I asked AI to Make a Yoga Class. This is What I got.

I’m a weekly yoga teacher and most of the time I’m pretty inspired.

But then there are days I just can’t think of a thing to say. Anyone else? Can I get an amen?

It’s hard to be bright and encouraging, especially when the weight of a very difficult world is on our shoulders. So I thought, what the hell, let’s ask ChatGPT for some inspo.

If you haven’t discovered AI yet, there’s a whole world of information waiting for you. Yes, I know it might be the end of us. And I know it’s sometimes wrong. I am not here to debate the merits of AI. I just want to show you what it did.

At first, I was using ChatGPT for little things. At my age I sometimes forget the names of poses and people and places. “What is the name of the pose where one foot is behind your head?” Or, “Which God rides a peacock?” And OMG I know this is bad, “Who are the three Hindu Goddesses?” Honestly, I am appalled at my own brainlessness sometimes.

I’m not going to lie. ChatGPT has been pretty great. In seconds I had what I was looking for, and then actual, real context.

There came a day when I could not put one foot in front of the other, so I turned to AI and asked:

“What should I teach in yoga?”

Wait for it....

Wait....

A little longer. It’s thinking .....

And here it is, verbatim:

“Since you asked about hip structure before, and also for tips on core strengthening, here’s a theme that would feel both relevant and practical for you to teach:

“Strong Hips, Supported Core.”

Um. It gets worse, or perhaps better, because that is exactly what I like to teach.

“Opening Intention: Instead of pushing for range of motion, today we explore control. Strength creates freedom.”

It created an entire yoga sequence. I’ll summarize it for you:

“Begin with grounded awareness, then glute and hip activation, standing stability and finish with intentional stretching.”

OH MY GOD. This class was pretty good. In fact, if I had asked for a relevant theme it might have pulled one from my own books.

Then I took a bad class.

Not long after ChatGPT did my job for me, I happened to take a yoga class that was not so great. What makes a not-so-great yoga class? It could be different things for different people. I recognize that another person might have loved it, but for me, the movements were erratic, not linked by a commonality, and not even yoga poses. It was like, “Do this, and this, and this!” It felt like we were playing Simon Says.

Here is my takeaway: we need to be good at our jobs. Whether you are in technology or consulting, a writer or a yoga teacher, we need to work harder to provide the kind of context and experience that a machine cannot.

We need to be thoughtful when we put together a class. We need to watch the room and see if people are responding. If our plan isn’t landing, we need to pivot. If students are dropping like flies, then we need to adjust the flow. If students appear bored out of their minds, we need to move them onward.

But most of all, we need to connect with our students human being to human being, because that is the one thing that AI will never be able to do. And you better learn to do it fast, or the next time you lead a senseless sequence someone will walk out and ask ChatGPT to do it better.

Michelle Marchildon is the Yogi Muse. She is an award-winning writer and the author of four books on yoga and life. She teaches movement in Denver Colorado, where you will always get the real thing and not an AI simulation.