Teaching yoga that is truly accessible and inclusive, with authenticity

I got asked a simple question last week. Someone about to step into the yoga teaching world wanted advice. I said yes, let’s talk. We opened a Zoom room, and the conversation took on a life of its own.

It reminded me why I teach the way I do.

I’ve taught yoga inside prisons. I’ve taught sex workers. Seniors. People living with brain injuries. People who have survived things their bodies still remember.

Teaching in those spaces strips you clean. It turns you into a person who cares more about accessibility and presence than performance.

This article was born from that conversation.

What I told them is what I want you to hear too.

There’s a pressure in the yoga world to hurry. To master everything. To teach before you’re ready. To look polished from the first day you step out of training.

But yoga doesn’t care about your timeline. Your nervous system needs space. Your body needs time to digest what you’ve taken in. You can’t rush integration. You can only live it.

Most trainings try to squeeze an entire lineage into a few weeks. You walk away with a certificate. That doesn’t mean you walk away ready. Readiness grows slowly. It comes from:

• Practicing on days you’d rather avoid the mat

• Teaching messy classes that humble you

• Letting mistakes shape you instead of shame you

• Watching your internal reactions with honesty

• Returning to your breath even when it feels inconvenient

Real teaching begins when the practice settles into your bones.

Why Integration Matters More Than Speed

Integration creates embodiment. An embodied teacher moves differently. They speak from truth, not scripts. They hold the room with clarity and humility. When you slow down, you actually rise faster. You stop performing yoga and start becoming it.

Building Embodied Understanding Over Memorized Scripts

Memorizing cues is normal at first. But that’s not where your power lives. Students feel when you speak from experience. They feel that when your cues come from your own practice, not from someone else’s sequence. Authenticity lands. Performance falls flat.

The Heart of Yoga. Inner Transformation

There’s a shiny version of yoga in magazines: sculpted bodies. Flawless poses. Sunset handstands that look effortless. None of that is the real work.

Real yoga is a return.

It’s not about forcing your body into shapes. It’s about meeting yourself without pretending. It’s listening to the truth beneath everything you’ve been taught to hide.

Meeting Yourself Honestly on the Mat

Your mat exposes your patterns.

• How you respond when a pose challenges you• How you treat yourself when you wobble

• How you breathe when discomfort rises

Witnessing yourself with compassion is the beginning of transformation. Not perfection. Not performance. Honest presence.

Teaching With Presence Instead of Pressure

Your presence carries more weight than your poses ever will. You don’t need to be impressive. You need to be real. What you bring into the room sets the tone more than any alignment cue.

Your Energy Shapes the Space

A regulated teacher creates a regulated room. When you are grounded, the class feels it. Students won’t remember the sequence you taught. They will remember how their breath changed around you.

Awareness Over Aesthetics

Students aren’t looking for a performance. They don’t need you to demonstrate mastery. They need space to reconnect with themselves. Teach for their experience, not for your image.

Trauma-Informed Foundations for New Teachers

A room full of mats is a room full of history. Trauma is common. Yoga can bring up memories, sensations or emotions people didn’t expect. You don’t need to fix anyone. You do need to be aware.

Understanding the Stories Inside Every Room

Your students carry lives that extend far beyond your class. Your cues, tone and proximity may land differently for each person. Awareness matters more than expertise.

Cueing With Invitation Instead of Command

An invitation builds trust. Command builds tension.

Try:

• When you’re ready...

• If this feels supportive...

• Another option is...

This seems small. It isn’t. It changes the entire field.

Making Every Pose Accessible

Teach the most accessible version first. Add layers only after students feel safe. Inclusion creates confidence. Accessibility builds community. No one should walk out feeling inadequate.

Navigating Modern Yoga and Returning to Integrity

Western yoga drifted from its roots. It got tangled with branding, aesthetics and performance culture. You don’t need to fix the system. You only need to teach with integrity.

The Drift From Tradition

Marketing diluted the depth. Social media magnified the performance. But yoga is older and wiser than any trend.

Your Role in Teaching With Authenticity

Stay aligned with what matters.

Teach with intention. Teach with integrity. Teach in a way that helps people breathe easier, not push harder.

That’s your responsibility. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Core Reminders for Every New Yoga Teacher

• Your Presence Matters More Than Your Poses

Authenticity lands. A perfect pose doesn’t.

• Your Awareness Matters More Than Your Sequence

A simple class taught with real attention can change someone’s day.

• Your Journey Is Only Beginning

You don’t become a yoga teacher in a month. You become one over a lifetime. Slowly. Honestly. From the inside out.

Here is a Free Resource you can use to ground or stress less before teaching. It contains a guided one-minute nervous system reset, Tools to ground you quickly, a longer guided meditation to regulate the Nervous system, and a Spotify Playlist for deep chill. You can get it here: https://stan.store/jodywilliams