Confident Demoing to Serve Your Students Best

Your yoga mat isn’t just a raft keeping you safe—it’s a tool for connecting with your students. In this episode, you'll learn how to balance demonstrating poses with stepping off the mat to observe and connect. Hear ways to create a more engaging, student-centered class, from beginner-friendly cues to trauma-sensitive strategies.

Whether you’re wondering when or even whether to demo, how to confidently observe, or how to create meaningful student connections, this episode has you covered.

Join me and Joe-Paul Naughton-Travers for “A Framework for Teaching Trauma-Sensitive Yoga” at Carrboro Yoga in May 2025: https://www.wellnessliving.com/rs/event/carolinayogacompany?k_business=130621&k_class_tab=33774&uid=0&id_class_tab=2

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Chapters

• 0:00 Your Mat Is Not a Raft
• 0:59 The Role of Demonstration
• 1:39 Teaching Trauma-Sensitive Yoga
• 2:13 Balancing Demonstration and Observation
• 7:56 Practical Tips for Teaching Off the Mat
• 10:24 Demos and Assisting

Transcript

0:00

Can I tell you something, your yoga mat is not a raft there to keep you safe from the unknown waters of your students. Practice. It's more like a paddleboard. You can balance on it when needed, but the real work happens when you step off and dive into the current of connection with your students, because yoga is

