Understanding the Three Gunas in Your Teaching

Overview

Have you ever walked into a class and immediately sensed the energy—maybe students are sluggish and need waking up, or they're buzzing with nervous energy and need calming? That's the gunas at work. Understanding these three fundamental qualities of energy gives you a powerful lens for reading your class and adjusting your teaching in real time.

The gunas—tamas, rajas, and sattva—come from Samkhya philosophy, one of the six classical schools of Indian thought. They describe the natural tendencies of mind and energy that shape our experience. Every person, every moment, every class has a unique expression of these three qualities. Your job as a teacher is to recognize which guna is dominant and guide students toward balance.

Here's the beautiful part: you're already working with the gunas whether you know it or not. When you start class slowly to wake up tired students, you're moving them from tamas to rajas. When you end with Savasana to help them settle, you're guiding them toward sattva. Understanding the gunas simply makes this intuitive process more conscious and intentional.

Key Concepts

The Three Gunas

Think of the gunas as three fundamental energies that are always present, always interacting, with one typically dominant at any given time:

Tamas: Heaviness, Inertia, Grounding

Qualities: Stillness, darkness, heaviness, inertia, rest, confusion, lethargy

Positive Expression: Deep rest, sleep, grounding, stability, the ability to be still

Negative Expression: Lethargy, depression, confusion, indecision, feeling stuck

Tamas is the quality that allows us to calm down, relax, and restore our energy through rest and sleep. It's the heavy basin of the oil lamp, stable and grounded. Without tamas, we would never sleep or find stillness. But when excessive, tamas manifests as lethargy, confusion, and inaction—"the feeling of not knowing what you are feeling or what you want or need."

Rajas: Activity, Movement, Transformation

Qualities: Movement, passion, activity, energy, change, restlessness, desire

Positive Expression: Motivation, energy, the ability to act, transformation, vitality

Negative Expression: Agitation, anxiety, restlessness, inability to settle, burnout

Rajas is what allows us to get out of bed in the morning and move through the day feeling energized. It's the flowing oil in the lamp, with properties of movement and change. Without rajas, we would never move or accomplish anything. But when excessive, rajas keeps us from falling asleep at night or finding contentment—we're always seeking the next thing, never satisfied.

Sattva: Clarity, Harmony, Balance

Qualities: Clarity, lightness, harmony, balance, wisdom, peace, illumination

Positive Expression: Mental clarity, contentment, inner peace, wisdom, presence

Negative Expression: (Sattva has no negative expression—it's the goal state)

Sattva describes a calm, clear, and balanced state of being. It's the clean white wick of the lamp that produces the flame. Sattva is the quality we cultivate through yoga practice—the state where we're present, clear, and at peace. It's not about being passive or inactive; it's about acting from a place of clarity rather than compulsion.

The Oil Lamp Metaphor

David Frawley offers a beautiful metaphor for understanding how the gunas work together: imagine an oil lamp.

• The heavy basin (tamas) rests stably on the ground, holding everything
• The oil (rajas) has properties of movement and flow
• The clean white wick (sattva) rises through the center

The interplay of these three elements produces the flame—the light of consciousness. A healthy balance in life involves all three gunas, with one or the other dominant at the appropriate time. Without tamas, we would never sleep. Without rajas, we would never move. Without sattva, we would never experience clarity and peace.

Gunas in Samkhya Philosophy

In Samkhya philosophy, the universe is divided into purusha (consciousness) and prakriti (nature/matter). Prakriti consists of the three gunas, which describe the natural tendencies of mind and emotions. The unique expression of the gunas within each person gives them their energetic composition and sense of self.

This isn't just abstract philosophy—it's a practical tool for understanding the patterns of our students' energy and our own. When you can recognize which guna is dominant, you can work skillfully with it.

In Practice

Reading Your Class Energy

When students arrive, observe their energy. Are they:

Predominantly Tamasic?

• Moving slowly, looking tired or sluggish
• Low energy, difficulty focusing
• Slumped posture, heavy quality
• Monday morning energy, post-lunch drowsiness

Predominantly Rajasic?

• Chatty, restless, difficulty settling
• High energy but scattered
• Anxious or agitated quality
• Friday evening energy, pre-event nervousness

Predominantly Sattvic?

• Calm, focused, present
• Balanced energy
• Clear and attentive
• (This is rare at the start of class—it's what we're cultivating!)

