TEACHERS
IT’S TIME TO ADJUST OUR ADJUSTMENTS
A discussion around fine-tuning
hands-on adjustments
by Sarah Ezrin // Photos by Scott Mitchell
I participated in injuring a student once. There was no pop. There was
no scream. In fact, in the moment, there was nothing that told me I had
done anything wrong, including the student. I remember her body mov-
ing easily as I brought her hands to grab her feet in bound padmasana
(lotus). I remember us smiling and talking through the entire adjustment.
Yet, something did not feel right for her afterwards and for that I take
responsibility. A student was hurt by my adjustment, but I still believe in
using hands-on adjustments.
I also have been injured in adjustments. Yes, plural. I did not speak
up when someone pushed my thighs down too hard in baddha konasana
(cobbler’s pose) or when I felt a pop in my spine during an assisted drop
back into urdhva dhanurasana (upward facing bow) or when someone
tried to spread my pelvis apart in trikonasana (triangle pose). In fact,
in some of those instances, the pain felt good. I thought it was required
to “go deeper,” to take my posture to “the next level.” I was hurt by an
adjustment, but I still believe in using hands-on adjustments.
There is a lot of discussion these days around yoga and injury. As more
and more people are practicing, reports of strains and pains thought to
be linked to yoga are also increasing. A 2016 study conducted by Yoga
Journal and Yoga Alliance reported that the number of people practicing
yoga in the US has increased by 50% just since 2012. According to this
study, 36 million people are now doing yoga. Those are a lot of moving
bodies, and as with any physical activity, a lot of opportunities for injury.
While it is strangely ironic to think that a practice meant to heal may
cause harm, injuries in yoga can occur in myriad ways. Some are due
to repetitive stress, meaning a pose (or series of poses) repeated over
and over puts strain on the joints or muscles. This is either because the
practitioner loses attention to alignment due to fatigue from repetition
(think vinyasa after vinyasa) or because the posture was misaligned in
the first place. Keep driving your car with crooked alignment and a tire
will eventually burst!
Some injuries are related to poor warm-up. This is a common cause
of injury among yoga teachers, who will often demonstrate an advanced
posture cold, only to hear the haunting sound of a pop. San Francisco-
based yoga teacher Laura Burkhart recently shared her experience on
YogaJournal.com. Demonstrating a complex pose led to a nearly two-
year hip injury that she is still recuperating from. Finally, there are a
great deal of injuries caused by forcing one’s body into a shape that is
inappropriate. These can be self-inflicted, like pushing too hard in a pose,
or sometimes this type of injury occurs through the teacher via a hands-
on adjustment.
“Hands-on adjustments” do not always involve hands. In fact, many
teachers adjust using their entire body. Some instructors will lie on top ofPhoto by Dorit Thies