Assessing Your Student's Progress in Yoga, Part 2

Yoga can result in dozens of benefits, some of which your students may not be expecting.

By Timothy McCall, M.D.

In Part 1, we discussed some signs that indicate that a student is benefiting from his or her yoga practice. In Part 2, we'll broaden the focus.

We are a results--oriented society, and students who come to yoga therapy will reflect this. But by focusing too heavily on results--or by narrowing their focus only to those results they're looking for--your students may be missing the bigger picture, and even undermining their chances of success. And in many ways, obsession with outcome is precisely what the ancient yogic texts teach us not to succumb to. The Bhagavad Gita advises us to do our work and dedicate the fruits of our efforts to God. In other words, give up the illusion that you are in control of what happens--even if, with skillful action, you may be able to affect it.

Focus on What You Can Control

Focusing on your ideas about what is supposed to happen as a result of your practice takes you out of the present moment and into an imagined future, which is the antithesis of yoga. It's natural to have hopes and aspirations, but what's most important is what you do now. On a practical basis, since we can influence but can't control what happens as a result of our efforts, insisting on results that may not happen is a setup for frustration. And anxiety or dissatisfaction over a perceived lack of results tends to keep the body's stress response system activated, undermining attempts at healing by lessening immune function, making sleep less restorative, shifting blood flow away from the internal organs, undermining wound healing, and so on.

In therapeutic yoga, rather than focus on results (as natural as that may seem), it's more useful to ask your students to focus on what they can control. And the biggest thing they can control in regard to yoga therapy is how much and how regularly they practice, which is, of course, the biggest predictor of long-term success in yoga. You can set your students up for success in this regard by asking them to set realistic intentions for their practice. Then start them off slowly and gradually ratchet their practice up over time, as conditions permit.

Broader Measures of Success

While yoga therapy can be an effective approach to a wide variety of bodily conditions, yoga's traditional focus has been on the mind. Consider a student who comes to you hoping to lose weight but who, many months into her practice, has only dropped a few pounds. She may be frustrated at her perceived lack of progress, but you may be able to help her understand that other, beneficial things are happening to both her body and her mind, even if they may be more difficult to assess than her weight. This perspective may help her maintain the motivation to practice.

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