October 20, 2025 • 14 mins
One of the hardest things for yoga teachers is knowing what to say when students mention pain. The language we use can either empower our students or unintentionally create fear that makes them feel fragile or unsafe in their own bodies.
In this episode, I explore how to talk about pain in yoga classes without reinforcing fear-based narratives. You’ll learn why traditional alignment cues like “never round your spine” or “don’t let your knee go past your ankle” can actually plant fear, and how to replace them with supportive, empowering language that helps students explore movement with confidence.
This episode is for you if you want to build confidence in supporting students with pain and injuries without overstepping your scope of practice. When you shift from using restrictive cues to empowering ones, you’ll realize how they create an environment for safer & more supportive spaces for every student in your class.
Click HERE to send me a text & let me know your thoughts on this episode!
YouTube: Yoga with Monica Bright
Freebie: Yoga Sequencing for Different Injuries
Let's connect:
- Check out my website: Enhanced Body
- Connect with me on Instagram
- Wanna work together? Book a Discovery Call
- Practice yoga in my online studio The Alliance (7-day free trial)
- Join my Newsletter for teachers below!
Want me to discuss a topic? Click HERE to submit it!
Become a supporter of the Essential Conversations for Yoga Teachers Podcast! Starting at $3/ month.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Monica (00:00):
Have you ever thought about how to talk about pain in
class with your students withoutcreating fear?
This is one of the mostimportant topics in our
profession because the way weuse language has the power to
either empower our students orleave them feeling more anxious,
more fragile and moredisconnected from their bodies.
(00:24):
But we were never taught how inthis episode we will.
Welcome to the EssentialConversations for Yoga Teachers
Podcast with me.
I'm Monica Bright and I've beenteaching yoga and running my
yoga business for over a decade.
This is the podcast for you.
If you are a yoga teacher,you're looking for support.
(00:48):
You love to be in conversation,and you're a lifelong student.
In this podcast, I'll share withyou.
My life as a yoga teacher, thelessons I've learned, my process
for building my business andhelpful ideas, tools, strategies
and systems I use and you canuse so that your business
(01:10):
thrives.
We'll cover a diverse range oftopics that will help you,
whether you're just starting outor you've got years under your
belt and you wanna dive deep andset yourself up for success.
I am so glad you're here.
Listen, I don't take myself tooseriously, so expect to hear
(01:31):
some laughs along the way.
Now let's do this together.
Welcome back to the podcast.
I'm Monica, and I'm so gladyou're here.
Here we talk about the anatomy,the injuries, the nervous
system, insights, plus all thereal life knowledge.
You wish had been included inyour yoga teacher training.
(01:55):
Have you ever thought about howto talk about pain in class with
your students without creatingfear?
This is one of the mostimportant topics in our
profession because the way weuse language has the power to
either empower our students orleave them feeling more anxious,
more fragile, and moredisconnected from their bodies.
(02:19):
But we were never taught how inthis episode.
We're going to.
I acknowledge that many of uswere not taught how to handle
conversations around pain.
During our 200 hour trainings.
We might've been told to cuealignment in a certain way to
prevent injuries or to offerprops and modifications.
(02:40):
When students say somethinghurts, but beyond that, there's
usually not a lot of depth.
So it's very normal if you feelunprepared or even nervous when
a student mentions pain.
But today I wanna give you sometools and frameworks to help you
feel more confident, and mostimportantly, to help you support
(03:01):
your students without makingthem afraid of movement.
Let's start with the problem.
Traditional yoga cues often comefrom a place of fear.
You've probably heard cues like,don't let your knee go past your
ankle, or never around yourspine.
Hear.
Or make sure to never shrug yourshoulders or over time you'll
(03:24):
get injured.
If you ever use these cues, I'mcertain you were trying to be
well intentioned because theycome from a desire to protect
students, but what they actuallydo is plant fear.
They suggest that the body isfragile, That certain asanas are
inherently dangerous and thatthe student has to move in very
(03:48):
specific ways to avoid harmingthemselves.
The problem with this approachis that it doesn't reflect what
we know now about the body,about pain and about injury.
