77: Letting Go of Alignment (And What To Teach Instead) with Derek Cook

The Mentor Sessions

I think many of us would agree that a strict, dogmatic focus on alignment in asana doesn’t really serve our students, but the question you may be asking next is... what do I teach then? If I’m not telling students the right or wrong way to move their body, what am I teaching them? How do I communicate information about movement without taking away my students' agency?

My friend Derek Cook is here to take us on a deep dive into anatomy, biomechanics, and pedagogy as we attempt to answer some of these questions!

In this episode you’ll hear:

• overarching themes we see in lineages that have an emphasis on alignment
• how bodies grow and change, the role trauma plays, and why that matters to yoga teachers
• what changes when we look at how a body is ORGANIZED as opposed to how it is aligned
• a breakdown of many of the most commonly used aesthetic cues and when they make sense to use and when they don’t
• how Derek decides what to teach!

Learn More From Derek:

• At his online class library, The Single Point Yoga
• On Instagram here and here