Do your students ask you questions, give you feedback, and share any physical or other concerns they may have in regards to practice? Do you wish they did that more often and/or in more depth, and wonder how you can encourage them to do so? Students know themselves - body, mind, and spirit - better than we instructors ever could. Yet they don’t always know what to do with that knowledge.
Our knowledge of practice with their insight on themselves can come together to lead to their best practice. Yet students don’t always consult us. Modern Western cultural traditions can put yoga instructors on a pedestal of authority, who are to be listened to and not questioned - rather than to engage and collaborate with.
The first way in which we can do that is more of a practical one - class structure and the common cues (to whole classes) that we offer at different points in class. For instance, certain questions are important to include in a class opening - if anyone is injured or has a more chronic anatomical issue, if anyone is relatively new to yoga (first to fifth class), and if anyone might be pregnant (but anyone a good deal along, with a very evident “baby bump”, should be directed towards a prenatal class).
To end class, you can offer students the opportunity to take versions of more restful poses (such as supine twists and gentle hip openers, including Lizard Pose and Figure-4) that work best for them. Throughout class you can remind them to take what they need for themselves, in such ways.
Yet this method is likely not best to include in classes specified as beginner classes, wherein students will most likely need more guidance (for safety and benefits of poses) and confidence to flow on their own. With more experienced students, however, you can assure them of their capability to flow by their own intuition - and trust that they can really do so.
It can be direct, such as direct conversation or non-verbal working together (such as through gentle hands-on assists, with permission understood through other ways). To bring forth something even more specific, I would like to describe a particular method of a favorite teacher of mine. What specifically strikes me about her teaching is her use of questions - sometimes verging on a Socratic method.
Yet the advantage of leading students to be more reflective, and truly more engaged in class through that deeper thinking, is certainly all the worth it - in my humble opinion. In addition, her kind and assuming - very much non-intimidating - demeanor likely balances out any of that discomfort. That addresses another significant aspect of teaching that determines students’ levels of willingness to engage as students - the energy the teacher brings.