Master Classroom Yoga Touch Techniques Now!

Here are five tips for mastering classroom yoga touch techniques. Hands on adjusting is one component of yoga instruction along with effective cues and demonstrations. 

• Use clear instruction while demonstrating and giving dramatic emphasis to what you want to make most clear. 

• Emphasize what to do versus what not to do.

•  It is most important to watch the students in order to see where cuing or might be most helpful. 

• Get off your mat and out into the room to better observe the students and give proper guidance. 

• When teaching, teach. Do your personal practice at another time. 

Master Classroom Yoga Touch Techniques in 4 Steps

1.  Always ask for consent to touch first. Even if you know the student well, they still may not want to be touched. I love to use consent cards (paid link). One side says yes to touch, one side says no.

2.  Look for beauty first- inside and outside! Don't be the yoga teacher that rushes to judgement in observation of your students. That may lead you to only see that is wrong rather than looking at the beauty of the student. Find this beauty! It will help to remember that you are working with a real human and not just posing someone like you do for a camera. Work with their strengths. 

3.  Address the things in each posture that may be at risk. Many times yoga teachers will address risk issues with verbal cues or demonstration to give form. Sometimes a student will position themselves in a way that is problematic. If students do not respond to verbal cues, you may have to offer hands on support.  

4.  Look for steadiness, ease, and presence of mind in the student's face and breathing. The facial expression of a student can show a teacher how the student is feeling in a pose. The breath also mirrors how a student is doing energetically and can indicate strain. A yoga teacher should encourage modifications to make the asanas accessible. 

Master Classroom Yoga Techniques- Qualities of Touch

How we touch is just as important as when and where. Yoga touch can be a tool for teaching a student to understand their body. Hands on cues can guide a student to refine their practice. 

• Awakening or Relaxing- Touch can encourage muscular activation in specific areas of the body. More pressure into muscles can allow students to fully feel the engagement or relaxation of muscles. Pressing into the heel of the foot in Paschimottonasana encourages extension and energetic engagement through the heel.

• Clarifying- This quality of touch allows you to determine if a student is activating certain muscles. In Adho Mukha Svanasana, we want to encourage students to activate the quadriceps muscles and to realize that the hamstrings should be relaxed. 

• Stabilizing- Master classroom yoga touch techniques with stabilizing. We want the students to feel independent but sometimes this means we add some active support. In balancing or inversion poses, we can use our body to add stability to the pose with light touch that allows the student to accomplish the pose. 

• Elongating the spine-  Work from the foundation of the pose to elongate the spine in order to take up more space. We can cue the connection between the root and the extension. Work with the students breath to physically and verbally cue the length of the spine. Offer a light point of contact at the top of the head while encouraging the student to elongate up into it. 

• Emphasizing- Use light surface cues to encourage a specific movement like elongation or rotation.  The intention of the touch is to both help the student better understand the dynamics of stability, ease, and movement in the asana and to suggest how to better refine the energetic action.

• Deepening the Asana- With the essential elements of hands on adjustments, encourage deeper exploration without loosing the essential qualities already established. Sometimes deepening the asana means staying in the pose longer. It may mean going further including variations and introducing new elements. Encourage anyone who is straining to back off, slow down, and stay in the practice. It is not about how far one goes, but how one goes into a pose. 

• Moving- Sometimes we have help a student move their bodies into a modified position. This is a way to master classroom yoga touch techniques. We ask the student to move out of the pose and approach it with a new position. Offer touch to help the student achieve success. 

• Grounding- With grounding touch, we press part of the body down to enhance the foundation of an asana. This creates safety in the pose. Help the student find the root in each pose. In Dandasana, use grounding touch to help students root the sitting bones.  Press firmly down on the back of the pelvis to suggest rooting and elongation of the spine.

• Rotating, Flexing, and Extending the spine-  Being able to elongate the spine is an essential step in preparing for rotating, flexing, or extending it. Many students will attempt to twist, fold forward, or bend back before they lengthen their spine. This may limit the range of motion and increase the likelihood of strain. Always cue the elongation of the spine with the inhalations. Move gradually into twists and flexion while the student exhales. You could use many qualities of touch like grounding, emphasizing, and light moving. Cue with the students breathing pattern- inhale, elongate, exhale, rotate or extend farther. 

• Comforting- Assess yoga touch in the classroom by giving comforting human contact to convey emotional support and compassion. Resting your hand on a student's back in Balasana can suggest deeper relaxation and offer a sense of caring.

• Refining the asana-  Continue to guide the student to refocus the breath and feel the balanced, steady flow. With hands on adjustments, keep your student coming back to connecting breath and movement, breath and sensation, breath and awareness. 

  

  When you master classroom yoga touch techinques, your students will feel comfortable to explore each asana and improve the quality of their practice! 

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