Principles of Adjustments

4 PHASES 

Enter into someone’s personal space slowly, carefully, and without hesitation. Sense the student’s energy, life situation, emotional state, and physical condition without judgment. Do not doubt yourself but don’t be overly confident that you know either. Can the student breath and find their own way during your adjustment? Recognize the four phases of the process: Approach, Touch, Manipulation, Release.

Approach: Ask for permission to adjust either at the beginning of class, especially with beginners or first-time students, or on an individual basis. Come in slow, even if you have known that student for 20 years (your student is 99% mystery). How do you react to someone who prefers not to be adjusted? What is the physical condition and mental state of yourself at the moment?

Touch: Place your hands on the student as if they are the beloved. Counter weight, locate a fulcrum for your adjustment. Provide grounding for your adjustments, in standing poses, stabilize the legs. Choose calming, descriptive, visual words to convey verbal queues. Place hands on the recipient softly and slowly.

Manipulation: Verbal queues or hands-on or better both verbal and physical manipulation of the recipient’s body in order to achieve a particular effect, such as joint alignment or extension. Joint alignment is the positioning the body in correct form in order to counteract contraindications and prevent injury, enabling the full effects of the posture to materialize. Extension is the process of lengthening the musculo-skeletal system in the posture. Develop sensitivity to feeling the student’s edge before, during, and after the manipulation. Consider the concept of energy lines and spirals. Consider mother and active hands when adjusting. Work with the recipient’s breath. Allow your hands to feel what the student can and cannot do. Do not act out your preconceptions on how a pose should be or how far a student should go. How does intuition interact with manipulations?

Release: Exit the student’s energy field slowly and softly. What are some of the energetic release techniques that can be practiced when leaving such space?

TYPES OF ADJUSTMENTS

If one is assisting a teacher in a class, please respect the teacher or facilitator by reducing conversation with the student to a minimum. Focus on adjusting the key poses or concepts of the teacher/class. Release as soon as possible once the teacher moves on to the next pose. Remember, it is not your job to teach the student, but to gently and in a subtle way assist them in the pose. Leave the teaching of the pose to the teacher – don’t feel like the student should “get it” right away.

INVESTIGATIVE: Palpating a thigh muscle in standing poses to see if it is firm or relaxed.

DIRECTIVE: Sliding a finger up a thigh from near the knee toward the groin in order to emphasize the direction of the Muscular Energy flow.

ALERTING: Touching the top hand in Trikonasana to bring the student’s attention there.

ADJUSTING: Taking the top arm in Parsvakonasana and externally rotating it for the student. This is a firm, yet sensitive touch that makes complete contact with the student’s body. Its intention is to move the student’s skeletal alignment.

STABILIZING: Placing a hand on top of the pelvis in Ardha Chandrasana in order to help the student’s balance. With an adjusting or stabilizing touch the entire hand should be firmly in contact with the student instead of just the fingertips. In this way the touch feels honoring and not sensual. Also, do not fidget or move your hand around randomly, because this may unnerve the student and she may become less stable.

LOVING: A comforting and supportive pat on the back after the student has faced a difficult challenge. Use this touch with discretion, so that it is not overused, and so the student won’t misinterpret its intention.

RANDOM: Touching the side of a student’s ribcage while the alignment instructions are focusing on the legs. This type of touch is unnecessary, and inappropriate.

SENSUAL: Rubbing the skin softly and sensually without any intention to improve the alignment of the pose. This touch is improper, unnecessary, and inappropriate.

INVASIVE: Purposefully touching the sexual parts of the body such as the breasts or genitals, or touch unnecessarily vulnerable and sensitive areas such as the groins, belly, buttocks, throat or face. This touch is highly improper and unethical.

Make sure your words are connected and related to your physical adjustment and to the part of the body you are touching. If you are giving verbal instruction about the legs and you are touching and adjusting the arms, it can be very confusing to the student.