Things I Once Said as a Yoga Teacher: Namaste

“Let’s close out practice by bowing forward and saying ‘Namaste’.”

This is a topic I’ve thought about for years. I’ve had every intention to write a thoughtful blog post about it, but, after attempting to get out a number of sentences, I typically delete everything I put out there and move onto a different, less divisive topic. We’ll see how this attempt goes.

Before I dive in, I want to highlight Susanna Barkataki in this post. As a yoga teacher and Indian woman she speaks about her personal relationship with yoga and yoga related topics, she’s an incredible resource for those who practice yoga and want to learn more than just the mechanics of Downward Facing Dog. You can read about her perspective on Namaste here.

And, again, before we go any further: Let me make it known from the jump that I don’t actually care how a yoga teacher or student decides to end their classes or practices. I do care, however, that people put some consideration into how and why they are closing out their practices in the way that they do.

The Shift

It was either 2018 or 2019 when I started to question how I ended my yoga classes. The very common Namaste just didn’t land with me anymore. I had started reading material written by South Asian yoga teachers and practitioners and I felt like it was time to investigate my use of the word. (It also caused me to investigate my entire career as a yoga teacher, but that’s another post for another time.)

Was it time to eliminate the word from my classes? How would I even end my classes if it wasn’t with Namaste? Every aspect of the classes I taught were so intentional and thought out. Shouldn’t I be intentional with how I ended my classes too?

It’s Familiar

I eventually took the leap and nixed the Namaste closing of my classes. I was initially anxious because I knew it’s what students were used to. It was the period at the end of their practice sentence and without it the space felt weird and unsettled. The students I had taught for years were used to me and all my fellow teachers signaling to them that their group practice was over with this one word. Now that familiar word was missing. How would everyone react?

Because I was insecure about this no-Namaste approach, I instantly invited students into the conversation. I recall ending classes and encouraging folks to chat with me in the lobby to discuss the topic further. For the most part students were excited to have meaningful dialogue about their practice and their familiar rituals. It was a bit of a relief to say the least.

After settling into my new way of ending class I’d periodically have a student approach me and remark, “I noticed you didn’t end your class with Namaste. Care to share why?” Conversation! Yes! Nothing brings me as much pleasure as a student getting curious about their practice and my approach to teaching.

Ultimately, just because it’s how everyone ends their class and it’s what’s most familiar just wasn’t reason enough for me to continue with Namaste. This is why I stopped closing out my classes with the word. Sure, it’s what my students were used to. But just because it was familiar wasn’t reason enough for me to continue.

As I’ve evolved as a yoga teacher I’ve become less interested in the monkey see, monkey do approach. I don’t want students to blindly follow along with my instructions without actually thinking about the choices they make in their practice. The same goes with how I end my classes. I found that students didn’t actually know the meaning of the word Namaste. I ended class with the word and, because they were being such good students, they would repeat the word back without a second thought.

If you’re a teacher or student who ends your practice with Namaste, take a moment to reflect. Are you saying the word out of habit? Does it have a sincere meaning to you that also honors the depth and history of the word?

T-Shirts With Words

I once had a studio manager who would get so annoyed every time she opened up a box of retail merchandise from the studio’s corporate offices. She’d say, “Please stop sending us t-shirts with words on them.” I understood what she meant.

Yoga is a massive industry. Beyond yoga studios and yoga classes, there’s yoga pants, yoga mats, straps to conveniently carry your yoga mat, yoga towels, yoga socks, yoga headbands, and so much more for you to easily purchase online or at your local studio. And once you get the latest and greatest of a certain product, there absolutely will be a better version in a more exciting color that will be released in a couple months and soon you’ll be that person with five of the same yoga mat. (That’s me. I am the person with same yoga mat in five colors.)

I am not innocent in any of this! I am a sucker for the latest and greatest yoga apparel. (And clearly the latest and greatest yoga mat color.)

Along with all the yoga products a yoga student might desire, all over yoga studios Namaste is plastered on t-shirts, yoga bags, and more. It’s become such a common word in popular culture that you can find manipulations of the word like “Nama-Slay” or “Nama-Stay in Bed”. The word has been co opted to sell consumers a product that tells the world “I might practice yoga, but I just really like this shirt.”

Again, it comes down to consideration. A product is being pushed to the general public without taking a moment to explain the meaning of Namaste or the importance of the word to some populations.

Definitions Gone Wild

Full disclosure: I am not a native Sanskrit reader, writer, or speaker. Other than the names of some yoga shapes and words that relate to the practice of yoga, I actually know very little Sanskrit. I have learned from some incredible teachers with vast knowledge of the language, but my general understanding of Sanskrit is quite limited. Now perhaps my limited knowledge should discredit my take on words like Namaste. I’ll let you be the judge.

I’m fairly certain the first time the word was defined for me I was told Namaste meant the light in me sees and respects the light in you. I recall hearing this breakdown of the word and thinking, “Wow! What a special, deep word! Of course I would want to end my yoga classes with this word!”

