The Gunas: Why Every Yoga Teacher Should Know About These 3 Elements

Balance your classes by understanding the gunas—sattva, rajas and tamas are your new teaching superpowers.

Ever wonder why one moment you’re laser-focused and flowing like a vinyasa rockstar and the next you’re doom-scrolling TikTok in a burrito of shame and laundry? Let me introduce you to the gunas—the three primal forces shaping your mind, body and energy all the time, whether you know it or not.

What Are the Gunas?

In yoga philosophy, everything in the universe—yes, everything—is made up of various combinations of all three of these qualities/elements/attributes called gunas:

Sattva: clarity, peace, balance, wisdom (aka the “golden retriever in a sunbeam” vibe)
Rajas: action, desire, restlessness, ambition (think espresso-fueled productivity mixed with mild road rage)
Tamas: heaviness, inertia, confusion, dullness (couch-potato in 3-day-old leggings)

These aren’t “good vs. bad” qualities. We need all three, but as yoga teachers—and humans trying to keep it together—learning to recognize which one’s running the show and how to shift gears is an invaluable teaching tool.

Also, if your brain is buzzing with a similar concept, think ayurveda and the doshas-vata (composed of rajas and tamas), pitta (composed of rajas) and kapha (composed of tamas). The gunas are universal qualities that shape our mental and physical states. The doshas are biological energies, made up of the gunas. They’re similar in that in mental and physical diseased states, they are out of balance and cause problems.

Where the Gunas Show Up in the Yoga Sutras

Patanjali doesn’t drop a full “Guna 101” chart in the Yoga Sutras, but the concept is absolutely central—especially in understanding what we’re trying to liberate ourselves from. Also, Patanjali doesn’t always use the term “guna,” but often refers to the three elements, qualities, etc. Basically, when the text mentions the number three and seems to be referring to the building blocks of life, that’s a guna reference.

I’ll put the TL/DR version first: When the gunas are out of balance, our thoughts and behaviors leave subtle impressions (samskaras) that drive our future behavior. Yes, that second iced coffee and your overthinking spiral are karmically linked.

The big idea? The goal isn’t to eliminate the gunas—they're the building blocks of everything in nature. But through practice, awareness and meditation, you develop a kind of spiritual “Teflon.” The gunas are still there, but when in balance, they are energetically unimpactful and have no mental pull in enlightenment. That’s the freedom yoga is aiming for—not escaping the world, but moving through it with clear eyes, a steady heart and an unfuckwithable spirit.

I love to geek-out on the sutras, so read on if you want to know the main passages.

🧘‍♀️ Key references:

Sutra 1.16 – The first mention of gunas: “Indifference to the subtlest elements, constituent principles, or qualities themselves (gunas), achieved through a knowledge of the nature of pure consciousness, is called supreme non-attachment.
(tat param purusha khyateh guna vaitrshnyam).” In the highest level of non-attachment, pure consciousness is experienced without any awareness to humanness, nature or universe. It is all one.

Sutra 2.19 – “There are four states of the gunas…(vishesha avishesha linga-matra alingani guna parvani).” What follows is an esoteric list that goes beyond this blog and into PhD territory😉.

Sutra 4.13 – “Whether these ever-present characteristics or forms are manifest or subtle, they are composed of the primary elements called the three gunas. (te vyakta suksmah guna atmanah).” The “ever-present characteristics or forms” include all states of the conscious, subconscious and unconscious mind and include superpowers of the advanced practitioner—aka, the badass yogi who’s no longer jerked around by mood swings or mental chatter. (Still working on that? Me too.)

Sutra 4.14-4.16 – These sutras explain that the guna constitution of an inert object, like a rock, remains the same. However, “the same objects may be perceived by different minds, in different ways, because those minds” have different guna constitutions. Then, when you have different minds trying to communicate about an event, person or figurative concept (which have their own changing guna constitutions), you have an infinite amount of ways things can go south.

Why Do the Gunas Matter in Teaching Yoga?

Because your students show up with all three gunas in an unbalanced swing—every time, and likely so do you.

That over-achiever pushing into pincha every class? Probably rajas.
The student struggling to stay awake in savasana? Classic tamas.
The one who floats in, glows during practice and thanks you with a crystal-infused hug? That’s your sattvic soul in action.

Knowing the gunas gives you a superpower: the ability to meet students where they are and offer classes that bring balance instead of burnout.

How to Sequence with the Gunas in Mind

Let’s say it’s a rainy Monday and your class is full of people who look like they barely made it out of bed. You can feel it: tamas is thick in the room—low energy, foggy minds, zero motivation.

To balance tamas, you bring in rajas:

Start with dynamic movement like brisk Sun Salutations or shaking out the limbs
Use energizing cues and uplifting breathwork
Then, gradually guide them toward sattva with calming postures and a peaceful savasana

You didn’t force stillness. You moved through the energy, gave it somewhere to go, and then brought the group into clarity.

What About Mixed Guna Energy? (Because-Welcome to Every Class Ever)

In reality, your class will probably have a mix:

Rajasic students bouncing around with wild energy
Tamasic students dragging their bodies in with glazed-over eyes
A couple sattvic folks who are just vibing

The trick is to sequence for the group while offering options that meet individuals where they are.

Try this arc:

Begin in quiet grounding to settle excess rajas and help tamas arrive
Move into rhythmic but steady movement to activate tamas without overstimulating rajas
Hold postures to build focus and presence
Cool down into calming breath and meditation, inviting everyone into sattva

Your cues, pace and tone can guide students up or down the energetic ladder—no one left behind, everyone more balanced by the end.

Gunas in Real Life: Off the Mat, Still in Play

Your teaching isn’t just cueing poses—it’s energy work. The gunas show up in:

Your class planning (Did you schedule 3 arm balances for a room full of tamas?)
Your interactions (Are you pushing rajas onto your students when they really need sattva?)
Your self-care (Teaching from burnout = tamas + rajas’ evil lovechild)

Want to Go Deeper?

This is exactly the kind of thing we unpack in sessions like Sutra Study, Subtle Bodies and Masterful Sequencing in the 300-hour Advanced Teacher Training at Midwest Yoga Academy. We take big, beautiful yogic concepts like the gunas and teach you how to use them—in your sequencing, your self-study and your spiritual growth.

Because “advanced” doesn’t just mean harder poses. It means teaching with insight, purpose and a philosophy that sticks.

🧘‍♀️ Ready to Bring More Sattva into Your Teaching?

Our fall training is filling up, and we’d love to practice, nerd out, and grow alongside you.
Find out more here or message Carolyn (carolynatchleyyoga@gmail.com) or Michele (alignyourwork@gmail.com) and grab a spot in our next info session.

*All quotes from the Sutras are from swamij.com/yoga-sutras, my favorite sutra site.