Friday Q&A: This Class May Not Be Good for You!

Fir Forest by Gustave Klimt

A reader left this question on our post What Your Yoga Teacher Really Wants to Know:

Q: What if you're a fairly new teacher and someone shares something of the above with you but you don't really feel confident in providing a modification. Like you think, "Yikes! was it x posture or y pose that someone with her condition shouldn't do?" Or "Gosh, I can't remember which poses are contraindicated for that condition!" Have you ever told a student he/she couldn't participate after hearing something they're dealing with?

A: As many of my recent teacher training graduates tell me, this situation comes up all the time for new teachers, or teachers who have not been trained to work therapeutically with problems their students may have. And although there is no one answer on how to address such a dilemma, several responses come to mind, all of which I have used when I was a newer teacher. 

First off, you can be quite honest with your student and explain that you are not well versed in their particular issue but that they can certainly take your class that day if they feel comfortable listening to their own body’s feedback and backing up when they, the student, feel they need to. This does not guarantee that your student will not still get into some troubles, but you are at least honestly letting them know your limitations and openness to them being in class. 

Some students actually have been working with their health conditions and yoga already, so it is worth asking for them to briefly share with you what they know about their condition. Has their healthcare team given them any physical restrictions to observe? Have they been told by other yoga teachers how to modify for their condition? The new teacher then gets an on-the-spot tutorial, and may feel much more willing to have the student participate in the day’s class! 

A new teacher could also tell the student they don’t know specifically what to offer them today but then propose to look up the condition and have some options available in class next time or for a private session (if you are comfortable doing privates). Also, you could encourage them to skip class today and return on a date when you think you will have the needed info, just to be on the safe side. It’s not a bad idea to reiterate that you are most interested in giving them as safe and beneficial an experience as possible in class! 

Then, there is the rare instance when someone shows up for class with a serious issue you don’t know much about, for example, a serious neck issue, while you do know that the class you will be teaching that day includes several poses that will likely be inappropriate for them, such as poses in which students would be bearing weight on their necks. I think that if modifying the entire practice for the student is beyond your budding skills, in these truly infrequent situations, it is proper to state that the class you are about to teach is really not safe for them to do today, ask them to stop up front for a refund, and, if possible, recommend another class for them to try or give them an opportunity to meet for an individual session if you feel you can get some helpful information together to share with them. 

In some cases, it may be the particular style or level of yoga that you are teaching is not appropriate for a person with certain challenges. For example, lets say you are teaching a relatively athletic class and the student has a condition that you don’t know how to accommodate, like acute recovery from heart attack, Fibromyalgia, or Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, to pick just three from our lists in What Your Yoga Teacher Really Wants to Know, you will be doing them a favor if you let them know that your class really isn’t really the best one for them. (Some people have been told that yoga will be beneficial for their condition and then head off to their nearest class, without ever having received an explanation of the different types yoga and which kinds are suitable for someone with their particular needs.) 

I am sure there are other scenarios that may allow the new teacher, in the most transparent and compassionate way possible, to navigate this inevitable situation. If you have had a similar experience and want to share what worked for you as a teacher, or what worked well for you as the student on the other side of this situation, please leave a comment or send an email.

—Baxter

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