There’s something I’ve been observing for a long time in the yin yoga education space, and wish to share with you today.

Most yin yoga courses teach you the basics: poses, sequencing, meridians and hopefully some anatomy and philosophy. It gives you a structure to work with, helps you understand what is happening on a physical level in the body. It gives you something to rely on when you begin teaching.

But at some point, many teachers step out of that training and into a real class, with real people and things get well… REAL ????

They might know what to do, but they’re not always sure how to be. And that gap can feel surprisingly uncomfortable.

Because yin yoga, more than many other styles, has a way of bringing people into contact with themselves in a very direct way. Not just physically, but emotionally, energetically, and on a nervous system level.
And when that happens in a class, the dynamic shifts. A room that felt calm a moment ago can suddenly feel heavier. Silence can feel more present. Someone might start to fidget, withdraw, or become emotional.

And in those moments, teaching is no longer just about guiding shapes or keeping time.
It becomes about presence and attunement. About knowing how to stay with what is happening, without rushing to change it, fix it, or move past it.

This is the part that most trainings don’t really prepare teachers for. Because it’s not something you can memorise or replicate from a script. It’s something that develops through experience. Through awareness. Through understanding your own nervous system first. Recognising what happens in you when something uncomfortable arises. Noticing your own impulse to fill the silence, to explain more, to distract, or to move on.

And over the years, I’ve seen so many teachers struggle here quietly. Most questions that come up in my regular graduate mentoring calls are also around this topic when we are fine tuning these skills together.

Questions about what to do when someone becomes emotional in class.
How to respond when a student feels overwhelmed.
How to hold space without feeling drained afterwards.

So what happens when teachers are unprepared is that they try to manage what’s unfolding in the room. They talk more to fill the silence. They try to guide people out of their experience, even when nothing is actually wrong. Or they withdraw, because they’re not sure how to respond. And over time, teaching can start to feel heavy, draining. even a little bit intimidating.

Because holding space from a place of uncertainty, or from your own dysregulated nervous system, requires a lot of effort. And this is where something important needs to be acknowledged.

If we don’t understand what is happening in the nervous system, both in ourselves and in our students, we can unintentionally guide people into experiences that feel overwhelming rather than supportive. Especially in a practice like yin yoga, where stillness can bring things to the surface quite quickly.

This is why I don’t see trauma awareness as something optional anymore in this space.
Not as an additional module that sits on the side of a training, but as something that is woven into how we teach, how we speak, and how we relate to the people in the room.
It’s about understanding how the nervous system responds to stillness, to sensation, to introspection. Recognising that slowing down does not feel the same for everyone. For some, it can feel supportive. For others, it can feel unfamiliar, or even threatening. And learning how to guide people through that experience without pushing, fixing, or overriding what is happening.

This is the layer that I felt was missing when I was moving through my own path as a student and teacher. And it’s the reason why I developed my approach, the Meridian–Emotion–Nervous System Yoga Method®. To make sense of what is happening beneath the surface of the practice and understand how emotional patterns can show up in class, how the nervous system is constantly assessing safety. And how we can work with that, rather than unknowingly working against it.

Because once you begin to see this, the practice changes. As a practitioner, it becomes much more personal. You stop trying to make the pose look a certain way, or feel a certain way. Instead, you start to notice how you are meeting yourself in the experience. Where you might be bracing, pushing, disconnecting. And you begin to respond differently in those moments.

And if you’re a teacher, your role shifts as well. You move from guiding shapes to holding space. And that’s a very different kind of responsibility. It’s not about having all the answers. It’s about being able to stay present when something real is happening. To create an environment where people feel safe enough to explore, without being pushed beyond what they are ready for. And that kind of teaching doesn’t come from more information. It comes from experience, reflection, and being supported as you learn.

If you’re curious about this, I always suggest starting in your own body first.
Because this work makes much more sense when it is felt, rather than just understood intellectually. That’s exactly why I created the Yin Reset. It’s a simple, free, accessible way to begin experiencing this approach to yin yoga, where you can notice how your nervous system responds when there is more space, more choice, and more awareness in the practice.

And if you feel ready to go deeper into this layer, YinMersion is where we begin to explore it together in a more structured way.

Some people join because they want to teach. Others come because they want to understand themselves more deeply. Both are welcome.

If this resonates and you feel called to this work, I invite you take the first gentle steps:

Try the free Emotional & Nervous System Yin Reset, a short accessible yin practice to experience my signature approach

Ready to go deeper? Join my free YINMERSION event on 19-21 June 2026, a 3-day journey for yoga teachers and practitioners to explore how yin yoga can transform the way you relate to your emotions, body, and nervous system.


More resources:

Download my free eBook: Meridians & Emotions and Yin Yoga

Watch my free Trauma Awareness Webinar: Trauma Informed Yoga Foundations:

Join my next live 100HR Trauma Informed Yin Yoga & Chinese Meridians Teacher Training in Thailand before my maternity break:

1-10 Jun 2026

If travelling is not an option right now, you can also join my online self-paced 100HR Trauma Informed Yin Yoga & Chinese Meridians Teacher Training

Join the live 30HR The Art of Trauma-Informed Space Holding course in Thailand before my maternity break

Join the waitlist of the online self-paced 30HR The Art of Trauma-Informed Space Holding course launching in late-January

Check out what my previous graduates share about their experience:



Teacher Training Demo Video:



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