Hello Terra,
I realize you ask for opinion however I am not able to supply that. What I can supply is that which you and I share with others - Yoga.
There are three elements in your post which I 'd like to touch on. The first is a clarification of Yoga, the second is the motivations for student behavior in class, and the third is the method or methods the teacher can use to handle student motivations (number two above).
Yoga is a vast body of wisdom encompassing a myriad of tools for human development. Poses or postures (asana) are but a sliver of a tool in that box. There’s nothing wrong with asana, in fact it can be very beneficial, however it is not Yoga. Ergo a student who can stand on their thumbs and do so quite well does not necessarily manifest any yoga in their life at all - especially when they are disrespectful to the teacher, distracting to other practitioners, and aggrandizing their own ego (at the expense of others).
When a student comes to class they have agreed to leave a bit of their personal practice at home in order to practice in a class setting, with others, as a collective, in harmony. These are important components of a group practice unless it is a practice specifically designed for each person to do their own thing.
[B]Three basic reasons[/B] for students to do something other than what is being instructed. I’ll address them individually.
[B]Misinterpretation of an instruction[/B] - this the teacher corrects with another instruction, a demonstration, a touch, or an assist.
[B]Injury, overly stiff or overly mobile[/B] - again these cases are where the student and teacher are IN relationship to each other and the teacher is providing modifications for that student in that situation at that time.
[B]Ego[/B] - the craving to be seen and recognized is so strong in the student that they are unable or unwilling to relinquish their personal practice to practice in harmony with others. In these cases the student does other poses not being instructed. It is completely inappropriate, in a class setting, for a student to not follow along with the teacher (except in reason 1 and 2 above). It is both disrespectful to the teacher, their training, their planning, and to the other students who have come to collectively practice and learn.
[B]Now what to do[/B].
If the teacher has a deep understanding of yoga there are many avenues, many ways to guide the student. If the teacher is merely a choreographer then it becomes difficult. It can also be more difficult if management is not completely behind the teacher. In either case you are just addressing in-class behavior. What happens on the rest of the gym floor is up to the director of the facility.
In class begin to teach the students the concept of harmonious practice. Teach them to exhale at the same time, teach them to inhale at the same time. Teach them to stay very focused on the poses and instructions at hand and to discover if they can muster enough power to remain there (focus) or if they are allowing weakness into their minds and wandering off to other formations, other thoughts, other breath etcetera. Teach them that real power is being able to bring yourself completely to one thing and that one thing, in a class, is that thing which the class is doing - not something the class is not.
Additionally, walk over to those students doing other things and ask them why they are not following the class or why they are doing that particular thing. Give them a chance to explain their perspective. You can simply say “please don’t bind in this pose” or “no mudras please”.
If this doesn’t have effect over the span of a few weeks then have a face-to-face with any continuing offenders. Be very kind, very gentle, very compassionate. Also be very direct. Tell said student(s) that you are efforting to unify the class and craft an energetically harmonizing practice in the way(s) you’ve been trained…and you’d like their participation and cooperation.
