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OPEN MIND OPEN BODY Teaching Reflections |
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Touch:
Ahimsa in Action Most
yoga students can recall both positive and negative experiences with touch
in the classroom. Many students report melting under the intelligent and
kind touch of a great teacher; these same students may also recall
flinching from the aggressive adjustments of an overzealous teacher. How
can you cultivate the ability to touch students in a way that is effective
and welcomed? Follow these guidelines: Touch in the yoga classroom should
be intentional, informed, and receptive. These three qualities reflect
ahimsa (non-harming) in action. Touch in the classroom should also be
guided by your aims as a yoga teacher: generating awareness, providing
support, and encouraging the healing process. Ahimsa
in Action: Intentional, Informed, and Receptive Touch
Each time you touch a student, you should know why you're doing what
your doing - and it should be in response to the current moment, rather
than out of habit. This is intentional and informed touch.
You should understand both the desired and likely effects of your touch -
Will it help a student balance? Allow a student to go deeper in a pose?
Increase a student's awareness of some part of their body? Encourage a
struggling student to breathe? Do you understand the effect of placing
your hands on one part of the body, versus another? Have you practiced a
specific adjustment on many bodies? It is one thing to touch with
intention, and another thing entirely to have developed the skill to
fulfill your intention.
An intentional and informed approach to touch will encourage you to adapt
your touch to each student. Pause before you touch a student. Observe the
quality of their posture, their breathing, and their concentration. Does
the student really need an adjustment? First, do no harm: If a student is
connected to their internal experience, and does not appear to be hurting
themselves in a pose, are you sure that touch will add benefit to the
pose? If you decide to touch a student, consciously choose the most
effective strategy for your intention. Do not run around the room,
applying a one-size-fits-all adjustment to as many students as possible.
You will likely injure a student, and you will certainly miss many
opportunities to have a deeper connection with your students.
When you touch a student, stay aware of the student's response. This is
the art of receptive touch. Use many senses to receive feedback.
Listen: Has the student's breathing changed? Are they trying to say
something to you, like, "Thank you, that feels great," or
"Please stop!"? Develop sensitivity in your fingertips: Do you
feel muscular resistance or muscular release? Look: Is the student's
posture changing in the way that you expected? Use all of these senses,
and your intuition, to judge whether a student welcomes your touch.
Be willing to change what you're doing based on the student's response.
Meet resistance with a softening of your touch, not greater force. Add
verbal instructions to your touch, if a student seems confused by an
adjustment. Ask the student if a therapeutic adjustment feels good, or if
a weight-baring adjustment (such as hands on the back of a student in a
seated forward bend) feels like too much, just enough, or not enough. Generating
Awareness
As a yoga teacher, your job is to provide the bridge between a student's
internal awareness and the infinite awareness that a yoga practice
develops. Use touch to heighten a student's awareness, rather than to
bypass it. For example, a gentle, guiding touch can encourage a student to
find the internal action necessary to sustain a deep twist. A strong,
forceful touch can pull a student into the twist without requiring any
awareness or action from the student. The next time this student practices
the twist, which approach do you think will prove to have been more
helpful? You can help a student generate awareness with a simple laying of
the hands. Place your hands on the part of the student's body that seems
stuck or unengaged, and simply breathe deeply. Many students will
intuitively respond to this gentle adjustment. You can also add verbal
instructions or light force to help a student find an action or alignment
in a pose. Providing
Support
Your touch can provide both physical and emotional support. Practice ways
of touching that "ground" a student. For example, placing your
hand on a student's sacrum has a stabilizing action in many balancing
poses (such as ardha chandrasana), and a grounding action in many seated
poses. Placing your fist between a student's knees in headstand stabilizes
the pose. In many standing poses and backbends, placing your hands near or
over a student's shoulder blades or back ribs can be emotionally
grounding, by allowing a student to literally open their heart with your
support. This kind of stabilizing and supportive touch can be more
effective than verbal praise or encouragement, because of its simplicity
and lack of implied evaluation. (A "Good job!" in one pose many
lead a student to wonder if they are doing a not-so-good job in other
poses.) Encouraging
the Healing Process
Many yoga teachers have also studied
other healing modalities, including massage, Thai Yoga therapy, and Reiki.
If you have the knowledge and comfort to include these therapeutic
techniques in your teaching, do so with exquisite awareness. Therapy in a
yoga classroom is necessarily limited by the number of students you have
and your obligation to talk students through their practice. Distill the
essence of therapeutic touch and apply it mindfully.
If you have not studied a hands-on therapy, you can still encourage the
healing process by following the principles of informed,
intentional, and receptive touch. Research has shown that human
touch is critical to our physical and emotional well-being; some of your
students may be coming to class specifically because it is the only time
they receive caring, nurturing touch. Keep your touch informed and
intentional, rather than affectionate, to make sure that your touch is
perceived as appropriate for the yoga classroom. Your intentionality will
make your students feel safe and cared for. Return to Teaching Reflections
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