Not Everything Is Just Yoga: Why Intention Still Matters

You’ve probably heard it before:
“There’s no right or wrong way to teach yoga — it’s all just yoga.”

It sounds inclusive. It sounds freeing.
But here’s the question I can’t stop asking:

If everything is yoga… then what is yoga?

Because I’ve been in classes that ignored the breath entirely.
I’ve seen sequences strung together more for aesthetic than purpose.
I’ve spoken to teachers who never opened the Yoga Sūtra once during their training.
And I’ve met students who have never been asked how they actually feel.

These things happen not because people don’t care but because they don’t know there’s something else.
Because the industry tells them yoga is a playlist, a vibe, a performance, a brand.

But tradition says something different.

Yoga has a purpose

Yoga wasn’t meant to be anything and everything.
It has a direction: to reduce distraction and steady the mind.
It has tools - breath, attention, intelligent adaptation - not just to move the body, but to transform how we relate to ourselves and the world.

This doesn’t mean there’s only one way to teach.
But it does mean we can’t just do whatever feels good and still call it yoga.

Yoga is adaptable, yes. But it’s not random.

What gets lost when “anything goes”

When we stop caring about intention, context, and structure, here’s what happens:

• Teachers feel lost, even after certification

• Students stay on the surface, never touching the deeper tools

• Yoga becomes exercise with Sanskrit labels

And perhaps most painfully, teachers trained in the full tradition start to feel like outsiders in their own field.

Teaching with purpose isn’t elitist. It’s necessary.

I teach the way I do not because it’s traditional for tradition’s sake, but because it works.
Because it adapts.
Because it respects the student in front of me.

So no, not everything on a mat is yoga.
And that’s not gatekeeping.
It’s just remembering what this practice was meant to be.

If you’ve felt this too…

If you’re a teacher who has quietly questioned the one-size-fits-all classes, the trend-hopping certifications, the pressure to make your practice look a certain way, you’re not wrong.

You’re just ready for something deeper.

That’s the work I share.
It’s not flashy.
But it’s honest, adaptable, and rooted in decades of lived study.

If you’re ready to teach yoga that actually is yoga, access our free introductory guide: Yoga Teacher not Yoga Influencer.