Teaching yoga unlocked a love for language within me. Over the last 10+ years I have enjoyed seeing how certain words or phrases land (or don’t land) for students in a yoga class.

What’s the best way to describe this shape?

How can I explain this transition without using too many words?

Although physically demonstrating a class is a perfectly fine way to facilitate a yoga practice. My preferred method has been to use my words. It gives students a chance to interpret my cues in their own manner and feel shapes in their body without trying to copy what's happening in my body.

Language and words are powerful. Especially within yoga spaces, I have found that the words a teacher use can deeply impact a student’s experience.

In early 2020 I completed a trauma-informed training with Yoga Behind Bars. I learned a lot from that experience. My biggest takeaway: Use language that is more invitational and less commanding when guiding a yoga practice.

Invitational language isn’t reserved just for classes that are labeled trauma-informed or classes that specifically support folks impacted by the justice system. Invitational language is important for all populations. Rathan telling folks exactly how to place their body or exactly how they should feel in a shape, invitational language provides people in a yoga class to receive direction while opening the space for them to have their own experience.

I recently posted a question on my Instagram Story asking what words or phrases people would like to have reconsidered within yoga spaces. I was amazed by the flood of responses! Here’s some of the common answers:

If you need to…

An instructor might say something like “If you need to, put your hand on a block in Triangle Pose.” To be more invitational, rather than using the word need, an instructor could use the word want. “If you want to, put your hand on a block in Triangle Pose.”

Or, since I’m a huge fan of using a block in Triangle, “Today you might use a block under your bottom hand in Triangle to give you something to push against.” There’s value in sharing with students why they might use a block or take a certain variation.

You should…

As in “You should be able to reach your arms all the way overhead.” Or “You should feel this in your lower back.” Especially in a group setting, everyone in that space has different abilities, limitations, and lived experiences. No two shapes will look identical. No one will have the same feelings or sensations within a shape.

I lean more on the word might as in “You might reach your arms as high as you can.” Or “You might feel this stretch in your lower back.”

Do _____ to protect your _____.

This is my own pet peeve in yoga spaces. You can read a whole blog post about my thoughts on the word protect if you really want.

And lastly, the most common response I received from my Instagram Story question…

This shape will help you detox.

Y’all the word detox has no place in yoga spaces. That’s my opinion, of course. Your body is incredible! It’s smart, resilient, and is designed to do all sorts of stuff on its own. Like detoxification. For instance, your kidneys are brilliant organs that remove byproducts from the digestive process and create urine so all those toxins can be flushed from your body. The natural process of detoxification does not require twisting yoga shapes or a sauna-like yoga room in order for it to be effective.

Although a yoga teacher who uses the word detox may not intend for it to have a strong, lasting impact, encouraging folks to detox their body in yoga spaces can easily trickle into toxic (absolutely unintentional pun) diet culture. Sure, yoga students might find that they become more fit through their yoga practice, however, that shouldn’t be the primary focus of ones practice. Body-shaming and food-shaming have no place in yoga spaces. You never need to earn your food, you never have to work off the food you consume, and you most definitely do not have to have 6-pack abs in order to be embraced by a yoga community.

Yoga teachers, consider the words you’re using with your students. I’ve cannot even tell you how many dumb things I’ve said while guiding classes throughout the years that I do not stand by now. All we can do is learn from each other, grow, and continue to do better.

If you find language, especially language in yoga and wellness spaces, to be fascinating, I recommend Amanda Montell’s book Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism.

Are there words or phrases you hear in yoga spaces that you wish would be reconsidered? Drop them in the comments!