As yoga instructors, we are consistently reminding our students to breathe deeply and rhythmically, be mindful of their alignment and to honour their bodies. Are these verbal cues enough to keep them safe from injury?
Over 30 years ago when I began training, yoga class consisted of practicing 3 or 4 poses. My teachers would be “hands on” checking our alignment, reminding us to breathe and sometimes wrenching us into poses that we might not have been ready for. That was the state of yoga back then. I’m not sure if wrenching me into a position was “honouring my body”… sometimes I was sore, yet other times I experienced a profound epiphany… “oh, that’s what it’s supposed to feel like”. Back then, yoga classes were strict, there was a “way” to do the poses, we weren’t left to “explore” or “define” our particular journey into asanas.
With the advent of flow or vinyasa style yoga, we instructors tend to rely more on verbal cuing. We hope our message is heard. We no longer teach just 3 or 4 poses per class. Today’s yoga guides the student through a myriad of asanas during practice. It’s tricky to be “hands on” because there can be many students in the room and adjusting 1 or 2 can break the flow of the class.
So…how do we keep students safe from injury? I believe it requires a combined effort involving the studio, the teacher and the student. A studio relies, quite often, on memberships. When a new student enters the studio, they need to be directed to a Yoga Basics class. A qualified instructor will teach them the building blocks of yoga, from etiquette to personal alignment and yogic breathing to studying asanas. It would also be helpful if the studio were very clear in the description of each class. For example, specifying a power yoga class as an “all levels” practice is irresponsible. Simply put, power yoga isn’t for every body.
As teachers, we need to keep developing more specific verbal cues to ensure students are getting the message. We need to be more watchful during class so we can identify who is struggling or pushing in the pose. If a student doesn’t follow verbal cues, perhaps a chat after class is necessary. The student can then be directed to a more suitable class that serves his or her needs. I’m grateful for a well-equipped studio that has plenty of props like blocks, straps and bolsters. When I witness a student with a limited range of movement in some of the asanas, I demonstrate the use of a prop so he or she can maintain alignment and not exceed his or her range of movement. The most consistent verbal cue in my yoga vocabulary is “Breathe”, which I hope brings students back to the present, back into their bodies, hopefully keeping them safe from harm.
Students share some of the responsibility for their own safety. The ego is a marvelous tool in our everyday lives, however, it can be our greatest challenge in a yoga class. I recently spoke with a male student who developed a shoulder injury as a result of 20 years of studying a variety of competitive martial arts. He asked me if yoga could heal his injury, so he could avoid surgery. Instead of making promises, I gently prodded him about his mind set during class. I noticed he pushed every pose in class and his breathing was laboured. I asked him if he was aware of this, he replied he was geared to being competitive. That conversation opened up the Pandora’s box of his ego. I shared with him that yoga practice was non-competitive, that we have drishti so our eyes don’t roam around the class for comparison, that the mat is HIS world and the breath is the guide. Hopefully, he got the message; I will continue to be watchful during his yoga journey.
When the studio, the teacher and the student arrive on the same page, the beauty, power and passion of yoga can emerge. Our yogic journey can be a safe one when we allow the breath to guide us, our mat to ground us, our body to move us and flow with the moment, here, now, here, now, here, now…
Kim Pechet