Yoga practitioners complaining about an adjustment that injured them is a common thing. Often, when students mention an ongoing injury, it turns out a teacher had pushed them a bit more than they should have.
Injurious adjustments are the elephant in the room. No one really wants to talk about them. Yet they are unfortunately a reality within the Ashtanga community (although injuries from adjustments are not exclusive to Ashtanga).
Of course, not all injuries are caused by adjustments. Students injure themselves as well. When this happens, it is often due to overstretching, combined with weak muscles and wrong breathing. This type of injury will certainly happen at least once in the life of a regular practitioner. Most of the time they are not serious, although there are exceptions to this.
When a teacher injures a student though, it is a whole different story. It is not only about the injury and the pain itself. It is also about the breach of trust.
Many are the students - especially those practicing Ashtanga in a Mysore setting - that have a really close relationship with their teacher. They look up to them, and sometimes their trust is deeper than words can describe. So when the teacher adjusts or assists them, they surrender.
Surrender to a skilled, intuitive and compassionate teacher is magical. It can break barriers, surpass limits and release blockages that go far beyond the physical realm. But for this to happen, both teacher and student need to be honest and mature enough to rise above their ego.
Let’s take a look at what stands in the way of safe and harmless adjusting.
1. Teachers constantly trying to prove themselves
Yoga has become a billion dollar industry and a very competitive field. Becoming a teacher is fairly easy (a 200 hour training certificate is often enough) and since these days being a teacher is more attractive than being a student, the competition is fierce. Teachers need to find ways to attract and keep students if they want to become successful or even stay relevant.
One way they do this - and I notice this more and more - is by putting the students in advanced asanas way too soon and/or giving really deep adjustments.
Students - especially the ones who are still at the beginning of their journey - are easily impressed by how deep they can go and get inspired by the teacher. Inspiration and admiration turn into trust and trust turns into loyalty and surrender.
Strong adjustments are not only glorified; for many, they end up being the primary criterion to choose a teacher. As a result, quite a few teachers think that if they don’t push students into extreme shapes they will end up losing them to someone else. And the vicious cycle goes on and on.
That being said, I’m not implying that teachers are merely serving their own interests when giving that kind of strong adjustments. Many truly think those are beneficial to students. They firmly believe that a practice is not legitimate if practitioners don’t bend to the limits. They apply the same principle to their own practice and get injured themselves quite often.
The unpopular truth is that most bodies cannot handle this kind of adjustments for very long. The reason is simple. Strong adjustments force the body into passive range of motion. They might feel good while they are happening - you can thank the release of dopamine and the heat in the room for that. But if the surrounding muscles are not strong enough, if the joints are too loose and the breathing is not in sync with the movement, it is just an injury waiting to happen in the form of overstretching or even tear.
2. Students lacking patience and chasing shapes
If we look at the ancient texts of Yoga, the practice is all about patience, commitment and devotion.
YS 1.14 reads: “Practice becomes firmly grounded when well attended to for a long time, without break and in all earnestness”.
But patience is not impressive. Commitment, gradual progress, taking the time to build strong foundations, are not the reason many students come to class. In their mind, Yoga equals handstands, deep backbends and advanced asanas. They want it all and they want it now. So when a teacher promises that, they are eager to follow. Again, the reason is simple. When we do something challenging - that most people cannot even dream of doing - we feel good about ourselves. We feel special.
I don’t know which one happens first: do teachers become overzealous because students expect to be pushed into deep shapes? Or do students end up believing depth in asana is the holy grail because many teachers openly advocate for it?
One thing I know for sure is that it takes a lot of intuition, compassion and observation on the part of the teacher to give a beneficial adjustment. They need to let go of their eagerness to prove themselves and their skills and put the student first, instead of their ego.
They need to be willing to ask themselves: “Is the student ready? Is there strength to support the deep opening? What am I trying to achieve by giving this adjustment: a better understanding of the asana or mere depth? How is the student responding to the adjustment? Are they breathing? Are they panicking or are they calm?”
3. The art of adjustments
The teachers I studied with and always looked up to were never afraid to say no to a student asking for a specific adjustment they were not ready for. They put the student’s wellbeing and safety above being liked and admired.
A teacher’s job is not to always please and fulfill the students’ wishes. Their job is to meet the students where they are, challenge and help them grow while making sure they are not harmed. Their job is also to show students that Yoga is not about achieving, impressing, being special or being the best. That it is not a race they have to compete in, but a long journey towards a better understanding of who they really are.
Adjusting is both an art and an act of love. After over a decade of practicing and teaching, I like to give and receive subtle adjustments that reflect a willingness to explore and understand the asana, rather than forcing the body into an extreme range of motion. I prioritize intelligent assists that show direction and entice the student to actively participate, rather than passively endure. I am impressed by adjustments that actually teach something and have a message to convey.
And I’m really looking forward to the time when sitting on students’ backs is not a thing anymore:)
