5 Things Your Yoga Teacher Wants You to Know

1. When your teacher sees you struggling, she remembers what it was like when she first struggled with that pose, too. You might not get permission to come out of the pose early, but your teacher is oozing with compassion for you and hoping you will learn the same lessons from it that she did.

2. Though yoga teachers do get a crash course in anatomy, injuries are probably not your teachers forte unless he has experienced that injury at some point himself. It's your responsibility to take care of your body and make sure you're not pushing yourself too hard.

3. By trade your yoga teacher is probably not a comedian. She tries her best to entertain you during class and tells all her best jokes. She really wishes you'd at least give her a courtesy chuckle—even when she's not funny.

4. Unless your teacher is a special case, he's probably not making much money teaching. Instead, he's sharing his knowledge with you because he loves yoga and he wants to share it. He deserves your respect and appreciation.

5. Your teacher may appear nearly perfect to you—perfect poses, perfect body, or dazzling personality—but she's struggling with her own issues, trust me! We all find yoga because we need it. We're all human. And we all have faults—many faults.

So, how about it, teachers? What else do you wish your students knew?