How to fix your yoga practice (without fixing anything)

Zahir Akram
Sep 22
2 min read

How to fix your yoga practice (without fixing anything)

The first thing to understand when you step onto your mat is this:

there is no single right or wrong way to do a yoga pose 😏🧐

I know that sounds odd. After all, every teacher seems to have their own opinion: “draw this in,” “tuck that under,” “pull this back.” It can feel like there’s always a checklist to tick before you’ve “done it right.” There are also a whole bunch of finger wagging jabronis on Instagram ready to tell you that what you are doing is WRONG.

But the truth is, you’re not being taught “the way.” You’re being shown that teachers way - their interpretation of the shape.

So what should you do as a student?

Take it all in. Everything you hear from me, from Ali, from Laura, from anyone who teaches you. Collect it into your own library in your mind.

Then (and here’s the part most people miss) balance that with your own intuition. How does the pose actually feel in your body? What happens when you stop trying to make it look right and instead make it feel right?

That balance point, between external guidance and internal listening, is the sweet spot.

I tell my students all the time in headstand for example: take on board eveything that I’ve said, and then find the middle ground between that and what you were already doing. Somewhere in that space, yoga happens.

Because this is the heart of yoga: introspection. Trusting your body, listening to it, and daring to honour what it tells you.

That’s how we stop yoga from being glorified stretching. That’s how we balance science and tradition. And that’s how we fix the biggest problem in modern-day yoga: people doing poses the way they’re told… instead of working out for themselves, what feels right.

Remember: yoga isn’t about touching your toes, it’s about what you learn on the way down… though if you do touch them, that’s a real feat.

That may be my worst pun ever.

Namaskar

Zahir

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