Do Yoga Teachers need Mental Health Awareness training? 

Yoga teachers are privileged with the role of sharing yoga with others and being witness to the impact it can have.

Yoga is becoming an increasingly popular practice that people are turning to for support with their mental health. Many yoga students continue their practice because of the positive psychological benefits they experience!

Yet as teachers, are we ready and able to safely support students with their mental health? 

Are some yoga teachers unknowingly crossing the boundary of their role with students that need additional support with their mental health?

In the West, most yoga teachers do not receive mental health awareness training in their foundational yoga teacher training programs, nor do they have the professional experience for how to best support students living with a mental health condition. Of course, some yoga teacher trainings touch on how yoga can help someone with their mental health, but this is often brief and education about the Western mental health approach and health care system is rarely covered.

Seldom are there conversations in yoga training programs about how to maintain ethical boundaries as a teacher, how to respond when students present with mental health challenges or disclose a clinical diagnosis, or how to teach in psychologically safe ways. This means yoga teachers are left unequipped and unsure of how to navigate mental health challenges with their students.

For me, yoga is a powerful practice that can and does help us with challenges of the mind. In essence, this is why yoga was created and codified as a path to follow, to end suffering that comes from the ailments of the mind; to help us find true liberation from the mind’s constraints.

So what happens when well-meaning yoga teachers act outside of their scope of practice and start giving mental health advice? Many yoga teachers have had their own personal lived experience of mental health challenges, and many have found great healing and support through the practice of yoga.

Sharing our own personal story as teachers is very different to giving advice or medical recommendations, but often, from a place of genuine care, teachers might offer mental health treatment advice to students that could in turn, harm them. It is a fine line that is easily, and often, crossed in the yoga world.

The main problem we are wanting to avoid is a yoga student experiencing psychological distress or harm stemming from their participation in a yoga class/event, or from an interaction with their yoga teacher.

In modern Western yoga there is a heavy focus on maintaining physical safety as a teacher. Psychological and emotional safety is often forgotten or completely left out of the picture. I can safely assume that nearly all yoga teachers want their students to have a positive, safe, enjoyable experience in their yoga class or offering.

How do we make this happen?

Here are a few basics I believe all yoga teachers need to help ensure more psychologically safe yoga spaces that minimise the potential for harm on their students.

• Complete mental health awareness training to understand common mental health conditions and their symptoms
• Practice the basics of trauma-informed yoga (e.g., do not touch students without their consent)
• Understand triggers of psychological distress (e.g., loud noises, scents) and try to avoid them
• Consider and respect the privacy of your students (e.g., don’t discuss things in public or push them to disclose information about themselves)
• Be mindful of the language you use, especially with regard to mental health and what yoga can do (e.g., avoid stating that yoga will “cure” someone’s depression)
• Hold back on offering any advice or treatment prescriptions for mental health (unless if suitably trained and offering specific yoga therapy services)
• Meet students where they are, allow them space to adapt the practice to their personal needs. Avoid putting pressure on students in a class to all do the same thing (e.g., avoid a statement like “Let’s all close our eyes now”)
• Offer choices and freedom to choose different variations
• Show kindness, compassion, and genuine care for all students

There’s a lot to cover when it comes to mental health and providing safer yoga classes and spaces for students. It’s a journey of continued learning and adapting our teaching style, and truly connecting and learning from the students in front of us.

More and more people are coming to yoga specifically to help them with their mental health. Therefore, as teachers I believe it is our responsibility to ensure to provide and facilitate psychologically safe yoga offerings. I do not advocate that teachers give mental health advice or prescribe treatments to their students, not all all. I believe we need to stay within the scope of our role, our expertise, and the service we are offering. To truly understand our role and what we can offer Mental Health awareness training can be extremely helpful. 

If you’d like to enhance your teaching skills to ensure your students are safe and supported with their mental health, consider completing my Mental Health Awareness Training. Read more about it here.

With gratitude, 

Steph x