yourself to your absolute edge rhetoric.

As yoga teachers we have an obligation to keep up with our own studies and practice critical thinking. And, as yoga teachers, it is our obligation to support those who show up for our classes through clear, informed language. Just because you completed some training and guide people through shapes in a yoga studio doesn’t mean your studies have ended. Let it be your encouragement to study even more!

By using words like protect or phrases like to keep your body safe in a yoga class, I believe yoga teachers (like me) have created a sense of fear for some students. People are afraid they’ll hurt themselves if their shoulders lift when they reach their arms overhead. Folks in a yoga room have become terrified to let their knees push beyond their ankles in fears that something will combust. And don’t even get me started on the placement of the lifted foot in Tree Pose.

We’ve created a narrative that the physical body is fragile. We’ve created a community that is afraid of their bodies.

If you take away only one thing from this obnoxious rant let it be this:

Your body is smart. Your body is resilient.

If we go back to the example of Cobra and the suggestion to lift your hands in the shape, one might consider moving away from the world protect and try something like:

Today in your Cobra hover your hands a few inches from your mat to remove the option for leverage. You might feel more engagement through your upper back.

Then the next week you might try a different approach:

Today in your Cobra press your hands into your mat and actively pull your chest forward. You might feel a bigger lift in your chest.

Same shape. Different approaches and most likely different physical experiences. And neither sent a yoga student to the ER. (Or at least I don’t think they did.)

There’s probably a larger risk of injury by not moving your body than actually moving your body. (I say probably because I’m currently too lazy to seek out a study about physical injuries to those who live sedentary lives vs those who practice yoga or other movement modalities.) For folks who do move their body through a yoga practice, running, weight lifting, bowling, gardening, whatever, there will always be some risk of injury. And your smart, resilient body is designed to adapt, heal, and inform you of when you’ve gone too far.

Please keep in mind that yoga teachers are not doctors or physical therapists. Your body is smart and resilient, and if you do get injured in your yoga practice, or injured by anything, please go visit a medical professional.

As yoga teachers, let’s be better about giving our students space to actually listen to their smart, resilient bodies without creating unnecessary fear of their bodies.

Unless the whole yoga room is flailing their bodies into Chinstand. In that case, y’all are definitely going to injure your necks. (Sarcasm doesn’t read well via text. The Chinstand remark was 98% sarcastic.) 😉