Touch my body ...

The teacher intensive workshop yesterday was fabulous. We spent almost half of the time (2 hours) doing hands on "enhancements"....I've been using that kind of wordage in my yoga classes for years. It always seems more forgiving and more inclusive than saying "adjustments" which almost takes on a chiropractor-back-cracking kind of conotation for me. Our trainer Sybil (whom I've studied with before in my travels) started the day out by saying she puts her hands on folks not to make their wrong pose "right" but to allow them to feel or experience the pose better or differently. This set a wonderful tone for what was to follow.

I have a few "enhancements" in my toolbox that I've used over the years but when I say few I seriously mean three (hands on the sacrum for downward dog and childs pose, and gently lifting somebody by the heels while they are in an bow pose). And I will say up front that in the bulk of my Yogafit training it's the area of "hands on" that I find I'm most lacking. So lacking that for years I never touched anybody, but luckily in the gym it wasn't a big deal. I think people are used to not being touched and with the way most gyms are managed they actually have rules about instructors NOT touching their members for liability reasons.  However in the yoga studio I think it's almost expected.  I know when I go to a studio class I appreciate a gentle touch or even a firm helping hand or two depending upon the pose. I admire those instructors that can come around to teach individual during savasana and give a neck massage or apply some pressure points to the head. I know for me I've always been too freaked out about picking somebody's head up into my hands or worried that if I touch them during relaxation it will not allow them to relax or that I will startle them. The majority of my problem is lack of practice on willing people who can give me feedback about what feels good and what doesn't work for them.  So...having made a long story longer... I've really wanted to expand my horizons and get better skills in this area.

Our trainer Sybil is an amazingly intuitive teacher. She's the type of person that can literally float around the room, keep the class moving and give each and every person some individual attention. Effortlessly.  She actually "shadowed" me during a sun salutation. She squatted behind me with hands into my hip creases while I lengthened up and back into downdog. Then she moved forward with me into plank and kept my hips lifted and my spine long as I lowered into chatarunga. Then she gently moved her hands to the front of my shoulders to open my chest as I expanded into upward facing dog. As she moved back into a squat behind me she pulled my hips with her and we went back into downward dog. Then as I stepped into forward fold, Sybil applied firm but gentle support to the sides of my hips (each trochanter). Just by using her hands I could almost feel her move energy into the places it should flow and her support in certain poses gave me a completely different prospective on them. I learned some new and different enhancements for downward dog, childs pose, standing split, standing straddle, warrior 3, twisted lunge, and side plank...and others.  

Our yoga studio is trying out a new "Open Studio" night the first Friday of every month. My goal is to explore some of these new enhancements I have learned with willing students or other teachers. So much of it is just practice practice practice and getting used to touching other people. As an aside, one of the attendees told us a story that happened to her in India about 25 years ago. Her ashtanga "guriji" pushed her in a forward fold with her legs bent and her feet interlaced behind her head. The force caused injury to some of her neck nerves and she had temporary paralysis of one side of her face for a few weeks. Of course that story is on the extreme end of the spectrum but the idea of hurting someone or touching them in a way that doesn't feel good is always what I want to avoid.

So what's the feeling out there? In a yoga class do you enjoy hands on enhancements? Have you had good experiences or bad? Leave a comment.