Adam Husler details signs of a better yoga teacher

“Teaching quality and popularity are not the same thing,” says yoga teacher Adam Husler, co-host of the Honestly Unbalanced podcast who has taught classes, workshops, and teacher trainings around the world.

Class numbers instead rely on a complex mix of controllable and uncontrollable variables, from studio marketing, pricing, and location to style and fashion trends. Moving beyond those visible markers of popularity or online followings requires a deliberate shift in perspective.

Relinquishing the Need to Impress

The first sign of growth is feeling less pressure to prove yourself. Teachers frequently attempt to impress rooms by filling silent moments with complex anatomical cues, readings from obscure poets, or superfluous Sanskrit words.

Great instructors deliberately remove themselves from a lofty position of having completed yoga. Instead, they view themselves as fellow students who have simply traveled a little farther down the road.

Embracing Intellectual Humility

The second sign is becoming more comfortable saying I don’t know in response to student questions.

Husler compared overconfident instructors to the Dunning-Kruger effect, a cognitive bias where people with moderate experience assume they know vastly more than they actually do. A truly capable teacher instructs from real knowledge while keeping an open mind to new evidence or experiences.

Fostering Fledgling Autonomy

The third sign focuses squarely on student independence, where learners rely progressively less on the instructor.

Teaching is primarily education, rather than entertainment or motivational speaking. Instead of helping students blindly follow instructions, an experienced teacher empowers practitioners to understand the intention behind a pose.

This deeper pedagogical approach includes knowing precisely what range of movement is being explored and what breath supports the overall experience.