HANDS-ON ADJUSTMENTS INTRODUCTION Assisting your students in a safe and appropriate manner
By Carolyn Anne Budgell and Clara Roberts-Oss
“One of the major points I took away from the class is the importance of observation before “moving in.” As a teacher, you want to look at where energy is flowing and where it is blocked. (The Sanskrit word for these blocks of energy is “granthi.”) When you go to make an adjustment, you want to see what is more open and what is blocked, then make an adjustment in a way that opens the blockage.”
Why do we assist our students? To easily correct alignment/structure of their pose To get the student into their foundation To deepen a student’s understanding and feel for the asana To provide a hand to breathe into
What to consider and feel confident about before approaching a student Look at their foundation, firm and balanced? As opposed to shakiness.. Do you know the yogi? Are you familiar with their level of practice? Watch their breath (is it strong?) Is your body adequately matched to theirs? (height/weight, aware of how to protect your own body during assists) Beginner vs. advanced practitioner What is your intention as a teacher? Can you cue them verbally (to assist themselves)? Eg placing their hands on their own hip pointers or on their lower back. When Is the student ready yet? Will an adjustment impede the student’s sense of flow? Optimizing the asana? Stability of the asana: Both feet on the ground vs. balancing pose
How Observe and sync your breath with theirs Approach with confidence. Be ‘in yourself’ first (stable, calm energy). Adjust with the breath, generally adjust on the exhale if applying pressure. Use a whole hand adjustment (no poking), muscle vs. bone Adjusting is a dialogue. Always listen to what the student’s body language is telling you. Read the student’s face for over-exertion. Notice resistance and openings. Do not intrude on the space of surrounding yogis with loud talking. Have a clear strategy for exit once the adjustment is complete.
Ethics
1. No favorites 2. Sexual issues 3. Pre-class announcements 4. Consent
PRACTICE – have fun, be firm and confident in your assists!
Tadasana/Mountain Pose
To ground the lower body:
ACTION: Hands on hipbones, gently pressing down
BENEFITS: Gets students to ground down into their legs. Can lengthen their lower backs, if they’re tailbone roots downwards (use verbal cue if necessary)
* Option for palms on tops of shoulders to help soften.
Uttanasana/Standing Forward Bend
To lengthen the spine:
ACTION: One palm on sacrum, one hand gently lengthening the spine down
Ardha Uttanasana/Half Standing Forward Fold
To help widen the chest & engage shoulders:
ACTION: One hand on the sacrum, other hand’s middle and thumb on the shoulder blades bringing the shoulder blades closer together
To elongate the spine:
ACTION: One palm on the sacrum, pressing down into the legs, index and thumb around grasping the top of the neck, lengthening forward
Adho Mukha Śvānāsana/Down Dog
To have them root down into their hands evenly:
ACTION: Press your hands onto their hands, focus on grounding their thumbs and inner palms
To create more space between the shoulders and ears:
ACTION: Thumbs on the tops of their shoulders, fingers on the outsides of their arms, externally rotate their upper arms out
BENEFITS: Takes weight out of the tops of shoulders and gets the lats to engage more
To lengthen hamstrings:
ACTION: Peace fingers on their Achilles tendons or just below & draw the heels down
BENEFITS: Gets them to engage their quads.
To create more space in the side waist:
ACTION: Palms on the sacrum, pressing back and up
BENEFIT: Takes weight out of the shoulders and more into the legs
To lengthen lower back and hamstrings:
ACTION: Hands around the hipbones, tilting sit bones up and drawing the pelvis back.
Stronger adjustment than above:
ACTION: Elbows just below hipbones, forearms pressing into pelvis and lower side waist, interlaced fingers by lower back-press elbows and forearms towards the midline and tilt pelvis up and back
Plank Pose
THINGS TO OBSERVE: That wrists and shoulders are aligned. Ankles and toes are aligned. If collapsing in lower back, lift pelvis up.
If collapsing in lower back and not engaged in shoulders:
ACTION: Straddle them and squeeze their outer hips with your legs, place your palms on their shoulder blades and rotate their shoulders together and down their back. Cue them to broaden through their chest until Pecs engage. Have them also engage their abdomen.
BENEFIT: Protects lower back and engages pectorals
ACTION: Straddle them and wrap your fingertips around the sides of the shoulders and roll them back and as they come into chatturanga. *Check that they don't collapse in their lower back as they do this. Keep shoulders on their back as they move into Updog.
BENEFIT: Protects rotator cuff, strengthens biceps.
To protect the rotator cuffs:
TWO METHODS FOR STUDENTS TO UNDERSTAND ‘PROPER’ ALIGNMENT FOR CHATTURANGA:
1. To help students understand where their shoulders should be in chatturanga: While they’re in plank pose put a block underneath their hipbones and have them lower down onto it. Get them to roll their shoulders onto their back, take the block out from underneath them and they will feel their shoulders working properly.
2. Have them do high plank on their knees with their shoulders back and abdominals engaged. When they come down into chatturanga, have them lift knees off the ground and remain engaged in the upper body.
Virabhadrasana 1/A
If student is not engaging their back leg:
ACTION: One palm on their back foot, the other on their shin. Press their foot and shin back and down.
To externally rotate their front leg:
ACTION: Put one hand on their front hip crease, one hand on the outer lower thigh. Ground the hip crease by pressing down and externally rotate the thigh—that way the hip stays neutral, opening happens in the thigh.
BENEFIT: Student understands external rotation from the femur versus from the pelvis
To square their hips: ACTION: Keep your foot behind their back foot so they can press into it. Place your hands on the outer hips and manually square their hips. Cue them to draw their tailbone towards the earth (lift the pubic bone towards the belly button).
