What I learned as an obsessed yoga student-turned-teacher that changed my practice (and my life).

I used to think yoga was to be done a certain way in order to be right, and I’d shame myself for traveling outside the rules of my yoga teacher. I ignored my body’s sensations, mistaking it for the voice of my ego, and told myself to be a good student means to cultivate the ability to listen to my teacher.

As I’ve grown — both as a woman and a yoga practitioner — I’ve discovered for myself the healing that unfolds through listening to the needs of my body. I am learning that an embodied practice, where the student hones into the teachings that stem from within the body — as opposed to an aesthetically correct one — empowers the yogin to trust herself. I now teach this message to my students.

True practice isn’t about always listening to your teacher. While external cues and direction give us the foundations of yoga, it’s important that the practice grows into one where you’re able to listen to yourself.

Yoga teachers are regular people. Even those with great knowledge are, at best, guides. Guides help you practice safely. Guides validate your choice to explore yourself. And guides should inspire you, but not so much that they distract you from yourself.

Your yoga practice can replenish what you lost in busy-ness and instruction. True knowledge comes from within you. No teacher can gift you yourself. We can only affirm and guide you to trust yourself again and again.