One controversy in my part of the Bikram world is instructors touching/adjusting yoginis during postures. I know of one person who says she very much exacerbated a back injury when an instructor adjusted her during class. She now has to deal with all kinds of sucky things: making doctors appts, missing work for chiropractor and PT, and losing money because health care sucks. Most sad of all, she doesn’t practice Bikram yoga anymore, because she doesn’t trust that when she tells an instructor her limits that those limits will be respected. Blegh.
I like to be adjusted in class, especially during floor bow when the instructor will pick me up off the floor by my hands and feet! Feels divine, and shows me that I have the flexibility but need to work on the strength.
So, how do instructors know when it’s ok to get all up in someone’s posture and adjust? Is there talk of this at Teacher Training?
What does your instructor know about you? Probably not much, so it’s crucial to remember that you are your best advocate in and out of the hot room. Talk to your instructor before class and remind them every class. Instructors must hear about so many injuries, fears, etc that it’s just smart to remind them about your particular situation.
If all else fails and you can’t get through to the instructor, make a scene. It’s so rare that we hear other yoginis in practice, imagine, if all of sudden, “don’t fucking touch me!” penetrated your meditation. Silent applause, someone just kept their boundaries! HoTt.
Tags: controversy, floor bow, meditation, safety, Teacher Training
That would crack me up if someone said “don’t f-ing touch me” in class! For some reason, I feel like I would be more likely to do that than most other Bikram yogis
The heat makes me feel feisty and angry sometimes!!!
There is only one instructor at my studio who physically adjusts people and usually it’s either pulling people up in floor bow or pushing the foot behind the calf in eagle. He’s done both to me and I agree that having help in bow feels great. When he tried to help me with my wrap my foot in eagle, I couldn’t keep my balance even though he told me something like “Is it ok if I help you wrap your leg? Just don’t fall over when I do it.” I trust this particular instructor so I don’t have any problem with him adjusting me in the postures, but I think it’s definitely a fine line and everyone is different with their comfort level. I haven’t seen any other instructors physically adjust students. Some are super disconnected and don’t even seem to care about giving verbal corrections - they just recite the dialogue. Others are probably uncomfortable about touching sweaty people, not that I really blame them!
i like hands-on, because sometimes i don’t know which way i’m being corrected, but on bikramyoga.com, there is a link called “bikram yoga basics” and one of the rules is:
• NO PHYSICAL, HANDS ON CORRECTIONS or adjustments of students (with the exception of Bikram!).
Yes, there won’t be any discussion of this at teacher training because it’s not approved. I think one of the reasons Bikram does not approve of it is to limit any liability issues that might arise. Teachers fresh from teacher training are advised not to give even verbal corrections for the first 4-6 months. The first thing is to get really secure with the dialogue.
We had one teacher who routinely did some hands on correction. (Her visitor visa expired and we are all hoping her work visa gets approved.) She would step on peoples insoles during the prone savasanas in back strengthening series, giving a delightful foot massage. She would do hands on adjustments in Fixed Firm, Half Tortoise, and Floor Bow. And after class, she would give a short shoulder/neck massage. All wonderful stuff. But there was some concern even about this amount of contact, and she would always ask new students first.
Another teacher sometimes gives hands on assistance to people she knows well. She’s helped me lift my chest in Camel, by wrapping a towel under my back and gently pulling up. And once she helped me with the final spinal twist. Both times, it was a wonderful feeling.
So, in general, I’m in favor of the hands on corrections, especially for me. My sister has a pretty bad knee, and she warned a teacher about it before her second class. The teacher did a pretty forceful adjustment in Floor Bow, and it made her injury worse. Of course, that is the danger. And I think this teacher probably had enough experience to know better, so I don’t really know why that happened, but its a terrible thing when it does.
Have you ever not felt like being adjusted and said so? I have been in poses and knew that I didn’t have the strength to hold steady and have someone moving me, so I just said No, as the instructor approached me.
I feel very much in touch with my power in the studio. I think that’s why I feel so safe and confident about speaking up. (I mean, who’s going to mess with a gator?!) I also feel lucky. If your sister talked to the teacher and then was still adjusted, that’s just wrong.
This should be a topic at Teacher Training. Not with the intention of solving the dilemma but with the intention of creating mindfulness about the subject. Adjustments happen. If you know you are a touchy instructor, make sure you are being responsible by continuing education in other yoga practices and anatomy. That would only help increase the efficacy of yoga instruction.
For a while, I had some problems with my left knee. If someone had tried to give me a physical correction during any of the poses that start in Japanese Sitting Position, I would have refused. But it never happened.
Since baby teachers aren’t even supposed to give verbal corrections, much less physical ones, I don’t know how they would approach this topic in teacher training. The real problem this raises is how haphazard the continuing education is for Bikram teachers. Maybe I’m wrong on this, but its the impression I get. Teacher training gets people to the point where they can deliver the dialogue. There’s alot more to becoming a good teacher.
Yes yes yes, I am all for corrections! Verbal - most definitely.
Physical - only if I trust the teacher.
Once during stretching pose an instructor stepped on my back to force my back down - like a Japanese ham sandwich - and the back of my knees hurt like a mother for ages.
It was this same instructor who forcefully held my leg up during Standing Bow Pulling which resulted in a pulled hamstring [very owie
] that lasted 1 month.
I don’t mind corrections for Triangle [the instructor pulling my top hand up up upwards towards the ceiling], or in camel [the instructor helping lock my elbows and pulling my chest up.
I say only physically correct the student if the instructor knows what s/he is doing plus the extent of the student’s capability, lest it results in injuries.
99% of the time, I say hands off.
The 1% exception is for Bikram or one of his senior instructors - those guys know how and when to adjust in a way that is helpful, appropriate, and never dangerous.
But most of the time, even those teachers don’t need to touch the students, because they know how to guide them with words instead. Maybe this is a little harsh, but sometimes I feel like hands-on corrections are just a crutch for teachers who haven’t really learned how to correct verbally. If you know the right words to use, then the student can figure out how to make the correction themselves and will be able to repeat it.
aside to Duffy (gosh, we are just having our own conversations all over the place…): Yes, from everything I’ve learned, the post-teacher training mentoring is a VERY important part of the process that cannot be emphasized enough! TT is just the beginning!!
I am really happy that I wrote this post. I was a little nervous, not wanting to call anyone out, you know? It would be nice to have open clinics or posture clinics where specific postures are discussed, demonstrated and corrected. Those clinics safely help the individual in postures as well as nurture the community that a studio creates. win.win
Getting to training is only the beginning for me, I am so excited to be part of this amazing yoga and have a chance to influence aspects that are still growing, like post-TT mentoring.
The instructor who corrected me was a senior, so I’ve been very wary of the label since then.
And recently my studio was privileged enough to have the regional instructor for Bikram’s franchise in Southeast Asia come to our studio for exactly that - an open clinic. It was VERY informative, every posture was described with a little bit of the medical benefits thrown in. Although I was a little disappointed that some people were mostly looking to get to the stage where their posture looks ‘pretty’. I guess even in the yoga room, egos rule! *shrug.
p/s : Thank you for the link lovin’! Namaste