How to tell if a yoga class is actually good for you (a 12-point checklist)
After 13 years of practising yoga, I've been in a lot of rooms.
Some of them changed how I move through the world. Others left me wondering whether I was the problem: too stiff in some places, too inconsistent, too much of a beginner, not part of the yoga clique enough...
It took me a long time to understand that the second category was not an evidence of my limitations but evidence of poor teaching (and sometimes, poor awareness and much bias).
So here are my standards (and maybe yours too) of a good yoga class.
1. The teacher is watching everyone in the room
Not performing for the crowd or fixed on the most "advanced" student. Not narrating a sequence with their eyes closed. A teacher who is genuinely watching the room can see when someone is struggling, when the pace needs to slow, when a cue needs more precision.
2. Various options are offered
Not "the full version", or "if you need to, do this instead". Multiple versions, all cued with the same attention and detail. You shouldn't have to flag yourself as someone who needs an alternative as they should already be offered.
3. Hands-on adjustments only happen after consent
This should be standard, and in many classes, it still isn't. Unsolicited physical contact during a yoga class, however well-intentioned, removes your autonomy over your own body, which is the opposite of what a yoga practice is supposed to do. A simple question at the start of class or before the adjustment takes a few seconds and changes everything.
4. Props are normalised and explained
"Grab a block if you need one" is not the same as "grab a block, here's what it does and why you'd use it". Blocks, bolsters, and straps are part of the practice. There is no shame in the prop game.
5. Yoga philosophy and roots are mentioned
Yoga is a 5,000-year-old system of philosophy, ethics, and practice that originated in India and Africa. It is not a fitness class with Sanskrit names. A teacher who never mentions pranayama, the eight limbs, or yoga's cultural roots is teaching asana, which is one branch of a much larger tradition. You deserve to know what you're practising and where it comes from.
6. You leave knowing more than when you walked in
Not just physically worked, but also informed: about a pose, a breath, a principle, your own body. If you couldn't explain one thing you learned to someone else after class, the teaching didn't go deep enough. A good class gives you something to carry out of the room.
7. Nobody looks at you when you take Child's Pose
This one sounds small but it isn't. The moment you become visible for stopping is the moment the class stops feeling safe. A good room makes rest normal, and nobody needs to comment.
8. Savasana is not rushed
Savasana is not the admin at the end of class. It is the integration: the period in which your nervous system processes everything the practice asked of it. A teacher who cuts it short to fit the schedule has deprioritised the most important part of the class. A student who leaves early won't get the full benefit of the practice (it is also rude). Ten minutes of Savasana after a strong practice is not indulgent, but the norm.
9. No medical diagnosis or mention of calories burnt
Yoga teachers are not doctors and the calorie-burning framing has no place in a yoga class.
10. No implied hierarchy between variations
The modification is not the consolation prize. "Do this for the full expression of the pose" implies everything else is partial, and that the person staying where they are is falling short. They might already be working harder than anyone else in the room.
11. The pace isn't set by the people in the front row
Every class has a person who is the fastest, a most flexible person, someone who's been practising for twenty years and settled into the front-left corner. A teacher who unconsciously calibrates the room's pace to that person has effectively designed the class for one student. If the gap doesn't exist, most of the room is just scrambling.
12. You showed up
Whatever the class was, you were there and that counts! A practice is built from showing up to imperfect classes, over and over, until you know the difference.
Keep this list handy
If you've walked out of yoga classes feeling like you didn't quite belong, or like your body wasn't the right kind of body for the room, or like everyone else seemed to know something you didn't: it is worth asking whether the class met these standards.
You are not too sensitive for wanting them, this is just what good teaching looks like.
Save this list and use it the next time you're deciding whether a class is worth going back to.
Looking for a practice that meets this standard?
The Ravinala Travel Mat goes wherever you do: natural rubber, foldable, built for the person who practises in real life.
The Makena Eye Pillow is for the Savasana you're not going to rush - handmade in Madagascar.
The Masoandro Yoga Bag carries your practice somewhere worth going.