There’s a Rude Student in Class. Now What?

This is Ashtanga Yoga Tech Support. Real questions from the community, answered.

The Question

Rude student?

Our Response

Rude is a wide net, so sort it by mechanism first. Is the behavior aimed at you (snide comments, boundary-pushing, ignoring instructions) or is it ambient (loud, disruptive, sprawling onto other people’s mats)? The fix is different for each.

If you’re the teacher: name the behavior, not the person, and keep it about the room. “Let’s keep the talking to a minimum during practice” lands better than “you’re being disrespectful.” Most rudeness in a Mysore room is actually anxiety or ego doing a bad job of self-regulating, and a calm, specific boundary defuses 90% of it. Hold the line consistently and you rarely have to escalate.

If you’re a fellow student: it’s not your job to manage them. Protect your own attention, and if it’s genuinely disruptive or unsafe, tell the teacher privately. That’s what they’re there for. Don’t try to teach a peer a lesson mid-practice; that’s two rude people now.

If it crosses into something predatory or coercive rather than just abrasive, that’s a different category entirely and you escalate, document, and don’t minimize.

More on Ashtanga Tech: More Student Types