Research in pain science andbiomechanics shows us that the
body is resilient, adaptable,and it's strong.
(04:09):
There isn't one magicalalignment that prevents injury,
nor is there a single wrongposition that will automatically
cause it instead.
Injury and pain are complexexperiences influenced by many
factors including tissuecapacity, nervous system
(04:29):
sensitivity, previousexperiences, and even the
student's psychological state.
When we use fear-based cues, wenarrow our students' experience
of movement and sometimesunintentionally reinforce their
pain.
So how do we change this?
(04:49):
The first step is to recognizethe weight of our words.
As yoga teachers, our studentsoften view us as authorities on
the body.
if we say something like, don'tlet your knee move past your
ankle because that will hurtyour knee.
Students may internalize thatidea and become afraid of
(05:10):
letting their knee move ineveryday life.
That's a huge responsibility andit's why we need to always
strive to be more intentionalwith our language.
Instead of queuing from a placeof restriction, we can cue from
a place of exploration andchoice.
For example, rather than saying,don't move your knee past your
(05:34):
ankle, you might say, notice howit feels in your knee as you
bend.
If you feel discomfort, tryadjusting your stance or backing
off slightly.
The difference is subtle, butit's powerful.
You're inviting your student totune into their own experience
and make choices based on theirown needs and experience, rather
(05:58):
than telling them a specificposition is dangerous.
This leads to another importantconcept, which is.
Pain does not always mean harm.
Students may feel discomfort orsensations that are new or
unfamiliar, and sometimes thatcan trigger fear.
(06:19):
As teachers, we can normalizethe fact that sensation is part
of movement.
we can also remind students thatnot every sensation is a sign of
injury.
At the same time, we canencourage them to listen to
their bodies and respect whensomething feels sharp, unstable,
(06:39):
or persistently uncomfortable.
Think of it as a balance ofempowerment and caution without
instilling fear.
One of the most effectivestrategies is to use language
that emphasizes capacity ratherthan limitation.
For example, in a forward fold,instead of saying your
(07:01):
hamstrings are too tight to dothis pose, you could say, notice
the sensation in yourhamstrings, and you might
explore using a block underneathyour hands to support yourself.
As you fold, rather thanlabeling bodies as deficient,
You'd be directing students'awareness to what's happening in
(07:23):
the body and offering options tosupport them in feeling
successful in your classes.
We can also bring in languagethat builds trust in resilience.
For instance, if a student says,my back hurts when I fold
forward, you might respond withreassurance.
It's okay for backs to feeldifferent in certain poses.
(07:46):
You might try bending your kneesor keeping your spine a little
bit longer and see how thatfeels.
That's very different fromsaying, don't ever round your
back in a forward fold.
It will injure you.
The first response encouragescuriosity and safety.
The second plants fear andavoidance of movement in the
(08:09):
student.
Now let's talk about yoursequencing, because this also
impacts how we talk about pain.
If your sequences are designedonly with creativity in mind,
you might feel thrown off when astudent comes in and mentions
pain, but if your sequences aregrounded in the principles of
balance and adaptability, you'llhave more confidence.
(08:32):
For example, you might build in.
Multiple entry points foropposed like lunges, either with
the knee up or down.
So students can choose whatoption works for them.
When you present these options,frame them as equally valid
rather than as a hierarchy of,say, the full expression of a
(08:54):
pose versus a modification, thisavoids shaming or creating the
impression that somebodies areless capable.
Another key piece isunderstanding the nervous
system.
When students are in pain, theirnervous system may already be
heightened.
Scanning for threats.
(09:15):
If your language amplifies fear,it increases nervous system
reactivity.
But if your language is calm,supportive, and focused on
safety, it can help regulate thenervous system and create a
sense of ease with yourstudents.
Even your tone of voice mattershere.
(09:36):
Speaking slowly.
Giving students time to makechoices and avoiding harsh
corrections all contribute to asafer environment.
Now, I would be remiss if Ididn't mention one of the most
common fears that yoga teachershave.
What if I say the wrong thing?
It's important to remember thatyou don't have to be perfect and
(09:59):
you don't have to knoweverything.
