Directly commanding someone to move their body in a certain way can trigger a defensive response, particularly for survivors of trauma. By using invitational or permissive language yoga teachers may help students to recover feelings of autonomy, self-esteem, and even joy in their bodies. 

Invitational language creates an opportunity to experiment in their body and to build awareness of sensations on their terms. Many participants report discovering an ability to sense and feel where that was previously inaccessible and/or frightening to risk.

Invitational language allows students to develop interoception, the ability to recognize physical sensations and make informed choices about their reactions.

What does Invitational Language sound like?

Basically, you premise all or most directions in your class with an invitation that reminds students everything is optional. 

Some common examples of invitational language:

I invite everyone to take a comfortable seat on their mat. 

Feel free to stand or lay down if that’s more comfortable or accessible for you today. 

Eyes can be closed or open. 

Option to add movement by lifting and lowering your arms.

What’s the effect of Invitational Language?

Like most practices in yoga, invitational language can feel awkward and clumsy at first. 

After a few successful sessions, teachers start to recognize positive effects. Students that came into a mandatory class adamant about not liking yoga begin to soften. Students that insist they are only going to read a book during class surreptitiously listen to a guided meditation and may try other techniques in the privacy of their own rooms. Our teachers often share that their most sullen student surprised them by saying yoga was the best time of the week. 

How can repetitive invitations and extra options magically turn haters into fans?

It’s about the sharing of power and agency, particularly in settings where the class is mandatory. Invitational and permissive language communicates respect. Students get to be in charge their own experience, level of participation and their bodies.

Managing Safety

When there is an alignment issue, use inclusive, permissive, invitational language. When there is imminent concern change the pose, safety is rarely an issue in these classes as we are not introducing poses that can harm the student. Trauma-informed and/or sensitive sessions often prioritize the inner experience over physical challenge. The the choice of physically challenging practices can be useful - try to challenge folks with strength versus agility or complexity. For example: holding a plank pose can be quite challenging but not likely to hurt a student.

Create an environment where folks can find their version of the practice, while honouring what is arising for them and feel safe to ask questions. "If any practice that I teach feels painful or even uncomfortable - check in and let me know what is coming up." "How are you doing?"

What if students want direct instructions?

And what if students insist on knowing the “good” alignment? Try creating an opportunity for the student to investigate. For example:

If you put your foot right here, does that feel better or worse? 

Does that way feel more stable or less stable? 

Do you feel a pulling in sensation or a relaxing, letting go sensation?

Enquiry gives students skills to adjust their own practice, responding like this communicates to all the other students that everyone’s practice can look a bit different and still be “good.”

A New Relationship

Trauma-informed techniques like invitational language don’t only work on people in recovery. 

They can provide long-term practitioners with a fresh perspective. Holmes de Castro, a yoga therapist and trauma specialist, recalls a conversation with a student in a trauma-informed series, a woman who had also practiced Iyengar Yoga very seriously for more than 20 years. “She said, ‘You know I have never experienced my body in that way, and I’ve never listened to the signals that it's giving me.’” This profound response is what we are hoping for, that folks move past the old instruction to "do what they are told" and move towards a practice that is respectful of the body as it is today, in this moment. Patanjali talks about the ways of knowing a thing, and one of the most influential being to experience the thing.

However the real secret to using invitational language successfully is not about getting the phrases out every time. More important is the teacher’s belief that offering choices and skill-building in interoception, or body awareness, is more valuable than making postures look "text-book perfect".

The invitation comes from a place of truly being interested in collaborating with the students. If it’s just a technique that we are sharing, then it’s not super effective because people are interested in "what's in it for me". Let the concepts of curiosity and collaboration sink into your system and come through your own turn of phrase. Then see the effects of using it with your students/clients.