Back Bay Yoga Assisting Workshop
Well, it’s pretty funny. I was waiting til after an afternoon assisting workshop to write, then completely forgot! And after commenting on writing everyday so recently too. 
I blame the excitement of going out for a fabulous dinner right after the workshop, then sitting down to watch the Travel Channel & zonking out on the couch.
Yesterday worked out to be a great day, though there was a little slogging cuz of a random 4 am wake up (repeated today for some reason — what is UP with that??). Did an early yoga class, then took Beloved Husband’s spin class. (Yep, he was teaching! Very fab.)
The aforementioned workshop was taught by Lynne at Back Bay from 2-5 & it was AWESOME.
It was open to 200 hr certified teachers from any style & focused on “feel good” assists rather than corrective, alignment based adjustments. That means assists that help a student get space in the pose. Lynne set up an opening circle where we each gave our name, main style of teaching & favorite yoga pose. She then took us through a few suns. To cover assists, someone goes into the pose, Lynne would demo the assists then we’d pair up & practice on each other. Alot of the assists were Forresty, but Lynne has a diverse background & some were new to me.
Rather than try to describe assists (which is tough in words if you haven’t seen them before), instead here’s a few of the concepts she emphasized in each of the poses we looked at:
Child’s pose — press sacrum back & down; don’t push chest down because it compresses cervical spine if head on floor
Down dog — lengthen sacrum up & away
Seated — lengthen back, align head
Seated twist — never crank the twist; lengthen & lift
Lunging twist — it’s never about the shoulders, rather lift up ribcage & revolve
Handstands — leverage always best at hips
Backbend — create space between sacrum & ribs; make sure to press sacrum back before any movement down & ribs UP
Basic jist is to make more room rather than compression & never force anyone anywhere.
Okay, caught up! 
February 28th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
you are so caught up, thank you! you know you’re my #1 blog.
and thanks for the “executive summary” of the workshop. of course, makes me wish i’d been there.
my assists have changed so much over the years. as you say, NEVER push anyone anywhere. my touch tends to be very light and the person will respond as their body needs/is able.
in seated forward folds i will often help soft the trapezius as some yogis will be wanting to reach as far as they can and their shoulders hike right up creating so much tension. a light touch over the trapezius and an encouragement to bring them away from the ears is often very effective. also in forward folds is to help create space in the front body around the area of the diaphragm perhaps like this: one hand giving a little stimulus or swipe on the L and the R trapezius and the other hand over the “hump” area of their thoracic spine. it’s a 1,2 move that may both soften the shoulders, lengthen the spine and give more space for the breath.
wxoxo
March 1st, 2010 at 9:17 pm
Wendy, I’m so honored you drop by!! And leave wisdom to commemorate your visit. Thank you for sharing your assist. You have such a lovely calm energy & I know that nourishes your students. xoxoxo
April 9th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
Good work, keep us posting, you are very good writer.
April 11th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
Thanks for share, please keep us posting about this info. I’d like to read it more.
May 28th, 2010 at 8:43 pm
I totally love your blog! Thank you for the post, very informative. wty1d8