Keep Your Hands to Yourself?
"why is that lady touching me?" a hear a whisper from the back of a crowed yoga room. a whisper back- "she's just giving you an adjustment, aren't they great?" "what was it supposed to do?" Now let's ignore the two coffee chatters in the yoga class (one of my giant pet peeves, worth 3 rants and at least one chapter in a book, so we will put a pin in it for now) but Chatty Kathy has a point, why is that lady touching me? Now I love a good sacrum press in child's pose as much as the next yogi, note I said I love a GOOD sacrum press. I have been told by other yoga teachers that there are some adjustments, "you just can't do wrong!" oh would that that were true! the yoga world would be such a shiny happy place! as it is, I have been on the receiving end of a not so good adjustment countless times and on the receiving end of a down right horrible, holy crap what the fuck did you just do to me "adjustment" twice. The first time I got broken by an undereducated yoga teacher, I was in a wheel, and the 23 year old gym rat "instructor" stood over me and huffed - "your feet point straight forward in wheel" and then grabbed my feet and turned them in. Which of course made me fall out and I hurt my right shoulder so bad, that it was YEARS before I could even take wheel again and even longer before my shoulder stopped bothering me altogether. Then most recently I was violently over-adjusted in wide angle forward fold by a teacher who ought to know better. That resulted in one severe injury to my right hamstring attachment. This particular incident happened in January 2012, and as I write this, I am still not completely healed. So, why is that lady touching me? Why do yoga teachers feel pressured to do hands on adjustments at all? It's one thing to help a student who is doing something so obviously out of whack that they will end up hurting themselves, but why do teachers feel the need to make corrections or intensifications for their students all the time? you are not inside my body lady! yes, I CAN put my chest on the floor on wide angle forward fold, I can also take 15 shots of tequila, but that doesn't mean either of those things would be good for my body. I know some yoga studios even require teachers to adjust, and I can't believe more people haven't gotten broken. Teachers, you might know more about yoga poses, or alignment, but you don't know more about being inside your student's body. There are some very skilled yoga teachers who have backgrounds in physical therapy or massage and yes please massage my shoulders or rock out a pigeon press! but in the yoga world today, there are more brand new or undereducated teachers than there are badasses, unfortunately. Teachers, if you do adjust, ask yourself WHY? Are you adjusting because you think it feels good and you want to share the love? or are you adjusting because you think you are suposed to? are you trying to "fix" your students, because you know better (cough cough EGO cough cough)? If you are going to touch, please just make sure you know what you are doing! Remember, you don't have to put your full body weight on someone for them to feel it. Whatever you do, do it with love and respect for your students. please. and think before you push, let's all remember the 15 shots of tequila rule, shall we?
oh my god that crotch groping pictures is INSANE! i teach forrest yoga and, as a practice, it emphasizes teachers giving quality assists. more so running energy and subtle assists, never "here, let me help you get your foot behind your head" stuff. that being said, i agree with you. i have received horribly wrong and offensive assists, and i would have rather not have been touched at all. if you haven't seen this hilarious video, check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpVF_0Pw7RM
ReplyDeleteI always start my class with, "I do adjustments, come around and touch you. If you don't want to be touched or have an injury you have reminded or told me about . . . say "no thank you" or "don't touch me get away from me you creepy woman"" Then I go on to explain what I mean by "injury". People talk to me during class. Sometimes I add "more or less pressure" question and give them the instruction, "if you can't talk to me you can use thumbs up or thumbs down". BY FAR the most frequent adjustment I do is put my hands on someone's shoulder and say "relax." I often communicate with my students as I adjust (most of what I do is more like "love" but that sounds creepy) and foster the sense of sharing so that they will feel they can communicate with me. I know that some won't even if you give permission but . . . I try. The ones who come back get it and expect to be touched and "assisted." In our studio it is expected that teachers do assists.
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