Not that the definition I was given was wholly incorrect. But there might be a tiny bit of flourishment going on there.

Namaste, when used by folks in regions of Asia, is actually used as a greeting and not a farewell. And not just any greeting. It’s a greeting that reflects respect and praise towards the recipient. Now this is a massive generalization. Not all people on the continent of Asia use the word Namaste. And those who use Namaste in their everyday vernacular might use it beyond a greeting toward a person they respect. However, based on lectures I’ve participated in and conversations I’ve had with folks from South Asia, the placement of Namaste at the end of your average, drop-in yoga class just doesn’t feel in line with how I have chosen to conduct my yoga classes.

Alternatives to Namaste

So you’ve decided to consider alternatives to Namaste, but you’re unsure how to proceed? I’ve got some suggestions!

A Breath

Considering many yoga practices are grounded in breath awareness and connection to breath, I have found that inviting a class to take a final breath together as a group is a lovely way to close out a practice. Everyone can come to a comfortable seat, take a full breath in, and a full breath out.

After the breath I invite students to move on with their day when they feel ready to do so.

A Reflection

I sometimes finish practice by inviting students to take a moment to pause and reflect upon how they’re feeling in the final moments of their practice. How does your body feel? How does your mind feel? I encourage folks to take those feelings with them into their rest of their day. It’s a way to invite students to bring their yoga practice into their everyday life.

An Acknowledgement.

I end a lot of my classes with the following:

As a gesture of gratitude toward the practice and the circumstances that allowed all of us to be here, you might lift your thumbs to your brow and close out our time together with a bow forward.

I use this closing for a number of reasons:

• It shows appreciation for the practice of yoga. Ultimately, I think that’s what many who use the word Namaste to end a practice are communicating. I just choose to express that gratitude in a different way.

• It acknowledges that there’s more to showing up for a practice than moving the physical body through shapes. It takes time, resources, discipline, focus, and humility to show up for a yoga practice.

• It speaks to the shared time and space that comes with a group practice. I see importance in highlighting the energy that is create in a group yoga practice.

• The bow forward, I have found, provides students with one more synchronized movement and a signal that our time in our group yoga class has now concluded.

Choose Your Own Adventure

One of the best things to come out of my removal of Namaste is the space it creates for students to end their practice in way that feels right for them. I still hear students end their practice with Namaste and that’s great! I have a number of students who close out their practice with Thank you. There’s a few who say a prayer or whisper the word Amen. Many close out their practice in silence, however, I’m sure there’s something personal that they hold within their mind.

Without the closing being dictated by a teacher, it’s been beautiful to hear and see how students choose to end their practice. It is their practice after all. It should be concluded in a way of their choosing.

To wrap up this long, rambling post, I hope - if you made it to the end of this blabbering - you find yourself thinking about how and why you end your yoga practices in the way in which you do. Your yoga practice is something you can explore and investigate. Let the closing to your practice be a part of that exploration.

Things I Once Said as a Yoga Teacher: Flex Your Ankle to Protect Your Knee

In Half Pigeon, flex your front ankle to protect your knee.

Initially I was going to do one general post on the use of the word protect in yoga classes, but I figured there’s more value in speaking to specifics rather than generalizing for the whole practice.

Early on in my teaching days I would tell students to flex - more specifically dorsiflex - the ankle of their front leg in order to protect the knee of the front leg.

Was this a cue that could harm a student? Definitely no.

Could some students benefit from this cue? Absolutely yes.

I am actually someone who benefits from dorsiflexion in the front ankle in Half Pigeon due to knee sensitivity. It just feels better in my body. But is the action of flexing my ankle protecting my knee? No. No it is not.

Protect is a curious word in yoga spaces.

I wear a helmet when riding my bike to protect my noggin. I click on my seatbelt in the car to protect me in case of a car crash. I definitely should have worn knee pads to protect my knees that one day I tripped on the sidewalk in my neighborhood while roller skating.

In life we take precautions and make choices to protect us from potentially harmful scenarios. Our yoga practice doesn’t have to be a scary situation where our body is always at the brink of shattering into a million pieces.

By no means do I think everyone is free from harm and injury in a yoga practice. Most of my own injuries are from my years of practicing yoga! But the choices I make in my yoga practice should be determined by my experience in the shapes and not determined by alarmist language like protect.

Now, going back to Half Pigeon.

There’s plenty of yoga practices that invite students to relax the front ankle. Sleeping Swan is Yin Yoga’s version of Half Pigeon and the shape involves zero engagement of the legs which means the front ankle is relaxed. The knees of the Yin Yoga practitioners that I know seem to be doing okay.

Personally, when I teach Half Pigeon, I typically encourage students to engage their front leg by dorsiflexing the front ankle, pressing the front shin slightly down, and hugging the inner hips towards each other. I’m not encouraging students to engage the muscles of their legs to protect their body. I teach the shape this way because my approach to teaching almost always involves specific physical engagements throughout the body as a tool to keep the mind focused.

Next time you find yourself in Half Pigeon, rather than going on autopilot, play with how you set up your front ankle and consider what feels best for you in that moment.