What matters is that you don'tdefault to fear-based queuing.
If you're unsure how to respondto a student's pain, it's okay
to say, let's try a differentoption and see how your body
feels.
You don't need to diagnosebecause we're not trying to do
that, and that's not in our roleas yoga teachers.
(10:22):
But what you can do is supportthe student's agency, create a
sense of safety, and remind themthat their body is adaptable.
So how can you begin to practicethis in your teaching?
Here's something you can do.
Take a common cue that you useand ask yourself, does this cue
(10:43):
empower or does it restrict?
For example, instead of sayingdon't lift your shoulders
towards your ears, you mightsay, experiment with lifting,
then softening your shouldersdown and see how that changes
the sensation.
The cue still guides students,but it gives them space to
(11:04):
explore rather than warning themof harm.
Another good practice is toreflect on your own experiences.
With pain or injury.
If you're anything like me, I'vehad multiple injuries from my
yoga practice, so my reflectionon them is huge.
I want you to think about howcertain words or cues can
(11:28):
influence the sense of safety inyour students.
Many of us have had theexperience of being told we
shouldn't move a certain way,only to later discover that
movement was safe and evenhelpful.
Use that awareness to inform howyou communicate with your
students.
The bottom line is that languagematters deeply in how we support
(11:53):
students with pain and injuries.
Creativity and sequencing hasits place, but what truly builds
trust and empowerment is theconfidence you have in your
ability to guide withoutcreating fear to offer options
without judgment.
To hold space for students toexplore their bodies safely.
(12:18):
If you take nothing else fromthis episode, remember this,
your students are resilient.
Your role is not to protect themfrom every possible risk, but to
support them in discovering howmovement feels in their bodies
when you shift your languagefrom.
Fear to empowerment.
(12:38):
You help them rebuild trust inthemselves, and that's one of
the most powerful gifts you cangive your students as their yoga
teacher.
Understanding anatomy,biomechanics, and the effects
yoga also not have on the body,helps you help your students if
you've been enjoying theseepisodes.
I know that you are a yogateacher who's ready to teach
(13:01):
with more intention and lessfear around injuries.
Let's continue to raise the barfor how yoga supports real
bodies in real life.
It's so important for us to havethis conversation so that you
remember that students of allshapes, sizes, alignment, and
abilities come to your classesand you can serve all of them.
(13:24):
You know that my goal is for youto love the yoga teaching life.
It's important to understandmovement and the issues students
come to your classes with.
Subscribe to the podcast soyou're always in the know when a
new episode drops, and share itwith another yoga teacher who
you think would love to be in onthese conversations.
thank you for helping to spreadthe word about this podcast.
(13:47):
All right.
Thank you for listening.
That's it for now.
Bye.
Have you ever thought about how to talk about pain in
class with your students withoutcreating fear?
This is one of the mostimportant topics in our
profession because the way weuse language has the power to
either empower our students orleave them feeling more anxious,
more fragile and moredisconnected from their bodies.
(00:24):
But we were never taught how inthis episode we will.
Welcome to the EssentialConversations for Yoga Teachers
Podcast with me.
I'm Monica Bright and I've beenteaching yoga and running my
yoga business for over a decade.
This is the podcast for you.
If you are a yoga teacher,you're looking for support.
(00:48):
You love to be in conversation,and you're a lifelong student.
In this podcast, I'll share withyou.
My life as a yoga teacher, thelessons I've learned, my process
for building my business andhelpful ideas, tools, strategies
and systems I use and you canuse so that your business
(01:10):
thrives.
We'll cover a diverse range oftopics that will help you,
whether you're just starting outor you've got years under your
belt and you wanna dive deep andset yourself up for success.
I am so glad you're here.
Listen, I don't take myself tooseriously, so expect to hear
(01:31):
some laughs along the way.
Now let's do this together.
Welcome back to the podcast.
I'm Monica, and I'm so gladyou're here.
Here we talk about the anatomy,the injuries, the nervous
system, insights, plus all thereal life knowledge.
You wish had been included inyour yoga teacher training.
(01:55):
Have you ever thought about howto talk about pain in class with
your students without creatingfear?
