Most yoga classes these days are all levels. This means there’s usually a healthy mix of beginners, advanced, and everything in between. The beauty of this is that the beginners get a glimpse of what’s possible with consistent practice year after year:

• The immense focus that’s available to advanced practitioners when they show up on their mat frequently.

• The seemingly effortless grace and fluidity of shifting from one posture to the next.

• Their willingness to embrace where they are now no matter if they nailed a press handstand or surrendered into savasana early in the class.

In addition, the advanced practitioners are reminded to:

• Slow down so that they can focus on the transitions between postures.

• Consider making minute adjustments to deepen the expression of the pose they’re in.

• Remain humble when they fall out of a balancing posture that came easily the day before.

And as yoga teachers, we’re encouraged to offer a class that meets everyone in the room where they are. This means we give options. Options are great because they illustrate where a person might start and where they might end up in selected postures. The flip of that is if too many options are given or if they aren’t based on intelligent sequencing, well, then we have a problem.

When a yoga teacher gives too many options — especially multiple advanced variations throughout class when the majority of the people in the room are new — it overwhelms the inexperienced practitioners to the point they choose a variation that isn’t suited for them. Why? Partially because they don’t know any better or because they’re mirroring someone who has been practicing for years or they're letting their ego dictate what postures they take.

As yoga teachers, we need to reduce the number of options to only two for a given asana. And let those two options not serve the ego, but rather be in service to keeping the students in the room safe. For example, don’t offer wheel pose if you haven’t properly prepared the body. Because almost everyone in the room except for those who know Urdhva Dhanurasana is not in their practice or that they haven’t been properly warmed up will take what’s been offered even though they shouldn’t. This could result in injury, and we certainly do not want that. Trust that when you have advanced yogis in the room that they will take the asanas they need when they need them.

Also, why as yoga teachers are we offering ten million different options throughout class when we haven’t properly prepared the body? Don’t offer a revolved crow if you haven’t checked these boxes beforehand:

• wrist therapy

• chaturanga dandasana

• twists that build in intensity (e.g., revolved tadasana, revolved crescent, revolved chair, revolved half moon, revolved triangle)

• core work

• crow pose or bakasana

• eagle pose

This becomes an issue when we follow a set sequence and don’t plan a peak pose class. Keep the set sequence if that’s your jam but skip the more challenging postures if you’re not working towards them.

As practitioners, don’t allow yourself to be led to potential injury by taking every option offered. I get it, classes can feel like Simon Says but they don’t have to — you always have the right to choose for yourself. Be selective about what variations you choose and be smart about why you’re choosing them. If something doesn’t feel good in your body, DO NOT DO IT. PERIOD. Avoid letting your ego be in the driver’s seat of your practice.

And I encourage you to be selective about the teachers you trust to guide you while on your mat. Not all teachers plan their classes based on intelligent sequencing. Some fly by the seat of their pants and throw everything at you except for the kitchen sink. Again, if it doesn’t feel good or it doesn’t make sense, trust your body and do not do it.

Our bodies are always giving us clues as to when something is good for us or not. Pay attention to those subtle cues and keep yourself safe in class, and have fun exploring a new posture when it makes sense for you.