If you’ve been practicing yoga for a while, you understand that yogis tend to get into patterns. For instance, perhaps your first instructor always did Warrier I with her hands together overhead, so regardless of how your current teacher does it, you still do it the “old” way–partially in honor of your first instructor and partly because it’s comfortable. You’re used to it. I just feels right.
It’s time to challenge yourself. Take your body out of its comfort zone, and try something new. Your muscles need to work in different directions once in a while, and frankly, so does your brain. Although we all have poses that just feel great to us, yoga shouldn’t be too cozy. Unless you’re specifically doing a meditation session and working to get your body in an extremely relaxed state, push yourself to do something different. Even something as simple as turning the palms upward instead of downward during Warrier II can work the muscles in a fresh way and make you feel as though you’ve accomplished something.
I agree with getting out of your comfort zone, and I think it’s great for participants to experience other instructors, and for anyone teaching to have the chance to try other people’s classes as well.
I always start and end my yoga sessions the same way, (very limbering and meditative) but change the middle. In this way, people know what to expect at first, and honor the traditional yoga, while finding the changing of some poses a chance to get out of their comfort zone.
Namaste`