Things I Once Said as a Yoga Teacher: Rest in Child's Pose

The first 200-Hour Teacher Training I ever went through was all about learning how to get students into shapes in a straight forward, efficient manner. Although it had areas for improvement, almost 15 years later I still think it was the best way for me to dive right in and get comfortable with teaching yoga classes.

I was taught to teach a set sequence. My appreciation for memorization loved this approach. I found myself getting more and more confident in my skills as the weeks passed because I was a pro at following rules.

This sequence had students begin in Extended Child’s Pose - Balasana. In training we were encouraged to remind students that they could always return to Child’s Pose whenever they felt like they needed to rest or catch their breath. Being the good rule-follower that I am, for probably the first 4+ years of teaching yoga I started every single one of my yoga classes in Child’s Pose and probably mentioned something about how Child’s Pose could be their resting shape throughout practice. I did this because this is what I was told to do and it’s really all I knew.

But, here’s the thing, I don’t really like how Child’s Pose feels when I do it in my own body. Especially when I start a practice in the shape. It’s rare that the shape feels restful or comforting to me unless I use blankets or a bolster to rest my abdomen and chest.

With time I started taking yoga classes that started in Down Dog, Table Table, and various reclined shapes. I found that I enjoyed those practices much more than when I started a practice in Child’s Pose. I also found that without the usual “you can rest in Child’s Pose” prompt from my teachers, I would find a more natural resting position when I felt like I needed to take a breather.

If you love Child’s Pose and you use it as your place to pause, great! Continue to make it your go-to resting shape!

If you’re more lukewarm on the shape, consider these other options:

• Sit on your shins - Hero’s Pose

• Cross your legs and sit on your mat or a block - Easy Pose

• Lay on your back - Savasana or Constructive Rest

• Lay on your belly - Crocodile Pose

• Lay on your side - Fetal Pose

• Stand up - Mountain Pose

There’s many ways to rest in your yoga practice. It’s okay if it’s not Child’s Pose.

Things I Once Said as a Yoga Teacher: Twist Only From Your Spine

In Prayer Twist do not let your knees or hips move. Keep your knees in one straight line and only twist from your spine.

No wonder so many people have developed a distaste for twisting yoga shapes! For years yoga teachers like me were telling students to fix their pelvis in place and isolate the twist exclusively to their spine.

Is there anything wrong with isolating a twist to the spine?

No!

Should we fix the pelvis in space always and forever when doing twisting shapes?

Probably not.

I remember working on Revolved Triangle with my teacher and instantly groaning. I do not enjoy the shape at all. There’s no sense of ease when I do the shape and do not ask me to take full breaths. I am simply praying that I only have to be in the shape for a few seconds. However, everything changed when I was told to let my hips move a little bit in the direction of the twist.

What? Excuse me? Did you encourage me to move my hips while twisting?

Sometimes in a yoga practice we unintentionally put parts of the body into their own compartments.

Twisting yoga shapes are all about the spine, right? Then that’s where we should isolate the movement, right?

Not exactly.

Your body is made up of many parts and all of those parts are somehow connected.

Asking your pelvis to stay in one fixed position while moving into a twisting shape disregards that the pelvis and spine are connected. It’s like twisting the head off a daisy and expecting the stalk of the flower to stay in one place. The two parts have a relationship and that should be considered when exploring twisting shapes.

So, next time you find yourself in Revolved Triangle and you’re twisting to the right, play with allowing your left hip to move slightly forward in space. How’s it feel? How’s your breath? Does it feel like something you could stay in for more than a few seconds?

Things I Once Said as a Yoga Teacher: Hip & Shoulders Face the Same Direction

In Warrior II, turn your hips and shoulders to face the long edge of your yoga mat.

The farther I dive into this series of reflection the more I realize I used to teach with very definitive, black and white cues and that makes total sense! Over a decade ago I was still early in my career and developing my craft. I’m assuming that with most occupations it takes time to develop skill and acknowledge nuance. Teaching a yoga class is no different.

If you’ve been practicing yoga for a while there’s a good chance you’ve been told - and maybe you’re still being told - to turn your hips and shoulders to face the long edge of your mat in Warrior II. Not that this guidance isn’t correct, but how does it feel in your body when you follow that cue?

This is one of those cues that students often ask me about. They think they’re doing Warrior II wrong since they’re unable to actually get their hips and shoulders to face the long edge of their mat without experiencing pain or discomfort. For me, when I turn my hips to face the long edge of my mat, my back hip feels like it’s being restricted and my front knee caves inward. It’s a directive that doesn’t feel sustainable in my body and maybe it’s the same for you.

My recommendation for those experimenting with their Warrior II, allow your hips to face a direction that feels strong and sustainable for you. Especially if your back foot is turned slighting forward, let both of your hip points turn slightly toward the front edge of your yoga mat.

Your shoulders, on the other hand, can easily face the long edge of your mat. Since your upper body isn’t tethered to the floor, like your feet and legs are in the shape, you have more freedom to turn your shoulders and chest away from your front knee.

Keep in mind that all bodies are different. You might find that turning your hips to face the long edge of your mat is the most comfortable and sustainable way for you to set up your Warrior II. It’s important to give yourself space and grace to feel the shape in your own body and perhaps the alignment that works for you now won’t be the alignment that works for your in 10, 20, 30 years.

Things I Once Said as a Yoga Teacher: Snakes Don't Have Hands

In Cobra Pose do not use your hands. Snakes do not have hands.

I can vividly remember being told by the teacher of a Bikram-style, Hot Yoga class that snakes do not have hands so I should not be using my hands when lifting into the shape. That cue was burned into my brain and I eventually found myself using the cue when guiding my own classes.

Yes, it is true. Snakes do not have hands. Cobra Pose is meant to emulate the scaled reptile, yes? So why would one use their hands when coming up into the backbend?

By no means am I saying you have to use your hands in Cobra Pose. I just find the cue about snakes kind of silly. It’s a well-intentioned cue that doesn’t actually inform students as to why they wouldn’t use their hands in the shape.

Don’t Use Your Hands

When you do not use your hands to lift up into Cobra Pose you might find that you’re utilizing more of your paraspinal and upper back muscles to peel your chest away for the floor. For some, this is a tricky area to physically activate and inviting people to not use their hands can be an awesome way to encourage people to recruit those muscle groups.

Use Your Hands

I don’t typically encourage students to instantly push down into their hands to get their chest up in Cobra Pose because it often turns into a pseudo-Upward Facing Dog. However, I regularly encourage students to use their hands to traction their chest forward. Rather than just pushing down, in the shape you can create the action of dragging your hands back in order to pull the chest forward.

Do Both!

At the time of this blog entry I am currently teaching this exact approach and it seems to be reasonating with a lot of students.

I initially have students lift up into Cobra Pose without using their hands to help activate their backside muscles. Then, once they’re up for a breath, I have them use their hands to press down and pull the chest forward into a more lifted, leveraged version of the shape.

Try it on!

I see value in all of the approaches. For me, the intention and reasoning behind the approach is more valuable than the shape itself.

Things I Once Said as a Yoga Teacher: Shin Parallel to the Front of Mat

In Half Pigeon, move your front shin forward so that it is parallel to the front edge of your mat.

To this day, this is one of the most common cues students ask me about.

Student: But what if I can’t get my shin parallel to the front of my mat?

Me: Don’t worry about it.

Student: What? I hear that cue in classes all the time!

It’s just not a cue that is helpful for most populations.

Many yoga teachers, including myself, would tell students to move their shin forward in Half Pigeon like it was the easiest thing in the world to do. You know, just shimmy your shin forward. Piece of cake!

I would push my body into all sorts of shapes early on in my days of practicing yoga, and this was one of those things that I just wouldn’t let go. The teacher said parallel! You better believe I’m going to get my shin parallel!

I would force my body into angles it just wasn’t meant to find and I paid the price for it. I suffered from terrible knee pain and found myself sweating profusely from the stress I was causing my body. It just wasn’t worth it.

Besides, even while trying to get my shin parallel to the front of my mat, I never experienced the stretch teachers were telling me I was going to feel. All the feels were going to my front knee. Not my outer hip.

As with most of the cues I used early on in my yoga teaching days, I learned and then tried to do better.

Turns out getting your shin parallel to the front edge of your mat is not something most people need to strive for. When you’re in Half Pigeon, consider playing with the angle of your front knee. Some bodies need a larger angle and some need a more narrow angle. Some bodies benefit from placing a block under the sitting bone of their front leg. And many bodies benefit from taking an entirely different shape.

In a lot of yoga practices Half Pigeon is placed in a sequence as a shape to create a stretch sensation in the outer hips. Rather than hyper-fixating on the front shin, why not experiment and find a placement that allows you to experience a stretch in your outer hip?

Things I Once Said as a Yoga Teacher: Ground Your Sitting Bones

In your Seated Forward Fold, ground down through your sitting bones.

When I was in my 300-Hour Teacher Training in 2017 my teacher advised us on safe and effective ways to give hands on, manual assists in yoga shapes. His philosophy is Ground the thing that needs grounding. With that approach a teacher needs to understand which part of the body is grounded in a specific shape prior to helping a student ground that part of their body.

I can vividly recall him assisting one of my peers in Janu Sirsasana - Head to Knee Forward Bend. He was actively grounding the the thigh of the person’s extended leg and it totally blew my mind! For so long I had been taught to assist that shape in very different ways, and his minimal pressure on the person’s extended leg seemed to provide them with substantially more space to fold into the shape.

He wasn’t grounding the person’s sitting bones. He wasn’t actively pressing the person’s torso further toward their extended leg. He was simply grounding the part of the body that is grounded.

Learning about ways to effectively assist a student in a seated fold exposed to me that I had misunderstood the mechanics of seated folded shapes. For a very long time I was telling students to ground their sitting bones in seated forward folds, but that’s not actually the region of the body you want to ground. Instead, you want to ground your thigh bones in seated folds.