This is one of the mostimportant topics in our
profession because the way weuse language has the power to
either empower our students orleave them feeling more anxious,
more fragile, and moredisconnected from their bodies.
(02:19):
But we were never taught how inthis episode.
We're going to.
I acknowledge that many of uswere not taught how to handle
conversations around pain.
During our 200 hour trainings.
We might've been told to cuealignment in a certain way to
prevent injuries or to offerprops and modifications.
(02:40):
When students say somethinghurts, but beyond that, there's
usually not a lot of depth.
So it's very normal if you feelunprepared or even nervous when
a student mentions pain.
But today I wanna give you sometools and frameworks to help you
feel more confident, and mostimportantly, to help you support
(03:01):
your students without makingthem afraid of movement.
Let's start with the problem.
Traditional yoga cues often comefrom a place of fear.
You've probably heard cues like,don't let your knee go past your
ankle, or never around yourspine.
Hear.
Or make sure to never shrug yourshoulders or over time you'll
(03:24):
get injured.
If you ever use these cues, I'mcertain you were trying to be
well intentioned because theycome from a desire to protect
students, but what they actuallydo is plant fear.
They suggest that the body isfragile, That certain asanas are
inherently dangerous and thatthe student has to move in very
(03:48):
specific ways to avoid harmingthemselves.
The problem with this approachis that it doesn't reflect what
we know now about the body,about pain and about injury.
Research in pain science andbiomechanics shows us that the
body is resilient, adaptable,and it's strong.
(04:09):
There isn't one magicalalignment that prevents injury,
nor is there a single wrongposition that will automatically
cause it instead.
Injury and pain are complexexperiences influenced by many
factors including tissuecapacity, nervous system
(04:29):
sensitivity, previousexperiences, and even the
student's psychological state.
When we use fear-based cues, wenarrow our students' experience
of movement and sometimesunintentionally reinforce their
pain.
So how do we change this?
(04:49):
The first step is to recognizethe weight of our words.
As yoga teachers, our studentsoften view us as authorities on
the body.
if we say something like, don'tlet your knee move past your
ankle because that will hurtyour knee.
Students may internalize thatidea and become afraid of
(05:10):
letting their knee move ineveryday life.
That's a huge responsibility andit's why we need to always
strive to be more intentionalwith our language.
Instead of queuing from a placeof restriction, we can cue from
a place of exploration andchoice.
For example, rather than saying,don't move your knee past your
(05:34):
ankle, you might say, notice howit feels in your knee as you
bend.
If you feel discomfort, tryadjusting your stance or backing
off slightly.
The difference is subtle, butit's powerful.
You're inviting your student totune into their own experience
and make choices based on theirown needs and experience, rather
(05:58):
than telling them a specificposition is dangerous.
This leads to another importantconcept, which is.
Pain does not always mean harm.
Students may feel discomfort orsensations that are new or
unfamiliar, and sometimes thatcan trigger fear.
(06:19):
As teachers, we can normalizethe fact that sensation is part
of movement.
we can also remind students thatnot every sensation is a sign of
injury.
At the same time, we canencourage them to listen to
their bodies and respect whensomething feels sharp, unstable,
(06:39):
or persistently uncomfortable.
Think of it as a balance ofempowerment and caution without
instilling fear.
One of the most effectivestrategies is to use language
that emphasizes capacity ratherthan limitation.
For example, in a forward fold,instead of saying your
(07:01):
hamstrings are too tight to dothis pose, you could say, notice
the sensation in yourhamstrings, and you might
explore using a block underneathyour hands to support yourself.
As you fold, rather thanlabeling bodies as deficient,
You'd be directing students'awareness to what's happening in
(07:23):
the body and offering options tosupport them in feeling
successful in your classes.
We can also bring in languagethat builds trust in resilience.
For instance, if a student says,my back hurts when I fold
forward, you might respond withreassurance.
It's okay for backs to feeldifferent in certain poses.
(07:46):
You might try bending your kneesor keeping your spine a little
bit longer and see how thatfeels.
That's very different fromsaying, don't ever round your
back in a forward fold.
It will injure you.
