3 Essential Tips to Make Your Students Feel Secure In Yoga Class

There is a huge misconception that has led people to believe that yoga is free from the risk of injuries. As a yoga instructor, you already know that this isn’t true. Yoga demands that an individual move their body in ways that they usually do not, which means that new students are at a greater risk of incurring an injury because their body is yet not strong or flexible for the ancient practice.

Therefore, as a yoga instructor, it is your duty to pay careful attention to every single student in your class and make sure that all injury is prevented when working with new students.

As a yoga teacher, you must be aware of the effect of the environment and your behavior has on your students and how you can use both to make new students feel safe and at home. Here are some expert tips on making sure that new students feel safe in your yoga class.

Ask About Previous Experience and Injuries

• An important thing to start is by paying careful attention to individual students. You must ask the new student if they are familiar with yoga practice and what are their expectations from your class.

You must then proceed and ask them about any previous injuries they have and how they usually deal with it. This will help you determine whether you need to adjust yoga poses for this particular student and whether you should prevent them from performing certain poses until their body is ready.

• Finally, make sure to give time and confidence to the student so they can ask all their questions and concerns. Once this is done, they will feel welcome and safe in your class.

Give A Thorough Introduction Of Your Teaching Practices

• When you meet a student for the first time, take a moment to fully introduce yourself and as well as the way you teach. To do this as effectively as possible, take the student on a tour of your yoga studio and show them the changing room and the toilet facilities.

Once the tour has ended, you must tell the student about your ways of teaching so he/she knows exactly what to expect in your class. For instance, do you use opening rituals to begin your class? Do you let your students go through a small break before you begin the next lesson? Let them know everything to make them feel at ease.

Start At A Gentle Pace

• Yoga is a tough practice and for new students, it can mean a lot to learn. So instead of rushing into things, slow down and let them ease in about their environment, breath, mind and their body. This is a great way to introduce new and experienced students to your class.

Start with gentle exercises as a warm-up so that their body is ready to move into the tougher phase. Warming up before the session also prevents injuries, so it is very important to hold a warm-up session before you begin your class.

• Make sure to include a resting pose somewhere in your lesson such as a child pose. You can also do this at the beginning of your class because it helps the student get into awareness of what they are about to do.

Struggling to Manage Students?

If you feel that you are unable to make your students feel safe and secure in your classes, you could be lacking important knowledge. For this, many yoga instructors recommend taking teacher training courses at a Registered Yoga School.

No matter how experienced you are in teaching yoga, a teacher training certification such as RYT 200 (Yoga Teacher Training 200 hours), RYT 300 or 500 can help you advance your practice and help you make your students feel safe.

Wild Abundant Life is a Registered Yoga School in Illinois with some of the best yoga instructors in the continent. We have tons of yoga courses that help you become better at teaching yoga. Look at our catalog and schedule and book yourself a spot today. You can even learn many of the courses online through our online yoga courses directory.