Yoga Adjustments: What yoga teachers should consider
Hold on to your hats, we’re about to dive deep into the world of yoga adjustments. It’s a complicated world; a consensual, intelligent, sensitive yoga adjustment can be an incredibly magical moment.
But.
An uninvited hands on yoga assist, that’s borne out of an intention to make a particular shape, or to deepen an already challenging sensation, can be harmful. And the first rule of yoga is: non-harm.
So, let’s take a look!
The evolution of yoga adjustments: A subjective view
When I first started teaching yoga, in 2013, I definitely felt as though not offering a physical adjustment equated to providing half a yoga class to my students. I can’t put my finger on where this feeling originated from, but it certainly was palpable.
A decade ago, physical adjustments were much more common and consent was . However, since then, significant discussions have emerged about the ethics of adjustments and the potential for chronic abuse. Consequently, any conversation about adjustments must now commence with a focus on consent, as it should have all along.
Consent for hands on yoga assists
Getting consent is absolutely non-negotiable. The depth of inappropriate behaviour has highlighted how the discussion of consent has to be clear, open and before the physical adjustment takes place. It sounds so obvious doesn’t it, this should have always been the case!
Opt-in consent for yoga adjustments
I personally would recommend opt-in consent, meaning that someone is telling you that they do want adjustments, rather than that they don’t. And I’d recommend this not being a ‘hands up if you want adjustments’ at the beginning of the class - you may well forget who has said what, and people may well feel exposed and they may go with the majority to not feel embarrassed. Of course that depends on the person, the environment and your relationship with them, but to get consent that you’re sure about; give people time to consider it and doing it before class helps.
Consent can be withdrawn
I'd also recommend that whatever the yoga student does to indicate consent can be retracted, in case they change their mind mid-class.
You can decide to not offer adjustments
Lastly in terms of consent, if you're feeling a bit under the weather, or tired, or you have an injury and you'd prefer to not offer adjustments, it's best for them to have not been offered, as people who did want them, will be disappointed.
Consent for hands on assists: Your action steps
So - in terms of action steps, have a think about the different places you teach, and what measures those places, or you, will need to put in place to get opt-in consent. If you rent out a space, you might like you get your own cards printed, or if you teach in a studio, just check what they've got in place and that it's clear to you.
Potential reasons behind offering adjustments
In short, you'll likely offer adjustments to help someone find safer alignment, or to help them deepen the pose.
Offering adjustments to make someone’s asana look more like what you'd expect or what you're used to is a huge red flag. Often we learn adjustments on a teacher training, where our fellows trainees are of course, experienced yogis, probably strong and flexible and very connected to their body. You practice your adjustments on them and they look like the asana from your yogi textbook. But this doesn't translate to the general public. So many people who come to open level yoga classes have tension, are disconnected from their bodies, so much so that their deepest expression of poses might look like your warm up.
Identifying the intention behind your adjustment
If you've been to one of our adjustments trainings in the past, you'll know how we stress the importance of observing observing your student's bodies and how they move, observing how your instructions fall on people, observing your students facial expressions and the colour of their faces!
All that's pretty straightforward hey?
I'd also invite you to observe yourself.
When you feel compelled to move towards someone to offer an adjustment, can you stop for a beat and ask yourself, what's the intention behind the adjustment. Is it to make the asana more stable? More easeful? More challenging? More like the alignment you're used to? Deeper? There's no right or wrong intention, but you must be aware of it in order to execute the adjustment.
Getting feedback after your hands on assists
You'll get feedback from your yoga student before, during and after the adjustment. This might be verbal, but it'll (more) likely be non-verbal, via facial expression, their breath, body language or all three.
As you approach the student, does anything change? Do they try to see what you're doing, do they tense up, do they relax?
As you're offering the adjustment, does the student hold their breath, or can you see the breath deepen? Can you tension appearing anywhere?
As you complete the adjustment, what happens? Does the student pause to hold or rub anything indicating discomfort? Do they hold the alignment you've offered to them? Do they look zen, or confused, or a bit taken aback?
All this goes in to the big box of learnings, which can give you feedback about your approach, the start, middle and completion of the adjustment and the immediate time after.
It's common for a yoga teacher to say, mid-adjustment - 'how is that?' or something like that, most people are polite, so they won't say 'errr that doesn't feel great'. They'll say 'fine, thanks'. So rather than saying 'how is that?' you could say ‘Would you like more or less pressure, or more or less intensity?’ or ‘Do you think you could find this on your own?’ to help get feedback without them having to say it's not what they want.
In an ideal world, after class, you'd approach anyone that you had any negative signals from to say 'Have you got a second? I'd love to help you in your alignment for x asana that I adjusted you in earlier, first of all, can I ask how the adjustment felt, and was it clear what I was trying to help you do" and just learn from the response.
And getting feedback leads us directly in to .....
Building your confidence with adjustments
Aside from teaching people who are pregnant, from experience, I would say that offering physical adjustments is the part of teaching yoga that gives yoga teachers, especially new yoga teachers, the most fear.
And in my humble, this fear only goes away with experience and confidence. On our adjustments trainings, we practice practice practice common adjustments, get feedback, and practice some more, with the aim of really instilling confidence and experience, which do only come with practice.
So, to get experience, you'll want to practice on willing people first, and I'd say you're looking for people; friends, family, yoga students, who you can trust to be honest with you. There is no point practicing on people who will say ‘Oh yeah, that felt fine' even if it didn't; there's nothing to be gained by you or them and there's potentially a lot to be lost. Ask for feedback during and after the adjustment; how did it feel, where did the person feel it, could they find the alignment again on their own, etc.
It's worth saying here that with such a lot of negativity surround adjustments, it can feel easier to just not give them. But think back to any and all positive experiences you've had when being adjusted, maybe it unlocked an asana for you, maybe it just felt amazing, maybe it helped you relax... And bear these positive experiences in mind, they'll help keep you motivated as you're crafting your knowledge and experience.
If you want to join a tailored training all about adjustments, we have good news! We have one coming up: