As yoga teachers, we often talk about ‘holding space’. It is one of those phrases that makes complete sense inside the yoga world and can sound rather peculiar outside it.
Yet holding space is an important teaching skill. Whether you are teaching a weekly yoga class, facilitating a workshop, leading a retreat or gathering people in a sharing circle, you have a responsibility to create an environment where people feel supported, respected and able to participate in a way that works for them.
In this workshop with yoga teacher Julia Davis, we explore what holding space actually means and how yoga teachers can facilitate sharing circles with greater confidence, care and awareness.
What Does ‘Holding Space’ Actually Mean?
Holding space begins long before somebody shares something deeply personal.
At its simplest, it means creating an environment where students feel able to communicate their needs. That might be a student telling you about a knee injury before class, asking about accessibility or letting you know they need a different option.
It includes the practical details too. Starting and finishing when you said you would. Preparing the room. Giving clear instructions. Setting expectations. Thinking carefully about confidentiality, safeguarding and the needs of the people attending.
These seemingly small things help create trust.
Holding Space Does Not Mean Fixing People
Yoga teachers often enter this work because they want to help people. The difficulty comes when helping quietly turns into believing we need to fix whatever somebody brings to us.
We do not.
Sometimes somebody needs to speak and simply be heard. A response as simple as, “Thank you for sharing that with me,” can acknowledge their experience without turning the yoga teacher into a therapist, counsellor or problem solver.
Part of responsible space holding is also recognising the limits of your knowledge and knowing when somebody needs support beyond your professional scope.
How to Facilitate a Sharing Circle
Sharing circles can work beautifully within yoga workshops, retreats, teacher trainings and community classes. They give students an opportunity to reflect upon their experience rather than simply completing a practice and immediately heading home.
Good facilitation needs structure.
Consider how the physical or online space is prepared, how long you have available and what you are inviting people to share. Be clear about confidentiality and whether participation is optional. Not everybody will feel comfortable speaking in a group, and silence can be a valid way to participate.
Prompts can also help. Rather than asking a broad question and hoping twenty people somehow intuit your timetable, offer a specific question or invite each person to share one sentence. Smaller groups or breakout rooms can make sharing more accessible for people who feel less comfortable speaking to the whole group.
When time is short, a one word closing circle can be surprisingly effective.
Create Inclusive Spaces for Different Voices
Facilitating a circle does not necessarily mean ensuring everybody speaks for precisely the same amount of time.
Sometimes it means noticing whose voices are usually heard and deliberately creating room for people with lived experience to speak.
In a training about menopause, for example, somebody who has experienced menopause may have something particularly valuable to contribute. In a conversation concerning a particular community, people belonging to that community may need more space while others practise listening.
Holding space therefore involves more than inviting people to talk. It requires us to listen carefully to who is speaking, who is silent and whose experience needs room.
You Cannot Guarantee a ‘Safe Space’
We often describe yoga classes and sharing circles as safe spaces, but we cannot completely guarantee another person’s experience of safety.
What we can do is create thoughtful boundaries and remain vigilant.
When facilitating meditation or Yoga Nidrā, for example, the teacher remains responsible for the room rather than disappearing into their own practice. With larger groups, additional facilitators or safeguarding support may be needed.
Clear timing, considered language, confidentiality, appropriate boundaries and a willingness to receive feedback all contribute to a more supportive environment.
Yoga Teachers Need Space to Be Held Too
There is another side to holding space that is easily forgotten.
If you continually hold classes, circles, retreats and communities for other people, where are you able to put down what you are carrying?
Developing listening partnerships can be helpful: relationships where each person has space to speak and be heard without immediately being advised or fixed.
Community matters for yoga teachers too. We need colleagues, friendships and spaces where we are not always the person facilitating everyone else’s experience.
Holding space is not about having the perfect words when something difficult arises. It is about preparation, boundaries, listening, appropriate responsibility and creating enough structure for people to have their own experience.
And sometimes, the most skilful thing we can offer is simply our attention.
Find out more about Julia’s work: https://finchleyyoga.com/
RELATED: The Art of Circe Holding
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