To help them lengthen their lower back and engage core:
ACTION: Place one palm on their belly, one on the sacrum, tilt their back body down and their front body up. Cue them to engage abdomen.
If their ribs jut out in front of them:
ACTION: Place your index/middle fingers on their lower front ribs, your thumbs on their back lower ribs. Draw their front ribs down and back and their back ribs up. Keep your hands there and have them breathe into their back ribs without moving their front ribs. *Subtle verbal cue: lift breastbone without ribs moving. BENEFIT: This will teach them that their ribs, heart, neck and shoulders can move independently of each other
If shoulders are bunched up by their ears ACTION: Place your peace fingers on their shoulders and draw them down their back. Have them breathe into their collarbones without lifting their shoulders.
Virabhadrasana 2
If student is not engaging in back leg:
ACTION: Place your foot onto outer back foot and have them press into it.
If student's front leg is internally rotating their front thigh:
ACTION: Stand in front of them, place your foot on their front foot, one hand on their inner thigh, the other in their hip crease (space between thumb and index fingers) and externally rotate their thigh by rooting their hip down and rolling their thigh out.
If their arms are uneven or not engaging:
ACTION: Place your hands on their forearms and pull the arms away from each other.
Trikonasana
If student is leaning too far forward:
ACTION: Stand behind them, press your outer hip into the glute of their front leg, one hand to the hipbone of their back leg, one hand on the top shoulder. Press into their hip and lean their front body back, opening their front body and working towards having their lower ribs line up with their front leg.
If their front knee is internally rotated:
ACTION: Take your index and thumb to their quad and externally rotate their thigh, rolling the knee out. The back hip should draw forward and down (internally rotate). From here, place your hands on their rib cage and roll their torso open towards the sky.
To lengthen their bottom side waist:
ACTION: kneel beside them, place thumb and index around their front hip crease, other hand lifts their bottom arm. Press their hip back, the arm forward until space is created in bottom side waist. Place their hand back on shin/floor and cue them to open their chest towards the sky.
Parivrtta Anjaneyasana
To have them lift and twist deeper:
ACTION: Straddle their back thigh with your legs, place your hands on their back of their ribcage, cue them to inhale, as they exhale manually lift their torsos up towards you and twist them deeper into the pose. If you can, verbally cue to the class to inhale, exhale and twist deeper.
Parsvotonasana
To help lengthen the lower back, deepen the hamstring opener:
ACTION: Straddle the back leg, have them press deeply into the back heel, cue them to tilt the sit bones towards the ceiling, with your hands on their hips, help them lift the sit bones. Verbally cue them to lift their front knee so their front quad engages to lengthen the middle part of the front hamstring.
Ardha Chandrasana/Half Moon Pose
To help them stack their hips and find stability: ACTION: Stand behind them, press your outer hip into their bottom glute, one hand to their top hip. Press your hip into their glute as you roll open their hip.
to lift through their top arm more: ACTION: Wrap your other hand around their top forearm and lift their top arm.
One legged King of the Pigeon Pose
Deepening… ACTION: Place your palms on either side of their sacrum and gently press the pelvis towards the ground.
ACTION: one hand in hip crease of front leg drawing back and other hand on SI joint of back leg gently pressing down and forward.
Urdhva Muka Svanasana/Bhujangasana
To encourage external rotation of shoulders:
ACTION: Squat low behind them and place palms on fronts of shoulder heads and draw wide apart to help broaden chest
To keep feet rooted: Press fists or your own feet onto the soles of their feet
Urdhva Dhanurasana
For wrist sensitivity or lack of spine flexibility:
ACTION: Stand with your feet as wide as their shoulders while the student is laying on back, setting up for the pose. They place hands around your ankles and lift to the crown of their head. From there, put your palms on their shoulderblades to gently help them up.
Pull their chest towards you (from the hands on shoulderblades.
To deepen: If the student is in Wheel on
their own, crouch beside them and place two fingers in between their shoulderblades to encourage shoulders over wrists.
Ardha Matsyendrasana
If they are collapsing in their lower backs:
ACTION: Stand behind them and lean your leg into their back, palms on their shoulders. Help them lengthen up as they inhale and as they exhale, gently twist their torso.
Janu Sirasana
To help the student get deeper into the twist over the extended leg: ACTION: Place both your hands on their side waist, just above the pelvis, as they exhale gently twist their torsos towards the extended leg and forward towards their shin.
Notes
Paschimottasana
Lengthen lower back, help student to understand using their legs:
*If they are dealing with a tighter lower back, you’ll see that the whole spine is rounded.
ACTION: Place your hands on their hip bones and tilt the pelvis so the sit bones move towards the back wall/sky and their pubic bone towards the earth.
ENHANCEMENT: If lower back is long
ACTION: See where they are rounding in the spine and place your hands about 2 inches BELOW the rounded part.
*You want to make sure you’re applying pressure on a stabilized part of their spine. Place your palms on either side of their spine and gently press forward and down. *Be conscious of the quality of their breath and check to see if their legs are shaking. If breath is short or legs are shaking, ease off a little. * to deepen, lay your chest on their back*
Savasana
SO MANY TO CHOOSE FROM! - massage the occipital ridge, from the base of the back neck up to where the skull begins - press palms onto fronts of shoulder heads, to help relax shoulders into the mat - massage temples, across the top of eyebrows and fingers into top of head - lift legs by holding the ankles and sway legs around in the air, slowly lowering them back down - massage feet (maybe for close friends!