If your sitting bones are grounded you’re limiting your pelvis’s ability to rock forward over your thigh bones which is the primary action of the lower body in a forward folding shape. By grounding the thigh bones you’re allowing the pelvis to move forward over the thigh bones and you might find that you can fold with more ease and depth.

Even if you approach seated folds with bent knees you can still create the sensation of grounding the thigh bones. Maybe your thigh bones will never touch your mat, but you can place a prop under your thighs or even think of moving your thigh bones toward your yoga mat which will still allow your pelvis to rotate forward over your thigh bones.

Things I Once Said as a Yoga Teacher: Tuck Your Pelvis

To tuck the pelvis or to untuck the pelvis? That is the question.

First, before we go any further, I want to make it clear that I currently invite students to tuck their pelvis up and under their ribs in a number of yoga shapes. However, this post is specifically about Chair Pose.

Ah. The dreaded Chair Pose. Often up their in many yoga students’ least favorite yoga shape.

I, personally, think the shape gets a bad wrap. And I believe that bad wrap is partially because people have no idea what to do with their pelvis in the shape.

For a very long time I’d tell students to sit low in their Chair Pose, rock their weight into their heels, and tuck their pelvis under to minimize overarching in the lower back.

Yoga Teacher Erin of 2023 looks at the shape quite differently.

Your Spine Has Curves

Here’s a little something to note about your spine: It naturally has curves. Most people have four primary curvatures in their spine - cervical, thoracic, lumbar, and sacral. Some people have more defined curves than others. In yoga there might be times where you want to increase or decrease different curves of the spine depending on the shape you’re exploring.

I would regularly tell students to tuck their pelvis in Chair Pose in order to decrease the natural curve of the lumbar spine. Why, you ask? I have no idea. It’s just a cue I memorized early on in my teaching career.

You Might Tuck & You Might Untuck

These days I find that I don’t really point out if the pelvis is tucked or untucked in Chair Pose. I think there’s more interesting areas to focus on and I find that students can settle into a version of the shape that feels best for their pelvis and lower back.

Like all yoga shapes, I see value in playing with various positions to find your personal sweet spot. And you might even find that that sweet spot changes over time.

It Depends

Again, in my current teaching phase I find that I don’t talk much about the position of the pelvis in Chair Pose. However, I could see value in specifically speaking to the pelvis depending on the focus of a specific practice.

Say you’re taking a class that is mainly focused on forward folding shapes. In most forward folding shapes your pelvis rolls forward over your thigh bones. So if you’re doing many rounds of Chair Pose you might play with a pelvis that is tilted forward - an untucked pelvis if you will - to accentuate that specific movement of the pelvis and lower spine.

Perhaps your practice is mainly about backbending shapes. In most backbends your pelvis rotates back over the thigh bones - a tucked pelvis. In that case you might highlight drawing the frontal hip points up toward the lower ribs in Chair Pose to experience the pelvic movement that you might explore in a backbend.

Ultimately none of these are hard and fast rules. Bodies are complex. One specific yoga shape can have some variety. Next time you find yourself in Chair Pose, play around and see what feels best in your body.

Things I Once Said as a Yoga Teacher: Avoid Your Knee

Let’s move into Tree Pose. Place your foot on the inside of your opposite leg above or below your knee. AVOID DIRECT CONTACT WITH YOUR KNEE!

For a very long time I was taught to avoid placing my lifted foot on my knee in Tree Pose. Because it was what all my teachers were saying, I would tell my students the same thing. I would clearly give students options on where they could place their foot and specifically tell them where to not place their foot because…. well I didn’t actually know why I was saying it!

The more I dive into this series the more I realize yoga teachers are very concerned about their students’ knees. What’s up with the knees? Why are they so fragile?

Turns out your knees actually aren’t all that fragile. Your knees are actually built to withstand a lot of weight and a fair amount of movement.

Sure, knee injuries are relatively common amongst all humans. People tear various ligaments in their knees for various reasons. Sometimes it’s an athlete who has experienced far too many collisions with other athletes or falls to the ground resulting in an ACL tear. Sometimes it’s a parent who stepped on their kid’s toy, caught themselves in a weird way, and now they’re scheduled for a meniscus repair. Knee injuries happen all the time!

The placement of one’s foot on the inside of their leg is not going to cause harm or damage to one’s knee.

Of course, if you have an existing knee injury, especially around the inside of your knee, you might have good reason to not place direct pressure on the inside of your knee. But is it something EVERYONE has to avoid? Nope.

So, go for it. Get wild! The next time you do Tree Pose, place your foot wherever you want! Just don’t be surprised if a teacher tells you to not do that.

Things I Once Said as a Yoga Teacher: Draw Your Shoulder Blades Down

If I could pinpoint one cue that needs to retire for the rest of eternity it would be this one.

Raise your hand if you’ve been told by a yoga teacher to draw your shoulder blades down in a shape like Mountain Pose with the arms overhead or Warrior I?

I can only imagine anyone reading this is literally raising their hand or at least thinking about raising their hand.