about connection: 0:18

connection with ourselves, with the practice, and with the people we're sharing the space with. But if you're glued to your mat the whole time, you're missing an opportunity to truly see your students and support their practice in the most meaningful way. I'm Sage Rountree, and this is Yoga Teacher Confidential: The Secrets of Becoming a Great Yoga Teacher. As we explore how we can become great teachers, let's keep our students front and center. We are the best teachers for them when we give them exactly the help they need when they need it. Having eyes on your students is the best way to do this. Now there are valid reasons to demo and let's start there because I'm not saying you should never show the poses. Demoing has its place. In classes for beginners, for example. Students who are new to yoga, often need a visual reference. It's a great way to ensure they feel confident and safe as they learn. Until they get up to speed on the vocabulary. Demos are a great way to convey a lot of information quickly. In trauma informed classes demonstrating can provide a sense of stability and predictability, which is key in these settings. In fact, the sense of stability and predictability is key in every class. My colleague, Joe-Paul Naughton-Travers, has developed a workshop on teaching trauma, sensitive yoga that he and I are leading at my studio Carrboro Yoga Company in central North Carolina in May 2025. Now in Joe-Paul's framework, teachers move through the poses alongside the students. When we were planning his workshop, lesson plan, he explained this to me and a light bulb went off for me. Uh, ha I said, so the yoga practice is something that happens with the students instead of something that happens to the students. Demoing can also be useful in very full spaces. If there's not much room to walk around, demoing might feel like the most practical option, but let's be honest. The students in the back probably still can't see you. And in certain modalities, demoing is de rigueur. I teach a class called yoga for athletic balance, which usually features at least one wacky transition or balanced challenge per class. I always show these or do them alongside my students. We get a little silly, I call it a sense of humor warmup. It would feel weird to me to ask my students to try something that I wouldn't try myself. I also teach mat Pilates and in that class, as well as in the core segment of my athletic balance class, I do the planks and boats alongside my students. Again, it would feel unfair for me to sit up front. Breezily saying just 20 more breaths in this plank. Instead, it's something we do together. Finally, when I teach In yoga. I never walked through the room except to adjust lights and temperature or to deliver extra props, or when I'm explicitly called over by a student. Yin yoga can put students on the edge of something that might feel kind of vulnerable. And I trust them to find that all on their own. You may have your own valid reasons to demo. So if you're primarily demoing, but have a sense that it's quote unquote wrong. Ask yourself. Why do you need to leave your mat? Is it a studio directive? Is it just some sense that that's what real yoga teachers do. Or is it because you want to be able to queue without relying on doing every post yourself? Here's the thing. Wanting to teach off your mat is an admirable goal. Unlike most goals, it takes practice. But before you jump to conclusions about leaving your mat, being the ultimate mark of an advanced teacher, ask yourself, is it really necessary for me to leave my mat? Could I see my students in the ways they need to be seen from here. I can't tell you what the right answer is. I can tell you that some teachers feel external pressure to demonstrate less and walk the room more. Maybe they were told by a senior teacher that real yoga teachers don't stay on their mats or even use a mat at all. Or perhaps they've internalized the idea that leaving the mat equates to being more advanced or authoritative. But is that really true? Ask yourself, these questions. What purpose does leaving the mat serve in my class. Does it improve my ability to help students? Or am I doing it because I think I'm supposed to. Is staying on the mat, occasionally a better choice for my students, especially if they're beginners or if the space is packed or if I'm teaching something particularly really complex. And is my leaving the mat, actually making my students more nervous. Could it read as judging them, yelling at them or otherwise trying to impose my will on their experience. And if you're not sure about your answers to these questions, it's okay. The goal is not to follow some arbitrary rule about demoing or not demoing. The goal is to serve your students in the way that best supports their learning and their growth. It's up to you to figure out where to land on the demo, to know demo spectrum. Why does this matter? When you move through the room with purpose, your students feel seen. And when they feel seen, they feel supported. This isn't about micromanaging their practice or policing their alignment. It's about offering affirmation and validation. There's a sweet spot here. It's important to find the balance between seeing your students and staring them down. Watch their practice without making them feel watched to the point of judgment. Simple adjustments to your habits can make all the difference here. For example, to see your students avoid closing your eyes for long periods while teaching. And be mindful when turning your back to the class. It's okay. If it's intentional, like you're demonstrating a complex flow or something like hands connected behind your back. But don't make a habit of turning your back on the class. Same thing goes for downward facing dog. Show it if you need to, but don't hold it, pop on out to get eyes on your students. To that end, you might find it helpful to set your teacher's map, perpendicular to your student's mats that way, instead of turning your back on them, you can reorient only your own body to face the other short edge of the mat. When you look at your students, do it with a warm expression on your face. If a student catches your eye smile, you will likely get a smile back. Remember students come to class in person to be seen. If they didn't want to be seen on some friendly level, they would follow along with a video at home. Just don't stare and definitely don't leer, and you'll be fine. You want your students to feel seen without making them feel watched. Ultimately, leaving your mat allows you to create a deeper connection with your students. And isn't that what yoga is all about? Getting off your mat does help you grow as a teacher. Observing students can improve your verbal queuing and develop your ability to adapt sequences in real time. It puts you in the moment. Here are some practical tips to help you build the habit of teaching off your mat. At least some of the time. First try going malice use a blanket or cushion for sitting or knee support instead of setting out a full mat. This gives you freedom to move without feeling tethered. It throws away your life raft as it were. Set up strategically in the room before students arrive. If it suits your sequence, place another small map, free station with a blocker props on the sidewall of the room for demo of any poses that face the long edge of the mat. Then go over there when the time comes, you don't need to leave a whole mat there. If your class is full , just block out enough room to save your spot. Remember that repetition is key. Offer the same pose or sequence several times in class, like a warrior flow. You do three to five times. As students become familiar with the sequence, they won't rely as much on your demo, which frees you to move around. You can also say progressively less as the flow repeats, giving your students time and space to connect with themselves internally. A great place to start demoing less is on the second side of a flow sequence. By the time you've queued. The first side, students usually have the gist of the poses. You can frame it for them, like saying something like, "Trust your practice. And if you wind up giving an accidental solo that's okay." This approach builds confidence, both for you and for them. If standing sequences feel daunting, start with something simpler poses where your students are lying down from there. You can keep an eye on them without feeling like you're performing the whole time. They couldn't see you anyway. If you were doing a lying- down demo, I do suggest you try not to loom over your students. When you do this, sit down while they're reclining and don't stand, unless you're delivering props or adjusting the space. A good rule of thumb is always to stay at one level higher than where your students are. So when they're lying down, you're sitting or kneeling when they're sitting or kneeling, you could come up to standing. It's useful to explain why you're doing what you're doing, let your students know why you're leaving your mat. For example, you could say balancing is easier when your gaze is steady. So I'm going to step to the back of the room to give you a still point of focus. And if you offer them, give context for every assist, if you give hands on assists, you got to always do so with explicit permission from every student. This permission can be verbal or nonverbal or both like in the form of a consent card and then also an option for them to shake their head. No, as you approach. Whether your assists are corrective or comforting. Make sure students understand your intention, why you're offering them. When moving through the room, be consistent, assist the same students on both sides of a pose for balance. For example, remember where you started your side angle, ASIS, and then go back and get the same folks in the same order on side two. Jivamukti Yoga and Baptiste Yoga do this especially well. And remember assists, don't have to be manual. They can be verbal, something like you might try bending that front knee a little more, see how it feels. And if you don't like it, find what you do like. Said quietly like that, sotto voce, with a clear intention to help the

student find comfort: 11:27

this might be the most powerful way of all to assist. And it can only happen if you leave your mat, see your students, and meet them quite literally where they are. No matter whether you feel recommitted to staying on the mat, validated for staying on the mat or you like you're ready to start venturing off it. Here's an affirmation to help you. I serve my students by finding the right way to teach them. I serve my students by finding the right way to teach them. For more insights on teaching strategies, building student connections and enhancing your confidence as a teacher, visit sagerountree.com while you're there check out my free resources, including tips on building a sustainable teaching career. Thank you for listening and for being here to grow as a teacher. This is Yoga Teacher Confidential and I'm Sage Rountree. I'll see you next time.