back in child’s pose or facilitating
the deep twist in ‘prayer twist’ was
completely outside my comfort
zone at the time. And It never
occurred to me that a yoga
practice could essentially be lead
by touch.
Restorative Yoga class. This role
involved me making sure students
were in the poses correctly,
and helping them to make
modifications using their props in
order to better support them in
the pose.
We did learn a few adjustments
for poses in my original yoga
teacher training, but I always felt
that one would almost need a
whole separate course just on
hands-on adjustments in yoga
poses.
Once I was comfortable with
these assigned responsibilities, I
was then shown different kinds of
hands-on adjustments that would
help students to relax more and
release tension in the body.
On top of that (and maybe
this was the most prominent
I noticed that as soon as I started
with the hands-on adjustments, in
the weeks to follow, the students
“Nothing emphasizes a teacher’s presence to the student
like a hand’s on adjustment to the pose they are in.”
of all reasons) I felt entirely
overwhelmed with having to
add yet another element – the
element of touch – into my classes
when there was already so much
for me to juggle in order to pull off
this circus act of a fabulous class
for my students.
So I opted out. I put touch aside
– at least for the next little while –
and focused solely on finding my
voice as an instructor, and delving
deeper into my own practice.
Then one day I got the invitation
to become an assistant for one
of the teachers at The Yoga
Sanctuary who taught a weekly
of the class acknowledged me
more. I went from being that
ignored girl that goes around
helping people with props, to
the cool girl that gives extra juicy
adjustments in Restorative class.
Suddenly I was popular.
This was the first time I was
introduced to the practice of Thai
Massage though I didn’t know it
at the time. It gave me a good
preliminary understanding of
the body and noticing areas of
tension, but it would be years later
before I’d begin incorporating
touch directly with my students in
classes I lead.