If you’ve been practicing yoga for a while, you’ve probably heard both sides of the alignment debate. On one hand, there’s the beautiful message that yoga is for every body – that trying is more important than perfection, and that your version of a pose is valid no matter what it looks like.
On the other hand, you might have encountered teachers who seem obsessed with tiny details, asking you to “spiral your thighs” or “broaden your collarbones.”
Here’s what I’ve discovered: these two approaches don’t have to be at odds with each other. In fact, when you understand alignment properly, it becomes one of the most inclusive tools in yoga.
Alignment Details Actually Help!
I used to think all those specific alignment cues were just yoga teachers showing off their knowledge. Then I experienced an Iyengar class where the teacher spent ten minutes explaining how to position my legs in triangle pose. She had me pull the skin on my calves up, press my front thigh back, and spiral my back leg – instructions that sounded almost ridiculous.
But something magical happened. Suddenly, a pose I thought I knew became completely different. I could actually feel my core working, my spine lengthening, and a deep stretch through my side body that I’d never accessed before. The detailed instructions didn’t make the pose harder to achieve – they made it more accessible to my specific body.
This is the beauty of precision in yoga. When a teacher tells you to “engage your inner thighs” in warrior III, they’re not being picky. They’re giving you the key that might unlock your balance, or help you find stability you didn’t know was possible.
The Difference Between Perfectionism and Body Awareness
There’s a crucial distinction here that often gets missed. Perfectionism in yoga looks like forcing your body into a predetermined shape because you think that’s what the pose “should” look like. Precision, on the other hand, is about understanding what the pose is trying to do and finding the most effective way for your unique body to experience those benefits.
When I tell you to “draw your shoulder blades down your back” in downward dog, I’m not asking you to look like the person next to you. I’m helping you discover how to create space in your neck and shoulders, which might be exactly what your computer-hunched posture needs.
The goal isn’t to achieve some textbook version of the pose. It’s to use alignment principles to help your body work more efficiently and safely, regardless of your proportions, flexibility, or physical limitations.
How Props and Precision Work Together
One of the most beautiful things about the Iyengar approach is how it uses props not as “cheating” tools, but as ways to help you access proper alignment. A block under your hand in triangle pose isn’t there because you’re “not flexible enough.” It’s there so you can experience the true action of the pose – the spiral through your torso, the grounding through your legs, the opening through your chest.
This is inclusion through precision. Instead of struggling to touch the floor and missing everything else the pose has to offer, you use the prop to find your optimal alignment and actually feel what triangle pose is supposed to do for your body.
The same goes for straps, bolsters, and blocks in other poses. They’re not accommodations for your limitations – they’re tools that help you access the deeper layers of each posture.
When Details Make the Difference
Have you ever been in a pose where you felt like nothing was happening? You’re in the shape, you’re breathing, but you’re just… waiting for it to be over? This is often when alignment details can transform your entire experience.
In seated forward fold, for example, you might be slumping over your legs, focused only on how far forward you can go. But when a teacher cues you to “lengthen your spine as you fold,” suddenly you discover there’s a whole different pose happening. Your hamstrings start to release, you feel work in your core, and the forward fold becomes active rather than passive.
These aren’t arbitrary rules – they’re invitations to explore your body more deeply and find sensations you might have been missing.
Your Body’s Secret Language
Here’s what I love most about detailed alignment work: it teaches you to listen to parts of your body you didn’t even know existed. When a teacher asks you to “move your kidneys in” or “widen your sitting bones” or “pull your toes and your arches back towards your body”, you’re forced to develop a more sophisticated relationship with your own anatomy.
This isn’t about perfection – it’s about awareness. The more precisely you can sense what’s happening in your body, the better you can adapt poses to serve your needs on any given day.
Maybe today your lower back needs more support, so you modify the twist slightly. Maybe your shoulders are tense from stress, so you focus on releasing them in each pose. This kind of responsive practice only becomes possible when you develop the body awareness that comes from paying attention to alignment details.
Finding Your Authentic Expression
The ultimate goal of alignment work isn’t to make everyone look the same in poses. It’s to help each person find their most authentic expression of each posture – the version that serves their body best.
Your triangle pose will look different from mine based on our different proportions, injuries, and abilities. But when we both understand the underlying principles – how to ground through our legs, how to create length through our spine, how to open our chest – we can each find our own version that delivers the pose’s intended benefits.
This is true inclusion: not ignoring differences, but understanding how to work skillfully with them.
The Joy of Going Deeper
If you’ve been practicing yoga for a while and feel ready to explore beyond the basics, don’t be afraid of teachers who offer detailed alignment instruction. These cues aren’t meant to make you feel inadequate – they’re invitations to discover new layers of poses you thought you already knew.
The next time a teacher gives you what seems like a nitpicky instruction, try it with curiosity instead of judgment. You might be surprised by what you discover. That tiny adjustment to your pelvis might be the key that finally makes warrior II feel sustainable. That shift in your shoulder blades might transform your chaturanga from a struggle into a moment of strength.
Yoga is big enough to hold both the message that every body is welcome and the invitation to explore your body with precision and care. In fact, these two approaches work best when they support each other, creating a practice that’s both inclusive and transformative for every person who steps onto the mat.