The first response encouragescuriosity and safety.
The second plants fear andavoidance of movement in the
(08:09):
student.
Now let's talk about yoursequencing, because this also
impacts how we talk about pain.
If your sequences are designedonly with creativity in mind,
you might feel thrown off when astudent comes in and mentions
pain, but if your sequences aregrounded in the principles of
balance and adaptability, you'llhave more confidence.
(08:32):
For example, you might build in.
Multiple entry points foropposed like lunges, either with
the knee up or down.
So students can choose whatoption works for them.
When you present these options,frame them as equally valid
rather than as a hierarchy of,say, the full expression of a
(08:54):
pose versus a modification, thisavoids shaming or creating the
impression that somebodies areless capable.
Another key piece isunderstanding the nervous
system.
When students are in pain, theirnervous system may already be
heightened.
Scanning for threats.
(09:15):
If your language amplifies fear,it increases nervous system
reactivity.
But if your language is calm,supportive, and focused on
safety, it can help regulate thenervous system and create a
sense of ease with yourstudents.
Even your tone of voice mattershere.
(09:36):
Speaking slowly.
Giving students time to makechoices and avoiding harsh
corrections all contribute to asafer environment.
Now, I would be remiss if Ididn't mention one of the most
common fears that yoga teachershave.
What if I say the wrong thing?
It's important to remember thatyou don't have to be perfect and
(09:59):
you don't have to knoweverything.
What matters is that you don'tdefault to fear-based queuing.
If you're unsure how to respondto a student's pain, it's okay
to say, let's try a differentoption and see how your body
feels.
You don't need to diagnosebecause we're not trying to do
that, and that's not in our roleas yoga teachers.
(10:22):
But what you can do is supportthe student's agency, create a
sense of safety, and remind themthat their body is adaptable.
So how can you begin to practicethis in your teaching?
Here's something you can do.
Take a common cue that you useand ask yourself, does this cue
(10:43):
empower or does it restrict?
For example, instead of sayingdon't lift your shoulders
towards your ears, you mightsay, experiment with lifting,
then softening your shouldersdown and see how that changes
the sensation.
The cue still guides students,but it gives them space to
(11:04):
explore rather than warning themof harm.
Another good practice is toreflect on your own experiences.
With pain or injury.
If you're anything like me, I'vehad multiple injuries from my
yoga practice, so my reflectionon them is huge.
I want you to think about howcertain words or cues can
(11:28):
influence the sense of safety inyour students.
Many of us have had theexperience of being told we
shouldn't move a certain way,only to later discover that
movement was safe and evenhelpful.
Use that awareness to inform howyou communicate with your
students.
The bottom line is that languagematters deeply in how we support
(11:53):
students with pain and injuries.
Creativity and sequencing hasits place, but what truly builds
trust and empowerment is theconfidence you have in your
ability to guide withoutcreating fear to offer options
without judgment.
To hold space for students toexplore their bodies safely.
(12:18):
If you take nothing else fromthis episode, remember this,
your students are resilient.
Your role is not to protect themfrom every possible risk, but to
support them in discovering howmovement feels in their bodies
when you shift your languagefrom.
Fear to empowerment.
(12:38):
You help them rebuild trust inthemselves, and that's one of
the most powerful gifts you cangive your students as their yoga
teacher.
Understanding anatomy,biomechanics, and the effects
yoga also not have on the body,helps you help your students if
you've been enjoying theseepisodes.
I know that you are a yogateacher who's ready to teach
(13:01):
with more intention and lessfear around injuries.
Let's continue to raise the barfor how yoga supports real
bodies in real life.
It's so important for us to havethis conversation so that you
remember that students of allshapes, sizes, alignment, and
abilities come to your classesand you can serve all of them.
(13:24):
You know that my goal is for youto love the yoga teaching life.
It's important to understandmovement and the issues students
come to your classes with.
Subscribe to the podcast soyou're always in the know when a
new episode drops, and share itwith another yoga teacher who
you think would love to be in onthese conversations.
thank you for helping to spreadthe word about this podcast.
(13:47):
All right.
Thank you for listening.
That's it for now.
Bye.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.