Now, if you’re raising your hand as high as you can, is your shoulder blade naturally lifting upward toward your ear or naturally being pulled down toward your hip?

How about when you reach for your favorite seasoning on the top shelf of your kitchen cabinet. When you reach for the seasoning, is your shoulder blade lifting up or naturally being pulled down?

Yoga is special. But yoga is not so special that it constantly goes out of its way to move your body out of its naturally occurring movement patterns.

When your arms move into an overhead position for shapes like Mountain Pose, Warrior I, Handstand, and Wheel Pose, naturally your shoulder blades elevate and laterally rotate. That’s a fancy way of saying that they lift slightly upward and wrap a little bit forward on your rib cage.

So why did I say “Draw your shoulder blades down” and “Relax your shoulders away from your ears” for YEARS in shapes where the arms are overhead? Because I didn’t know any better.

So why does the cue even exist and why is it still mentioned in yoga classes? I have a few theories:

The People are Always Hunched Forward Theory

I once had a fellow yoga teacher get pretty spicy with me when we were having a conversation about shoulder mechanics. They said, “Everyone is always hunched over and their upper back is always rounded. It’s important to always draw the shoulder blades down to combat the rounding.”

Sure. It is important to help folks move in ways that don’t involve hunching forward. But why don’t we highlight shapes like Locust and Cobra as shapes to actually engage the upper back and draw the shoulder blades together? Notice, Locust and Cobra are not shapes where the arms are overhead.

The A Portion of the Shoulder Blade is Lowering Theory

Technically when the arms are moving into an overhead position there is a portion of the shoulder blade that is lowering. The outer border of the shoulder blade elevates and wraps forward on the ribcage while the inner border lowers slightly downward.

For me, this is pretty technical and detailed. Even though I love to get real nerdy about anatomy and movement, in your average drop-in yoga class it feels like too much to tell people to slightly lower the inner border of the shoulder blades when they lift their arms into Warrior I.

Perhaps the lowering of the shoulder blades stemmed from a bad game of telephone. One teacher said, “Lower the inner border of your shoulder blade” and it eventually turned into “Actively and aggressively draw your shoulder blades down and together.”. (Remember, folks, sarcasm does not read well in written form.)

Is it worthwhile to draw your shoulder blades down? YES!

But it’s best to be done in shapes where the arms are at shoulder-height or lower.

It is remarkable for me to stand in the back of a yoga room and see so many people lift their arms overhead and then instantly draw their shoulder blades down. This is a taught movement pattern. We just typcially don’t do it naturally without putting in some effort.

Before I wrap up a post that has made me feel extra fiery, I want to mention one more important thing. If you’re working with a physical therapist and they have told you to actively draw your shoulder blades down when your arms are overhead then PLEASE listen to them! I am just a yoga and movement teacher and your highly skilled PT is giving you advice that is specific to you and your ailment, injury, etc. The general population in a group yoga class, however, does not need to be told to pull their shoulder blades down when they’re reaching upward.

Things I Once Said as a Yoga Teacher: Two Panes of Glass

In Triangle Pose turn your top hip away from the floor. Think of placing your body between two panes of glass. The shoulders and hips should be stacked.

If I could do one yoga shape for the rest of my life it would probably be Triangle Pose.

But I didn’t always feel that way. I used to hate the shape so much. It felt terrible in my body.

That was until I actually found an approach to the shape that felt sustainable for my body.

Turns out the whole two panes of glass thing was what was making the shape feel awful for me. My top hip did not want to turn away from the floor and my lower back got really cranky when I tried to do so.

After expanding my studies and training with folks who thought more critically about the practice, I found out that actually turning the top hip down a bit in Triangle Pose was the best approach for me. My lower back and sacrum were no longer angry and I could breathe well in the shape. This adjustment helped me fall in love with the shape.

I have no desire to offend anyone who does teach the rolling of the top hip away from the floor in Triangle Pose. As with all shapes, there’s many ways to approach alignment. In some styles of yoga the movement of the top hip is highlighted. In other styles of yoga the movement of the bottom hip might get more attention. Personally, I prefer the latter and it seems to land with a lot of the students I work with.

Next time you do Triangle pose, rather than obsessing over the angle and location of your top hip, play with drawing the bottom hip and sitting bone back toward your back heel. Notice if anything changes.

Regardless of how you approach Triangle Pose, I think we can all agree humans are three-dimensional creatures and we don’t need to be squeezing ourselves between two panes of glass.

Things I Once Said as a Yoga Teacher: Anything Food Related

This is a tough one for me to recollect.

Not tough in the sense that I don’t remember it well. Tough as in I am frustrated with my former self for saying such dumb stuff.

In my first few months of teaching yoga I decided to completely change how I had been eating. A lot of my colleagues were vegetarians and I decided I should follow suite. I mean, I’m a yoga teacher, right? I can’t harm animals which means I shouldn’t eat them. Or so I had convinced myself.

