What Makes a Yoga Practice Advanced? (Hint: It’s Not the Poses)

Pause for a moment. Take a deep breath.

Now, ask yourself: what does it mean to have an advanced yoga practice?

If your mind immediately jumps to complex arm balances, deep backbends, or seamless transitions, you’re not alone. We’ve been conditioned to believe that an “advanced” yogi is the one with the most impressive physical abilities—the person who can float, invert, and fold with effortless grace.

But what if that’s not what makes a practice advanced at all?

Awareness Over Achievement

In The Untethered Soul, Michael Singer reminds us that true freedom isn’t found in controlling the external world but in learning to witness our internal one. The same is true in yoga. Your practice isn’t measured in shapes—it’s measured in how honestly you show up.

An advanced practice isn’t about collecting postures; it’s about deepening awareness—of your breath, your tendencies, your habits, and the subtle ways your body communicates with you. It’s about knowing where you thrive, where you compromise, and whether you’re even aware of those things in the first place.

A deep backbend isn’t “advanced” just because it’s deep. It’s advanced when it’s done with integrity—when you can recognize where you’re pushing beyond your edge, where you’re holding unnecessary tension, and when you have the patience to let things evolve over time. No rush. No force. Just presence.

As Patrick Beach often says, yoga is a practice, not a performance. There’s no gold star for forcing a shape your body isn’t ready for. Instead of chasing an aesthetic, the true work is in developing the awareness to listen, adjust, and adapt—on your mat and in life. Advancement isn’t about “achieving” postures, but about understanding the journey itself. Are you paying attention to how you move? Are you honoring where you are, rather than where you think you should be? This is what makes a practice truly advanced.

The Teacher’s Perspective: Guiding with Confidence

This same awareness applies to teaching. Many yoga teachers feel insecure when it comes to guiding students through “advanced” postures. They were taught how to do the poses, but not necessarily how to break them down, modify them, or guide students through progressions and regressions with confidence.

But here’s the thing—advanced teaching isn’t about demonstrating perfect shapes. It’s about knowing how to meet students where they are and offering them a path forward.

Can you spot where a student is compensating in a pose? Do you understand how to help them build strength and control over time? Can you offer variations that empower them, rather than just telling them to “skip” the pose if it’s too hard? This is the art of holding space as a teacher—seeing your students clearly, meeting them where they are, and offering them a path forward.

Carling often talks about the power of understanding movement, not just mimicking it. When we know more—about functional anatomy, biomechanics, and the why behind the movement—we can teach with more clarity and confidence. Instead of seeing a pose as something to conquer, we start seeing it as a process, one that unfolds uniquely for each body. PB and Carling geek out about this during the Body Reading & Adjustments workshop.

By learning to observe rather than impose, teachers create a space where students feel supported rather than intimidated. It’s not about handing out a one-size-fits-all adjustment—it’s about being present, paying attention, and guiding with awareness. The more we understand, the more we can truly share this practice.

The Physical Practice: Strengthening the Foundation

Yes, awareness is key. But physical progress still matters. Many practitioners and teachers hit a plateau not because they aren’t trying hard enough, but because they don’t have the right tools to move forward. Maybe they lack strength in key areas. Maybe they’re missing an essential movement pattern. Maybe they just haven’t been given the right progressions to get there.

PB talks about this all the time—if you want to get better at something, you have to understand what makes it work and then actually practice it. You can’t do that in a moving class. There’s value in flow, sure, but progress takes repetition, attention, and time spent breaking things down. It’s about seeing where you’re at, understanding what it takes to get where you want to go, and following a process to build that skill over time.

Advancing your practice—whether for yourself or your students—requires understanding how the body works. It’s not just about trying harder; it’s about training smarter. That means intelligent sequencing, proper preparation, and sustainable approaches to movement—giving yourself (or your students) the time and space to actually build strength, control, and confidence. This is where real change happens.

✹ ✦ Taking the Next Step ✦

If you’re feeling stuck—whether in your own practice or in your ability to teach with confidence—structured guidance can make all the difference.

The Advanced Asana Course is designed to bridge that gap. With step-by-step breakdowns of complex postures, intelligent regressions and progressions, and deep dives into the mechanics behind the movement, this course helps you build a practice (and teach a practice) that is both strong and sustainable.

No rush to be anywhere else. Just presence, playfulness, and diligence.

Because that’s what makes it advanced.