Many yoga teachers have stories of students lingering after class, offering gifts, sending lengthy social media messages, and generally placing them on a pedestal. Some students even develop romantic feelings, and not just during challenging poses.

One yoga teacher recounts being secretly thrilled when a student frist asked them out. They admitted to being flattered, but gently explained that the student’s post-Savasana bliss might be clouding their judgment. That “floating feeling” wasn’t love, but rather a result of the nervous system settling, creating a complex ethical situation.

While such behavior can feel flattering, it can also be unsettling because students are often responding to what the practice evokes within them, and the idealized image they project onto the teacher.

The teacher stated, “I am amazing-and hanging out with me, whether romantically or as a friend, is objectively a great idea for anyone who isn’t in my classes. But early in my teaching career,I realized that it isn’t me that brings about that floating feeling in students. It’s the yoga.”

The Pitfalls of Student worship

Sharing this experience with a longtime student and friend, the teacher was interrupted with the insistence, “No, it is you!” This highlights the tendency to elevate teachers to a “goddess status” simply for guiding students through movement and breath.

While skilled teaching is important, believing one’s own hype can be detrimental. Mistaking students’ “zen buzz” for confirmation of “guru” status is a trap to avoid.

The key to retaining students lies not in achieving a “Pinterest-perfect yoga pose” or acting as an aloof master. Students seek authenticity-someone who admits to hitting snooze on their morning practice, celebrates small victories like finally nailing crow Pose, and is honest about needing Child’s Pose more often than social media suggests.

What really hooks people,she explained,is permission to be human.

The teacher’s wise student-friend offered a valuable insight: “What really hooks people…is permission to be human.” In a world demanding perfection,offering the reassurance that “Hey,it’s cool to wobble,” is more impactful than perfect alignment in Down Dog. This combination of acceptance and the body’s natural high can easily lead students to view their teachers through rose-colored glasses.

The teacher concludes with a message to fellow instructors: “So, to all my fellow teachers out there who feel like they’re the eighth limb of yoga incarnate or the best thing as sliced gluten-free bread, repeat after me: It’s not me, it’s the yoga.“

Now, take that truth to Child’s Pose and let it sink in.