The vegetarianism only lasted for a year or so, if even that. But my new view on food took on a new shape. I started becoming too concerned with how I looked in the yoga studio mirrors and became overly concerned with foods that were “good” and foods that were “bad”.

To make matters worse I found myself feeding into the stories students were telling themselves about their own body image.

Regularly students would walk into the studio on a Monday morning saying things like, “I was so bad this weekend! I ate and drank everything! Make class extra hard today so that I can work it off.” Resoundly I would respond, “You and me both! We’ll work it off together!”

The build up to Thanksgiving and the end of year holidays were the worst.

“Earn that extra slice of pie!”

“Sweat out those calories!”

Or as we inched closer to Spring Break, “Let’s get back those bikini bodies!”

I am utterly ashamed by the things I once said and I owe everyone who ever attended any of those classes a deep apology.

I also owe Erin from her mid to late 20’s an apology. I was brutal on myself and it was probably manifesting in my classes.

I am sorry.

Toxic diet and fitness culture has no place in a yoga practice. It just doesn’t.

Sure, if you’re interested in something like Ayurveda and are working with a skilled coach then feel free to explore that path. But your average group yoga teacher should not be dishing out diet or nutrition advice.

I’ve written about this on multiple occasions, but yoga teachers have a tremendous influence on the people in their classes. Please don’t feed into a students’ grumbles about the foods they ate, don’t comment on your own body and the changes you want to make, and definitely leave out any sermons about earning food or working towards that beach body in your classes.

I think we can all agree that a body on the beach is a beach body and a body wearing a bikini is a bikini body. Period.

Things I Once Said as a Yoga Teacher: Relax Your Glutes

At the ripe age of 37 I am a little surprised by how much enjoyment I get out of strengthening and engaging my glutes. Intentionally working my backside has done wonders for me! Gone are the days of sporadic back pain. Gone are the days of severe pain in my hamstrings from years of constantly hanging out in my forward folds. At least it’s gone for now.

I wish I knew, back in the day, the power of glute activation.

For a very long time I used to encourage students to relax their glutes in Bridge Pose.

As you lift your hips, relax your glutes.

Why did I say that for so long?

Because that’s what all the teachers around me were saying!

And many of them would add something about harming your SI (sacroiliac joint) if you did engage your glutes. Since I had no intention to hurt my students, you better believe I told my students to let their butt muscles soften while they lifted their hips into Bridge.

With time I studied more anatomy, biomechanics, and physiology and learned that my cue was pretty misinformed.

Let’s think about it. The action of lifting your hips typically involves the engagement of your gluteus maximus, abductors, and your hamstrings. Depending on how you explore the shape, there’s a chance you’re recruiting your hamstrings more than your glutes, but it’s not like the glutes are totally inactive in the shape.

And will you absolutely destroy your SI joint if you engage your glutes?

Nah!

Unless you have an existing SI joint or some other lower back/pelvis injury or limitation, the chances of you blowing up your SI joint when you engage your butt muscles in Bridge Pose is pretty much nill.

Now if you are still a little uncertain about engaging your backside in Bridge Pose or if it just doesn’t feel right in your body, you might approach the shape in a different way. Rather than just squeezing your butt as you jam your pelvis toward the ceiling, consider drawing your frontal hip bones toward your lower ribs at the top of your Bridge Pose and strongly press your feet down into the floor.

Give it a shot! Especially if you’ve always relaxed your glutes in Bridge Pose, let me know how it feels to engage your glutes in the shape.

Side note: My physical therapy friends often tell me they’ll forever have a job because majority of the general population doesn’t know how to effectively engage their glutes. So there’s actually a really good chance you’re not really engaging your glutes in Bridge Pose all that much even when you try. But you definitely don’t have to go out of your way to relax your glutes.

Things I Once Said as a Yoga Teacher: You Might Feel Emotional

I distinctly remember the first time I had a big emotional event in my personal yoga practice.

It was in a Sunday evening class that I took regularly. The room was intentionally kept dim and the studio was outlined with battery-powered tea lights. I loved this class. It was the self-care I needed at that time in my life when I was bartending for long hours and trying to keep my head above water in school.

The teacher took us through Sasangasana, Rabbit Pose, and I believe it was the first time I had ever experienced the shape. For those who are unfamiliar with Rabbit, I often call this shape Unsatisfying Summersault Pose. Your body is tightly coiled into itself while you lift your hips and hold onto your heels for dear life. As I came out of my first Rabbit Pose I felt a huge rush come over my body and I started to sob. I remember thinking, Thank goodness the lights are low and the sweat is disguising my tears.

Is is normal to feel emotional after a shape? Yes!

Will all people feel the same emotion while in or coming out of a shape? Heck no!

For the first few years of my teaching career I recall telling students that once they came out of Camel Pose (or really any backbend) that they might feel a rush of emotions. I didn’t know why I was saying it considering it’s not something I had experienced in my own practice. It was most likely another scenario where I was simply repeating the words my teachers at the time were sharing in their classes.

Sure, we could go further into the Chakra system and discuss how backbending shapes could maybe have a connection to the Anahata Chakra, the one associated with the heart. Or we could consider how shapes like Camel cause people to move backward in a space, a direction we’re typically not accustomed to.

