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Questions everyone has but nobody wants to ask
Anna Oldfield on 05 September, 2011 | 
As a yoga teacher you will certainly get a lot of unusual and unanticipated questions from your students, but there are some things which every new practitioner wonders but few have the courage to ask. Therefore, it is important to try and cover these points in your teaching, inserting explanations at moments like when holding downwards dog in suns salutations.
For a start, there is the simple question of what the word ‘yoga’ actually means. Many people understand the term ‘yoga’ to designate a type of exercise class which involves stretching. In fact, ‘yoga’ is a Sanskrit term which means union: union of breath and movement, of body and mind, of the static and the dynamic, or of masculine and feminine energies and of the individual with the universal. Developing on the theme of Sanskrit, if you are using it in class for the names of postures it is worthwhile explaining what these strange pronunciations are to new students. Many teachers and long term practitioners take it for granted that everyone knows this and it seems to be a sort of acquired knowledge which nobody explicitly recalls being told. However, after a student asked me whether I was using the Latin names for poses I began to ensure I clearly explained why I was using Sanskrit and what each name translates as.
Another common question students may be embarrassed to ask is why ‘om’ is chanted at the beginning and end of the class. The Sanskrit script notation of this term and its chanting are widely recognised and yet most new practitioners feel confused as to why exactly it is chanted. The mantra ‘om’ is actually composed of three sounds – Ah-Oh-Mm – and is said to be the frequency with which everything in the universe vibrates. Students may also not feel they can ask whether they must join in so it is worth inviting them to join you in the mantra or to simply feel the resonation of the sound.
Further, most teachers end their class with the hands joined at the heart and the term ‘namaste’. I’ve learnt from experience that if this isn’t explained to a group of beginners they will stare at you blankly unsure of how to respond. A common Indian greeting, ‘namaste’ literally means ‘I bow to you’. This gesture is exchanged at the end of the class as a symbol of humility and an acknowledgement of the connection between student and teacher. It is often explained as meaning ‘the teacher in me bows to the teacher in you’, or ‘the divinity in me respects the divinity in you’.
Finally, there is the question of ‘what is a yogi?’ This term is frequently used to describe practitioners of yoga and has many commonly held associations such as being vegetarian or not drinking. In fact, in the traditional sense of the word a yogi is someone who renounces all worldly possessions and attachments. However, practitioners in the western world are far from the Himalayan cave-dwelling yogis of former centuries in more than just a geographical and chronological sense. Everyone will have their own interpretation of the term, however in a modern context it emphasises the idea that yoga is more than just the sixty minutes spent practicing asana. The term need not designate a strict adherence to stereotypes of the yogic lifestyle – it is more an acknowledgement that the practice extends beyond the mat.
Sanskrit demystified, there are still some pressing questions which beginners will normally be too embarrassed to ask. In the Western culture where we are all a bit squeamish when it comes to talking about bodily functions, nobody wants to ask the burning question of why yoga sometimes makes you fart. Put quite simply, the asana are like a massage for the internal organs, and all the detoxifying twists and stretches can cause the body to release gas. Students may also ask themselves (but not you) why this may happen when they are coming down from an inversion, and if they can prevent this. Whilst the common advice is to use mula bandha, the best solution is for students to laugh it off and remember that it is a natural bodily function which happens to everyone. And of course, if the rest of the class is practicing pratyahara (sense withdrawal), they shouldn’t notice anyway!
A much-discussed topic among yoga teachers is how to explain that it is advisable not to practice inversions during menstruation, particularly amongst male teachers who find the topic embarassing themselves. It is normally coupled with a few other circumstances in which students may wish not to practice inversions, such as high blood pressure and neck or shoulder pain in order not to single out women as menstruating. The sensitivity of the topic means that students are rarely informed as to why this is advised. When the body is inverted, gravity causes the veins which supply the uterus to become partially blocked and can stop the flow. At a time when the body’s flow of energy is downwards, it is inadvisable to counter this. However, the matter of inversions during menstruation is widely debated and whilst some women may feel that inversions are very counter instinctive others may feel no different. Therefore it is important to provide students with the information to make their own decision, even if the topic is an awkward one to raise.
Finally, students rarely ask why they are advised to refrain from eating for two hours before the class, and often find out the hard way. Two hours is the amount of time it takes for your stomach to digest half of its contents. If you attempt to practice on a full stomach you can experience discomfort and nausea due to all of the forward bends and twists which work on your internal organs. If you have a fast metabolism or need to eat more frequently, a small snack half such as a cereal bar or a banana thirty minutes before the class is fine.
In the age of the internet, students are more likely to Google their questions than to approach you with an embarrassing query. Thankfully there are a lot of blogs and forums online, however the more you cover in class the less students will need to research. By making sure you are approachable and explaining all of the common questions in class you improve the students’ experience of yoga, so just keep thinking back to your days as a beginner and remember that what seems obvious now was once confusing.