Adjusting Your Teaching

Once you've read the room, adjust your approach:

For a Tamasic Class (Low Energy)

Opening: Keep it brief—don't let them sink deeper into lethargy

• Skip long seated meditation
• Move into gentle movement quickly

Pranayama: Use stimulating breath practices

• Kapalabhati (skull-shining breath) to raise energy
• Bhastrika (bellows breath) to build heat
• Ujjayi with emphasis on the inhale

Asana: Build energy gradually

• Start with dynamic movement (Cat-Cow, gentle flow)
• Progress to standing poses that build heat
• Include more vigorous sequences
• Keep transitions flowing to maintain momentum

Pacing: Faster, more dynamic, building heat and energy

For a Rajasic Class (High Energy/Scattered)

Opening: Take more time to help them settle

• Longer seated centering
• Grounding meditation or body scan

Pranayama: Use calming breath practices

• Nadi shodhana (alternate nostril) to balance
• Extended exhales to activate parasympathetic
• Gentle ujjayi with emphasis on the exhale

Asana: Channel energy into focus

• Start with grounding poses (standing poses, hip openers)
• Include longer holds to build concentration
• Use balancing poses to cultivate focus
• Emphasize alignment and precision

Pacing: Slower, more deliberate, with longer holds

For a Balanced Class (Already Sattvic)

Lucky you! These students are ready to go deep. You can:

• Explore more subtle aspects of practice
• Work with longer holds and deeper awareness
• Include more pranayama and meditation
• Focus on refinement rather than energy management

Guna-Based Pacing Through Class

Most classes naturally move through the gunas, regardless of where students start:

Beginning (Tamas → Rajas)

• Start where students are (often tamasic)
• Gradually build energy through movement
• Transition from stillness to activity

Middle (Rajas)

• Peak energy and activity
• Standing poses, core work, peak poses
• Dynamic, flowing, building heat

End (Rajas → Sattva)

• Gradually decrease intensity
• Move from activity to stillness
• Cool down, forward folds, twists
• Savasana (cultivating sattva)

This progression mirrors the energy arc we discussed in the Energy Arcs article, but now you understand it through the lens of the gunas.

Example: Morning vs. Evening Classes

Morning Class (Starting Tamasic)

• Students arrive sleepy, need waking up
• Start with gentle movement, build quickly to standing poses
• Include more vigorous sequences, core work
• Peak with energizing poses (backbends, standing balances)
• End with moderate Savasana (not too long or they'll fall back asleep)

Evening Class (Starting Rajasic)

• Students arrive wired from the day, need calming
• Start with longer centering, grounding poses
• Include hip openers, forward folds, gentle twists
• Peak with calming inversions (Legs Up the Wall, Shoulderstand)
• End with extended Savasana and meditation

Working with Individual Students

Remember, not everyone in class will have the same guna balance. While you sequence for the group's dominant energy, offer variations:

• Tamasic students in a balanced class: Encourage more vigorous variations
• Rajasic students in a balanced class: Suggest longer holds, more grounding
• Sattvic students: They're already balanced—let them explore depth

Common Questions

Can I change which guna is dominant?

Yes, that's exactly what yoga practice does! Through asana, pranayama, and meditation, we work to balance the gunas and cultivate sattva. But remember: the goal isn't to eliminate tamas and rajas—we need all three. The goal is appropriate balance.

What if I misread the class energy?

You'll know within the first 10 minutes. If you started too slow for a tamasic class, pick up the pace. If you started too fast for a rajasic class, slow down and add grounding. Stay flexible and responsive.

How do the gunas relate to the energy arc?

They're two ways of describing the same thing! The energy arc (build, sustain, release) maps onto the guna progression (tamas → rajas → sattva). Understanding both gives you a richer vocabulary for working with energy.

Are certain yoga styles more aligned with specific gunas?

Yes, generally:

• Power Yoga, Ashtanga: More rajasic (high energy, dynamic)
• Yin, Restorative: More tamasic (slow, still, grounding)
• Hatha, Iyengar: More sattvic (balanced, clear, precise)

But remember, any style can work with all three gunas depending on how you teach it.

What about my own guna balance as a teacher?

Great question! Your energy affects the class. If you're feeling tamasic, you might need to consciously bring more energy to your teaching. If you're rajasic, you might need to ground yourself before class. Cultivating your own sattva makes you a clearer, more effective teacher.

Next Steps

Now that you understand the gunas, you can:

1. Observe your students: Practice reading class energy before you start teaching
2. Experiment with pacing: Try different approaches for different energy levels
3. Notice your own gunas: Track your energy throughout the day
4. Study the patterns: Which times of day, seasons, or situations bring out different gunas?
5. Refine your intuition: The more you work with the gunas, the more naturally you'll adjust

Remember, the gunas aren't rigid categories—they're fluid, always changing, always interacting. Your role is to meet students where they are and guide them toward balance. Trust your observation, stay flexible, and let the gunas inform rather than dictate your teaching.

Related Articles

• Energy Arcs in Class Design - How energy builds and releases
• Class Structure - Five-stage class framework
• Chakra System for Teachers - Energy centers and their qualities
• Kosha Layers - The five sheaths of being

Sources

This article draws on traditional yoga philosophy and modern sequencing methodology from:

• Samkhya philosophy (classical Indian philosophical system)
• David Frawley, Yoga and Ayurveda (oil lamp metaphor)
• Mark Stephens, Yoga Sequencing: Designing Transformative Yoga Classes
• The Bhagavad Gita (traditional guna teachings)

Content informed by RAG queries to the Sutrix knowledge base (yoga_sequencing, light_on_yoga collections).