At this point in my teaching career, I don’t see value in telling students which emotions they might feel when exiting a shape. I invite students to experience their practice however they’re experiencing it without me inputting my two cents. And, if a student approaches me about big emotions they had in or after a shape, I think it’s important to validate their experience.

For me, my big emotional moment came after a shape that is pretty much the physical opposite of Camel. Emotions can happen in and after any shape! And you may not feel any big emotions during your practice and that’s okay too!

Was it Rabbit Pose that released the emotions for me? Or was it the fact that I was battling depression, unsure if my antidepressants were working properly, and managing a schedule of working until 3am and going to class at 8am? I’ll let you be the judge of that.

Regardless of what caused it, if Rabbit Pose wasn’t going to shake loose some emotions, I’m sure all those emotions that were stored in my hips were sure to be released in my next Half Pigeon Pose. (Sarcasm doesn’t always translate via written word. That was very much sarcastic.)

Things I Once Said as a Yoga Teacher: Knee Beyond Toes

In Warrior II, stack your front knee directly over your front ankle. Do not let your knee press beyond your toes.

I cannot imagine how many times I gave that direction in my first 10 years of teaching yoga. Like so many cues that I offered in my early years of teaching, I was simply repeating the things I heard from other teachers without actually understanding what I was saying.

The stacking of the front knee over the front ankle is actually a worthwhile cue for most students. Biomechanically a joint at a 90 degree ankle is quite stable. It’s the additional warning about the knee moving beyond the toes that isn’t worthwhile.

Like a lot of cues I once used and now reconsider, yoga teachers (myself included) have a tendency to harp on what not to do in a yoga shape. I fully understand that yoga teachers want to keep their students safe and simply offer cautions when deemed necessary. In my opinion and experience, pressing your knee beyond your toes isn’t something to be too concerned with in regards to the safety of the front knee. It’s actually good to allow your joints to move through various angle degrees.

If a student’s stance is simply too short and that’s causing their knee to go beyond their toes, then there’s a more beneficial conversation to have. For many students getting the front foot forward to setup a Warrior II stance is challenging. Rather than focusing on the stack of the front knee over the front ankle, yoga teachers, we should give our students the tools to step their foot forward far enough. Things like assisting the foot forward with their hand or stepping the foot forward from Table Top rather than Downward Facing Dog could do wonders for a student. Or, perhaps even more helpful, bring your students to standing, help them organize their feet in a Warrior II stance and then support them to find an angle in their front knee that feels strong and stable within their own body.

Again, stack your front knee over your front ankle is a fine instruction. And, especially if a student has a history of knee pain or injuries, it’s a cue worth offering. However, if you’re prone to adding the caution of the front knee pressing beyond the toes, know why you’re offering up that advice.

Things I Once Said as a Yoga Teacher: A Series

I regularly think about my early days as a yoga teacher. I was bright-eyed and so eager to teach any and every class I could. I’m glad I put myself out there. I had a lot of opportunities to teach in various spaces and connect with people from all over the Twin Cities. Not that I’d necessarily recommend it to everyone, but it was a bit of a baptism by fire scenario.

In my early days of teaching I had to be humble and open to feedback. For instance, I will never forget the day a student corrected me on my pronunciation of Adho Mukha Svanasana (Sanskrit for Downward Facing Dog). Turns out Svanasana and Savasana are pronounced very differently! I was green and it was clear to those in my classes that I was really only playing the part of the yoga teacher.

Although I stumbled a bit in my first few years of teaching, I’m grateful I didn’t settle for just playing the part of the yoga teacher. I started to take my practice and career more seriously. I traveled when I could to study with other teachers. In 2012 I participated in the Yoga Journal Conference in NYC and was introduced to the person who would eventually become my go-to teacher and mentor.

Change is hard and change is necessary.

Through my many years of teaching and studying yoga, I have learned a lot and, more importantly, have had my thoughts and beliefs challenged. It can be a hard pill to swallow when you learn that instructions you’ve been giving students for years aren’t biomechanically sound. And rather than getting defensive, I found myself being open minded and eager to just keep learning more.

So that’s where this blog series comes into play.

I’m a sucker for nostalgia and decided to use my past experience as a yoga teacher to highlight areas of the yoga practice where many yoga teachers (myself included) have been misguided or straight up incorrect.

I have zero intentions of shaming anyone. I’m choosing to share this information because change, evolution, and the drive to continue to learn is essential. And I’ll be sharing things that I once said and taught myself! Some of it I shared for over a decade!

Because research and data about the moving body is constantly changing, who knows. I just might find that things I share and teach currently are inaccurate. And that’s great! As an open minded student there’s value in acknowledging our errors and misunderstandings and then examining new information that is available.

I’d love for you to join me in this series and I hope you get some entertainment out of the things a slightly misguided Erin shared in her yoga classes.

If you’re on Instagram, be sure to give me a follow. I’ll be creating Reels that accompany my blog posts.