I’ve been teaching a drop-in class at a local yoga studio for the better part of a year now. It’s not a big commitment on paper—one class, once a week—but something profound has begun to unfold. A handful of students have shown up semi-regularly, two or three times a month, which means I’ve been able to witness them not as static bodies in poses, but as living, evolving beings in practice.
This is the heart of yoga teaching: not delivering classes, but witnessing transformation. And that witnessing requires listening—not just with ears, but with the whole body.
Most yoga teachers are trained to teach postures, deliver alignment cues, and sequence classes. But few are taught how to truly see their students. Even fewer are taught how to track students over time—how to tune into subtle shifts in their energy, their movement patterns, their relational field.
Yet this is where the art of teaching begins to deepen.
When we consistently engage with students over time, something intimate and precious unfolds. We begin to see the arc of their practice not as a one-off performance, but as a trajectory. We see how they respond to teachings. We see what integrates and what slides off. We begin to notice where their bodies are habitually holding, where their energy is stagnating, and where the leverage point lives—the one place that, if opened, could ripple through everything.
This is the kind of teaching that can only emerge through presence, attunement, and relationship.
One Thing at a Time: The Power of Leverage
I often work this way in my own practice. I find one element, one orientation, and I stay with it until it’s fully integrated. At one point, it was opening the soles of my feet. Downward Dog had always been tricky—my heels don’t touch the floor, my ankle flexion is limited. But I began to understand that the physical range of motion and the energetic openness of the feet are not the same.
Someone might have their feet flat on the mat and still be energetically closed.
So I started to surrender my feet. To soften them. To invite them into relationship with the ground. Over time, this became habit. Not something I did, but something I was doing through being.
And once the feet began to open, everything changed. My relationship to the earth shifted. My sense of nourishment, grounding, and support deepened. The openness rippled up through my ankles, knees, hips, spine. All of it reorganized.
That’s the power of a leverage point.
And that’s what I now look for in my students.
Teaching Without Fixing
One student I’ve worked with over the past few months has noticeable tightness in the ankles and feet. There’s also tension and dysfunction through the knees and hips. But instead of trying to “fix” their knees or hips, I return to the foundation. I wonder: What might happen if the feet and ankles opened?
So I begin to subtly weave that inquiry into our sessions—not by pointing it out or making them the focus, but by offering themed classes, or giving hands-on assists in Savasana that draw attention to flow through the lower limbs. It’s never about correction or prescription. It’s about planting seeds, creating the right conditions, and listening for what blooms.
This approach avoids the trap of making a student feel exposed or broken. It works through the relational field. It honors sovereignty. And it requires presence.
Relational Teaching Requires Time
Of course, this kind of deep attunement only becomes possible when we see students repeatedly over time. In drop-in spaces, it’s hit or miss. Some students I might see once and never again. Others show up month after month. So the level of intimacy and support differs.
But the same principle applies in online mentorship, too. I’ve worked with students for years—not through physical practice, but through emotional and energetic process work. And still, I’m tracking. I’m noticing how they respond. I’m observing the shifts in how they show up. I’m listening to the field between us.
That’s where the teachings live.
Teach from Listening, Not Delivering
To teach this way requires a shift in orientation. We’re not here to perform, impress, or even educate in the traditional sense. We’re here to listen. Deeply. Subtly. With our whole bodies.
And when we learn to listen like that, a natural response arises. It’s not mental. It’s not strategic. It’s intuitive. It’s wisdom meeting wisdom. The student’s inner intelligence speaks through the relational field—and our own wisdom body hears it, and responds.
That’s teaching.
Create Containers for Relationship
One of the simplest ways to deepen your capacity to teach like this is to create continuity in your offerings. A six-week beginner course. A closed container. A mentorship series. Anything that allows you to see your students over time.
It’s not just about learning poses. It’s about building relationship—so your students feel seen, welcomed, and safe enough to be guided.
Because teaching is listening.
And the more you listen, the more clearly you’ll see exactly what your students need—not to be fixed, but to be met. If you’d like to be mentored into this kind of teaching & facilitating, check out 🧘♂️ Apprenticehip down below.
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