You can know a whole lot of anatomy and still not know what to do with the person standing in front of you.

Imagine you’re teaching a yoga class and a student says:

“This feels weird in my hip.”

Okay…But now what?

You know your anatomy. You’ve studied muscles, joints and movement. Maybe you’ve taken additional anatomy courses or spent years adding to what you learned in your original yoga teacher training.

But none of that tells you exactly what this particular student is experiencing.

And that’s where I think teaching gets really interesting. Because maybe the next step isn’t figuring out the answer. Maybe it’s figuring out what questions to ask.

Before You Try to Fix It, Find Out What “It” Is

When a student tells you something feels weird, tight, uncomfortable or “off,” it can be tempting to immediately start searching your mental anatomy files for an explanation.

Maybe their hip flexors are tight.

Maybe their glutes aren’t firing.

Maybe it’s their individual anatomy.

Maybe they need a modification.

But hang on…We don’t even know what “weird” means yet.

Is the sensation painful?

Uncomfortable?

Unfamiliar?

Are they simply noticing muscular effort they’ve never paid attention to before?

Where do they feel it?

When does it happen?

Does something change when the movement changes?

Before we can make a thoughtful teaching decision, we need more information.

And this is where anatomical knowledge can become incredibly useful—not because it automatically gives you the answer, but because it can help you determine what to explore next.

Anatomy Can Inform the Questions

Let’s say your student is practicing a standing posture and tells you something feels strange in their hip.

Rather than immediately explaining what you think is happening, you might start by asking:

“Can you tell me a little more about what you’re noticing?”

“Where do you feel it?”

“Does it happen throughout the movement or only at a particular point?”

Now you’re gathering information.

But something else is happening at the same time.

Your student is gathering information, too.

They’re paying attention to their experience in a way they may not have before.

If what they describe doesn’t suggest pain, concerning symptoms or something outside your scope of practice, perhaps you explore further.

You might suggest reducing their range of motion and ask:

“How does that feel?”

Maybe they tell you the sensation disappears when they don’t move quite as far.

Interesting.

That doesn’t mean you’ve diagnosed the problem.

It doesn’t mean you know precisely what’s happening inside their hip.

But you have learned something useful about how this person experiences this particular movement.

And so have they.

A Modification Can Be More Than a Modification

This is where I think we have an opportunity to go further as yoga teachers.

Instead of simply saying, “Great! Don’t go as far,” you could ask:

“What did you notice was different?”

Now the student isn’t simply following your instructions.

They’re beginning to recognize that their experience changes when they change something about the movement.

They’re learning to notice.

To compare.

To communicate what they’re experiencing.

To participate in decisions about their own movement.

That matters.

Because our job as yoga teachers doesn’t have to be figuring out everything that’s happening inside someone else’s body.

We can use what we know to guide exploration.

And sometimes responsible teaching means recognizing when exploration needs to stop. If a student reports pain, concerning symptoms or something outside your scope, the appropriate decision may be to refer them to a qualified healthcare professional.

Knowing what not to try to solve is part of good teaching, too.

Your Knowledge Becomes More Valuable When You Put It to Work

I’ve been teaching yoga for 22 years and training yoga teachers for 15.

One of the most important things I’ve learned is that teaching expertise develops through experience.

You can study anatomy, biomechanics and movement until you’re blue in the face.

But eventually, you have to put that knowledge to work.

You have to observe.

Ask questions.

Make decisions.

See what happens.

Reassess.

And sometimes discover that what you thought was going to happen isn’t what happened at all.

That’s not a teaching failure.

That’s information.

And every time you thoughtfully work through one of those situations, you’re developing something that another anatomy lesson alone can’t give you:

Your teaching muscles.

Body Literacy Is About What You Can DO With What You Know

This is one of the reasons I’m so passionate about Body Literacy for Yoga Teachers.

I don’t want yoga teachers to simply accumulate more information.

I want them to become better at using it.

Your anatomical knowledge can inform your teaching decisions.

Your observations and your student’s feedback can guide exploration.

That exploration can help you learn more about the person in front of you.

And at the same time, your student can learn more about their own movement experience.

Both people become more knowledgeable participants in the process.

That’s body literacy.

Prefer to watch?

In this week’s video, Knowing Anatomy Isn’t Enough: What Makes a Better Yoga Teacher?, I walk through this exact teaching scenario and show you what this approach might look like in practice.

WATCH THE VIDEO

This Is Not Another Anatomy Training

Body Literacy for Yoga Teachers is a 12-hour continuing education training designed to help you take what you already know and put it to work.

We’ll explore teaching situations together, practice applying your knowledge, and develop your ability to observe, ask questions, adapt, reassess and make thoughtful teaching decisions.

You’ll have opportunities to practice, ask questions and receive feedback as you refine those skills.

Because I don’t want you to teach like me.

I want to help you develop YOUR abilities as a teacher.

You’ve already invested in what you KNOW.

Now let’s develop what you can DO with it.

LEARN MORE ABOUT BODY LITERACY FOR YOGA TEACHERS