A piece of paper doesn't make a good teacher. Here's what does:
Welcome. I'm Mandi Gardner. I practice Ashtanga five days a week, I'm currently in a year-long teacher training, and I'm opening a Mysore-style shala in Herriman, Utah.
Two questions before we start.
Have you ever stayed with a teacher long after part of you knew you weren't being taught?
Have you ever wondered what actually separates a good yoga teacher from a certified or authorized one?
If you said yes to either, this post is for you. Thank you for reading it.
What's in it for you
By the end, you will know what to look for in a teacher, what to walk away from, and what you're entitled to expect in a Mysore room. If you teach, or want to, you'll have a standard to hold yourself to. I'm holding myself to it too.
Why you should listen to me
I have practiced Ashtanga for more than 12 years. Before that, I started with one hot yoga class a week and kept that up for a decade. Then I moved into Mysore style at three days a week, then four, and now five. I'm the author of RISING. I'm in teacher training with Angela Jamison, who has practiced for more than 25 years and studied in India with R. Sharath Jois. In January, I'm going to Mysore myself.
As a forever student, continuing education is one of my core tenets. I have completed 700 RYS certified hours of training, practiced with R. Sharath Jois himself for 2 weeks in Miami in 2023, and now I am studying within a year-long Ashtanga yoga teacher training.
Those are the credentials. Here's what they don't show. I've been the student at the back of the room for a very long time. I know what it feels like to be seen, and I know what it feels like to be overlooked. I have a couple teacher training certificates. I'm telling you it isn't enough.
The three things that make a teacher
Character. Truthfulness, no harm, and clean boundaries.
Relationship. How the teacher treats the one student in front of them.
Self-study. How the teacher stays honest over time.
1. Character: satya, ahimsa, and boundaries
The eight limbs of yoga begin with the yamas, the ethical ground rules, before a single posture. Two matter most in a teacher. Satya is truthfulness. Ahimsa is causing no harm.
A good teacher starts with good intentions and real caring. Honesty means telling a student the truth when it's inconvenient: a plan changed, a role isn't coming, a posture is wrong. Ahimsa is not softness. A teacher can cause real harm by what they withhold, and by promising what they won't deliver. Integrity is simple: you do what you said you would do. And boundaries matter. Students are not objects of your attention or your desire. In the room, a teacher's mind belongs to teaching.
Here's an experience of mine. In 2022, I finished a teacher training with my longtime teacher. She told me I could teach in the Mysore program at a new location. I planned around it. I looked forward to it. Then that location never happened, and nobody told me. I eventually worked it out on my own. I don't know why. Maybe she dreaded an awkward conversation. I won't guess at her intentions. I know what it cost me: time spent waiting on a promise that had quietly died. A clear no would have been a gift. A carrot you never mean to deliver keeps a student hungry, hopeful, and small.
Honesty can also be simple. Another teacher once answered a lineage question with, I don't know, that isn't my practice. I respect that answer. It was true. It also showed me that students deserve a teacher in the room who can answer.
Test one: Does this teacher tell you the truth, mean what they say, and keep their attention on you?
2. Relationship: one student at a time
Mysore style is built on a one-to-one relationship. You practice at your own pace and the teacher comes to you. That only works if the teacher actually sees you.
A good teacher gives corrections. Withholding a correction is not neutral. It's a choice. Letting a student struggle can be real teaching, but only when the teacher is watching and does it on purpose for the student's growth. Struggle without attention is neglect. Tone matters too. A correction delivered like an inconvenience teaches a student to fear being corrected. And a good teacher makes room: a next step, a role, a place to grow. They are proud when a student passes them, not threatened.
Mine: I owe my first Ashtanga teacher years of practice and a love for this lineage. I'm grateful, and I mean it. I'm also going to be honest. I rarely got a correction. When I did, it felt like I'd inconvenienced her. I used to joke that her approach was to watch you struggle. Other students laughed in agreement. Then I matured, and one day I thought: holy shit, I'm not actually being taught. I had been doing some postures wrong for four years. Four.
Around then, an opportunity to teach a Saturday led primary class opened up and I jumped at it. I had ten years of practice. I had the Sanskrit names and the count memorized. I got no help, no coaching, no encouragement. I don't know why, and I won't guess. Later, in my teaching audit, I was told I needed to step in and give more advice. I had learned to assist only when the practice requires it, because that's how I'd been shown. That's when I saw that a teacher's feedback has to match what they model.
I came to learn Ashtanga from her. When I stopped feeling taught, I left. I didn't leave the lineage. I left the room. It was one of the hardest things I've done.
Test two: Does this teacher see you, correct you, and make room for you to grow?
3. Self-study: svadhyaya
Svadhyaya means self-study. It has two sides, and a good teacher does both.
First, study your inner world: how your moods, your history, and your ego shape the way you teach and the way you hear students. Second, study the ancient texts every day, not when it's convenient. A teacher who stops studying teaches from habit.
Self-study also means paying attention to your own negative feedback. When a student goes quiet, gets frustrated, or leaves, that's information. Listen before you defend.
No teacher can do this alone. Ego grows in a room where everyone nods. A teacher needs an accountability team, people who will say, that was wrong. A teacher also needs collaboration: other experienced teachers invited in to teach and run workshops, so students get a wider understanding than one voice can give.
Here's what I'm building into my shala: an accountability team, and guest teachers who bring what I don't. For more than eight years I've read wisdom texts every morning. Right now that's a translation of the Yoga Sutras and The Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice by T.K.V. Desikachar, the son of T. Krishnamacharya. It's the strongest habit I have.
And here's one honest thing about me. Perimenopause has made very early mornings hard, so I practice a little later than I used to. I'd rather tell you that than perform a dawn practice I can't sustain. Ahimsa applies to me, too.
Test three: Does this teacher keep studying, keep listening, and keep people around who will tell them the truth?
To sum up
A piece of paper says you finished a course. It doesn't tell you whether a teacher is honest, whether they will see you, or whether they keep studying. Look for three things:
Character: satya, ahimsa, and clean boundaries.
Relationship: a teacher who sees you, corrects you, and makes room for you to grow.
Self-study: a teacher who studies daily, listens to hard feedback, and is held accountable.
To my teachers, past and present: thank you. I mean it. What I've described here is the standard I'm asking of myself, and I hope you will hold me to it.
Be the first to know
If you want to learn Ashtanga from a teacher who will tell you the truth, see you, and keep studying, join the Foundations waitlist. It's an 8-week course, live on Zoom, and everyone who practices at the shala begins there. You'll be the first to know about the opening of the Ashtanga shala in Herriman, Utah.
