Do you have a yoga teacher that you look up to?
We’ve all had some hit or miss teachers, usually with the misses just being somebody that you didn’t connect or vibe well with.
But luckily, most yoga teachers are fantastic and they all share that in common.
However, in their personalities they differ quite a bit.
Hopefully you see the jest in this article.
No yoga teacher is truly bad, as they’ve likely had at least one person find inspiration and education from them. In the yoga world, we’re pretty lucky to have so many wonderful people that just want to spread positivity, light, and a further love for yoga with their students.
Yoga isn’t easy, and teaching yoga as a profession isn’t easy either.
Because of that there are a lot of really interesting people that come out of the woodwork, giving rise to these 5 very distinct yoga teacher stereotypes.
The Five Yoga Teachers You’ve Met Before
If you’ve been around yoga for a while, you’ve probably met each of these five very distinct types of people.
While they all have a love of yoga in common, that’s pretty much where the similarities start and stop. After all, it takes a truly special person to want to teach people to basically be contortionists for a career!
Also, please understand that this is all in good fun.
Some of these may seem more negative than others, but they’re just a quirk that students eventually grow to love.
None of this is mean spirited at all!
So, without further ado, here are the five stereotypical yoga teachers that you’ve probably met before:
The Crazy One
Typically these are the people who find yoga because of a desperate
need to find something to cool them down a bit. These people are pretty
out there, high-energy, and wild, but if you can keep up with them you
know you’re bound to have a great time.
The “crazy ones”
become attracted to yoga and find a home in it because yoga provides a
much-needed relief from minds that are hectic and constantly running.
That’s why there are so many smart and accomplished people that swear by
yoga! It’s a very essential break from the chaos.
The Control Freak
This teacher is the one who gives constant instruction right down to the last detail. They have you breathe in and out on command, start and stop poses on command, and want you to do certain specific things to aide in the movements.
To a degree, all yoga teachers are like this, but the control freak teachers are like this 100% of the time. Every class is like being with a really Zen drill instructor, and we can’t get enough of it!
These teachers are super passionate about helping others to improve. They’re so commanding and in control because they want you to get the most punch for your time in class.
They want to help you get better and to nail those poses, so they aim to guide you through all that with every little detail.
The Spectacle
The person in your class who seems to always nail the poses and wants to grab the teacher’s attention and praise all the time is the one who will eventually go on to become this kind of instructor.
They’re perfectionists, sure, but most of all they want attention and recognition for their hard work and talents.
Don’t get me wrong. Attention is not a negative!
This person loves to be the center of it all, so naturally they felt right at home at the front of the class in an instructor for it. They’re confident and they love themselves, and it inspires others to love them too!
The Sweetheart
There’s a lot of sweethearts in the role of yoga instructor. That’s because yoga is a positive, loving practice.
These people feel at ease in this environment because they want others around them to be happy and feel loved. The sweetheart takes extra care to ease you into positions, she’s soft spoken, and she always greets you when you arrive and says Namaste when you leave.
These teachers are really passionate about positivity. They want you to love yoga as much as they do and aren’t overly concerned with whether you’re doing poses perfectly or not.
It’s all about intention for them… which is great for those of us who loathe holding Warrior III for what feels like six hours!
The Hippie
This yoga teacher has completely embodied yoga culture and wants to spread it around.
She feels weird accepting money for her classes but does so because she has bills to pay. Still, she’s likely “forgotten” to charge you for a class or “accidently” given you a discount a time or two.
She’s likely to be found at volunteer events and probably makes her own clothes, but you give her mad props for that because… where does she even find the time?
She can do it all, and does it all with peace, love, and eco-friendliness in mind.
So, how many of these teachers have you had?
Do any of these stereotypes ring true for you as well? I like to think that all of us in the yoga world have at least some of each of these qualities in our own personalities.
We may have a ton of variety amongst our ranks, but we’re all similar in our love for yoga. The attitude that yoga brings out in us manifests in these ways, and often in a combination of them.
So, which one of these are you most like? Which teacher is your favorite?
The yoganum family
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