Instagram is a beast and it can eat you up and spit you out, while you’re tearing your hair, getting caught in the comparison game and desperately trying to understand the secrets of the algorithm. It’s time for some ground rules and here are the 10 commandments of Instagram, so you can be an upstanding digital citizen in the happy land of social media, too:

1. Thou shalt not worry about the number of likes you’re getting. You matter more than the number of likes on your post.

2. Thou shalt not say things on Instagram that you wouldn’t say in real life. Always be nice, polite and professional.

3. Thou shalt not play the follow/unfollow game. Ever.

4. Thou shalt use relevant hashtags with every post that are properly researched and will help you reach your target audience.

5. Thou shalt show up as your imperfect, authentic self. Don’t just share the highlight reel of your life, be real.

6. Thou shall stay away from posting if you’ve been drinking too much. Not that I ever did that (ahem).

7. Thou shalt never post photos of people that don’t know about it. Yes, that includes pictures of your yoga students in Shavasana.

8. Thou shalt rock your selfies, accept compliments gracefully, and enjoy celebrating the fabulousness that is you.

9. Thou shall care deeply about the captions you write. Don’t just share a Rumi quote with some hashtags. Use your captions to build a deeper connection with your followers.

10. Thou shalt chill out. It’s just Instagram.

So, those are my 10 commandements for Instagram for yoga teachers 😊