‘Do I teach what students want or what they need?’

Do you notice that sometimes your students have the biggest resistance about what you encourage them to do in class?
 
You’ve planned this deliciously relaxing class with lots of slow movement and restorative yoga poses. Why? Because you are convinced that we all need more relaxation in our busy lives, especially in autumn and winter.

I agree with you! But your students might not : )

 
So here are 4 steps to create a class that your students need, while also giving them what they want.

1. Meet them where they are

Think of yourself when you’ve had a long day of sitting (most people with jobs spend their days this way) and go to yoga class and the teacher tells you to sit more, lay down, be still. That would create even more anxiety and restless energy.
 
So what we can do is observe if there is any restless energy in your students when they enter the room and step on their mat. One of the ways to see this, is by noticing what they do when they step on their mat before class starts: are they laying down, sitting or are they moving, fidgeting, on their phone?
 
Make sure you get them moving and breathing first. I think namaskars are a great way to do this: the repetitiveness gets them out of their head and into the body with breath & movement

2. Create a transition

Once you gave them what they wanted, you can transition to what you feel they need. Move from namaskars to a more fluid, calmer practice with lots of focus on breath.

3. Give them options

I think it’s really useful to always give them an option to choose a more intense pathway (such as a vinyasa), a middle way (downward facing dog) or rest (child’s pose) when you’re in the middle part of the practice.
 
By now in your class, most people are at least a bit more in tune with what they need and you can teach them to feel what’s best by offering them the option.

4. Create sneaky savasanas

This is where we use a little trick to make our students rest more. We use restorative yoga poses with props in order to create the same state as savasana, but with the mind thinking it’s actually still doing something interesting ; )
 
All restorative poses are meant to be as sensation-less as possible, as they're all a variation of savasana, in order for the stress mode to switch off and the relaxation mode to switch on.

If you still observe restlessness, it's ok. Either let it be or suggest that your students can observe any restlessness coming to the surface and practice contentment.

Let me know if you recognise this restlessness in your students and what your strategy is or will be.