Reflections on the Art of Assisting

Have you had the experience of being in a yoga class working at perfecting the alignment in a pose, potentially dealing with some inner demons, following the instructor’s cues….and then someone comes up from behind to move an arm one way, encourage a hip to drop back, or for you to lengthen out through the spine?Adjustments or assists in a class can sometimes be a welcome and informative experience, (I generally love them. In fact, so much that I joked with a friend about making a t-shirt that says “I love adjustments” on the back so the assistants knew that when walking around ☺) and then sometimes they just feel awkward, wrong or worse…creepy!What is it that makes a good adjustment or assist in a yoga class?I played volleyball competitively for many years and have been a wilderness guide for even longer. In this time I have worked with many co-leaders and instructor teams. I once had a co-leader liken a good instructor team to volleyball; in his example he spoke of the setter and spiker. The setter’s job is to do everything possible to make a good set for the spiker so the ball is perfectly placed and ready for the spiker to make the kill, shine, and score a point and return possession of the ball. The setter often goes unnoticed but is vital to the success of the entire team.I love this analogy and use it all the time in any support role I am in or, in this case, assisting in yoga. I am trying to do all I can to get things in order so the instructor and then the student can ultimately shine in the poses and the practice they are attempting.I recently attended a five-day workshop with Janet Stone in San Francisco at the Yoga Tree Portrero to further my training on assisting and adjusting. As yoga is skyrocketing in popularity, it is not surprising that the want and need for good assistants in classes is also rising. Trainings in how to assist are beginning to emerge and some of the folks I learned from this week are pioneers in the art of assisting. There is not a lot of material or books out on the subject just yet, but we are about to see a big change in that trend. This was a great course that had many amazing take-home points for anyone who wants to assist or understand some of the fundamentals.I work as a massage therapist and yoga instructor, so I’ve actually had a lot of training on appropriate touch, pressure, clear intention in practicing and healing, and being confident in handling or entering other’s physical and emotional space.Here are my musings about adjustments:

• They are reminders. Reminding us of our potential. Reminding us of what we can achieve and where we can go. Reminding us that we are perfect and complete already.
• They give a slight suggestion to try just a bit more or be a little more honest in a pose…whether that is working a little harder or easing off a bit.
• They give me a reminder that there is someone else out there that cares to help me be the best person I can be. That there is a witness.
• They remind me to breathe. To actively try. To be honest with my witness and myself.
• It is intimate touch with another human being. I feel human connection and connection to something much more than myself.
• When done correctly, assists and adjustments are like a wonderful dance with another being inhabiting this earth and a fluid energy exchange.

So how does one assist or adjust another in a yoga pose?

The following suggestions come from the workshop with Janet Stone and from reading Pema Chodron’s book “Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living.”

1. Most important is to have a personal meditation or grounding practice. Ideally this practice is done daily and certainly done before entering any kind of healing space.
2. Have a clear intention. Before we begin our assist practice, we check in with our own intention and set it for the class. We also check in with our intention each time we are about to enter someone’s practice space and offer an assist/adjustment.
3. Set and check the foundation. In any yoga pose, there is a grounding action. Before we can do anything else we must be grounded, in mind, thought, body and spirit. Again, daily meditation practice helps us achieve this. Once we as assistants feel grounded, we can encourage students to be grounded by moving mindfully and attentively in the classroom space and by example reminding to breathe and then offering very basic grounding assists.
4. Create Space. We do this from creating the classroom space, to creating spaciousness in our own lives to do work in a supportive role, in our own practice, and then encouraging in students practice. We create space in the poses.
5. Have clear communication. We communicate with the instructor we are assisting prior to class. We inquire of their needs/wants. We get a sense of the type of class they will teach to help know how to position ourselves. We ask if they know anything about the students’s needs, and remind the instructor to announce that there will be an assistant and to give an “out” if someone doesn’t want assists, ideally anonymously.

The Nuts & Bolts of Assisting

This was a derived from a discussion with the 6 assistants in Janet Stone’s workshop that have been assisting for a decade or so. In a sense they are pioneers as they were doing this before there were workshops or books on “How to assist”.

• Ground yourself before class you assist by your own meditation practice.
• Set a clear intention. Know why you are going to give an adjustment or assist a class.
• Arrive to the class early to make sure you connect with instructor
• Check in about the flow and theme of their class
• See if the instructor needs water, tea, food
• Practice holding our teachers in reverence and offering service to them

The more we support the instructor, the more time they have to support students by answering questions, and being available before and after class.

Have enough time to make sure the physical classroom space is ready to go, clean and welcoming:

• Set out mats and props
• Adjust heat in room
• Adjust lighting
• Make sure sound is working if using music
• Set out any sign in forms, brochures, logistical paperwork
• Give yourself enough time to close the space at end of practice and be available forinstructor and students

Work to keep a whole-field vision of the space.

Pedagogy to think about in terms of actually assisting/adjusting in the class:

• Find space for students to realize their own practice.
• We are not trying to “fix” anything.
• Every single choice we make really matters.
• Take care of yourself first and practice, practice, practice.
• Let opportunity present itself and/but Be Ready!
• Safety is paramount. Create a safe space always.
• When you support a teacher, you understand lineage of teachers and transmission ofinformation over many, many years. This is rare.
• If an assist doesn’t feel right check in with the person as soon as possible.
• Listen to teacher’s cues to know when and how to assist and work on timing.
• Model using props, self-care, and breath.
• If you assist one side, assist the other as well.
• Move with the breath cycle.
• Ease out of assists. Do not just leave someone abruptly especially if they are in achallenging pose.
• Learn how to receive.
• Learn and practice how to let go.
• Only assist within your scope of comfort. Listen to your intuition.

More specifics on giving physical adjustments:

• Set the foundation. Root feet, legs, and hands. This is a great place to start.
• Create Space.
• Lengthen spine. Press crown of head into hand to lengthen spine. Can do it with soles of feet.
• Meet people where they are. Do not try and change anything.
• Connecting back and front body.
• Try not to cross dristhi (gaze) line in balancing poses
• Have a firm touch. (Light touch can often feel creepy…. it takes experienced assist to pull off a light touch.)
• Be concise and clear…don’t linger…no roving fingers
• Often just the presence of an attentive assist can create a nice adjustment in someone’s body when they feel a loving witness.
• Have props easily available to give to students in a timely fashion.
• Allow for quiet and non-movement in Savasana and meditation.

Assisting can be a dance. We are offering suggestions. Listen to our own body and view the person as a whole entity and not just a body.

Be kind-always.

Most of this probably sounds very simple or intuitive or easy to do. It really is. If we are working at self-study in our practices and teaching, assisting is a lovely practice in and of itself and an extension of both.Just as the best way to learn to teach is to teach, the best way to learn to assist is to assist (and get honest feedback from someone you trust.) Assisting, just like teaching is an art form that needs to be cultivated over many, many seasons.Written by Heather Sullivan

Please add your thoughts or comments on assisting/adjusting students in a class or as a student being assisted or adjusted! This is a wonderful way we can learn and teach one another how to give and receive support. We encourage the thoughts of our recent YTT graduates and hope you can use this as a forum to share information.