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Asana Adjustment & Assisting Guidelines: Verbal, Energetic, and Hands-On Guidance, Adjusting, Assists — for Yoga Teachers, Yoga Therapists

Lesson Overview

In this lesson, we lay the foundation for making wise decisions regarding assistance to an individual student (in contrast to the whole class).

Objective

Establish a strong foundation for decision-making and be proficient in techniques for assisting students with verbal, energetic, and hands-on guidance.

Description

Define assisting and adjusting and reasons a teacher may choose to assist or adjust a student. Give examples of inappropriate reasons to adjust a student and describe students for whom adjusting is unlikely to be safe or appropriate. Explain the types of knowledge and experience a teacher must have to be properly prepared to safely adjust a student and considerations made in the moment to evaluate whether an assist is called for. Explain considerations for giving one-on-one verbal instruction and how an adjustment may affect a student’s energy. When offering a physical adjustment, describe how to move into a student’s space, describe physical safety considerations when giving adjustments and explain the focus when adjusting a very flexible student.

Related Lessons

This is part of a series of related topics. Use the quick menu above to navigate within this section.

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