Firing Your Yoga Teacher - Your Responses

[Administrator]

Dear Sara. I know exactly how you feel. I know how far my body will
move and stretch and I let my yoga teacher know in a second. So you
did the right thing. I want to thank you for all your insights on
your yoga teaching. I enjoy hearing from you and learning as much as
possible . sending sunshine your way.

[Administrator]

Thanks for sharing Harlan's experience. As a traditional Ashtanga teacher, adjustments come with the territory. As anyone who practices traditional Ashtanga knows, Mysore adjustments can be intense. They should never, however, cause pain. When my teacher transmitted the adjustments to me, she emphasized that these adjustments are intended for experienced practitioners, as guidance out of old habits and patterns, not "fixes" for less than "ideal" asanas.

My teacher also made it clear that when making the decision to adjust or assist a student the teacher is taking responsibility for that student's body. Adjustments can of course, be as little as a light touch to bring awareness to a neglected area of the body, or they can be situations where one must fully support the student, as in dropping into a backbend from standing.

My philosophy on adjustments is that they need to be assertive, but not invasive or aggressive. By assertive, I mean that the teacher's touch must be firm enough to show the student where it is going, stable, steady and strong enough to allow the student to feel confident that the teacher will not fail him or her. "Wishy-washy" adjustments confuse the student because they don't know what the teacher is trying to say, and at worst can injure a student (as when a teacher drops a student coming up from a backbend).

Firm adjustments, however, can only be delivered when trust is developed over time. This only happens, as Harlan points out from the student's perspective, when the teacher repeatedly gives safe and helpful adjustments over time. If a teacher's adjustments hurt a student or make that student uncomfortable in any way, it's all over. The trust is blown from day one.

In my experience, I've found most adjustments to be self-selecting. If the breath is smooth and the spine is elongating, you are guiding the student's body and awareness into an area he or she cannot easily access on their own. If movement of the spine or the muscles stops or the breath becomes labored, stop. IF the student verbalizes fear or discomfort, stop.

I was horrified that Harlan's teacher actually pressed on his knees. It is NEVER a good idea to press or manipulate a student's joint, and I honestly cannot think of one situation where I would apply direct downward pressure to the knee joint. Not to mention, when a student has knee or ankle trouble in lotus it normally is an indication that the hips do not have the range of motion to support the asana. Hip opening sequences would be much more useful, and therapeutic, than trying to force the knee in the desired position. The body in many ways is a metaphor for the universe as a whole -- it's all interconnected.

The title "teacher" can be powerful and we must stay present with our students in each and every practice to earn that title. Harlan's teacher was so focused upon "perfecting" his asana that she failed to realize Harlan as an entire person. We all know that our practices change over time, and change is not always progressive. Some days sun sals don't flow, the shoulders are sore, the hips tight. On other days, suddenly the most elusive pose is one that just "clicks" and you can suddenly do the seemingly impossible! This is the nature of yoga, and as teachers we must understand that what is true for us is also true for our students.

I hope that Harlan's teacher uses his letter as an opportunity to awaken and contemplate her teaching style and reasons for teaching. We teachers are only human and sometimes we fall into traps, but we must always remember the yamas and niyamas and realize that our students must never be extensions of our own egos.

Thanks also for your newsletters.

[Administrator]

Hi Harlan, you so did the right thing...I do a lot of adjusting with my students and I encourage questions, with a new student I will always ask, "is that ok? no pain right?" If you are a good teacher you should start to know all your regular students bodies, their strengths and weaknesses, we talk about fear as well, in difficult poses fear is a component and you can't ignore it and some poeple are afraid to get hurt, and they should be!! I see many teachers get hurt and I tell my students to know the difference between good pain and bad pain, no pose is worth me or them getting hurt. We all must realize that a pose and your body can differ from day to day, so you can not expect to recreate your practice, or a pose. I jokingly refer to this as losing the pose, don't know where it went, but it will come back. You must respect pain and work with it as you would any component in your practice, ignoring it only leads to trouble. I commend you on your brave choice and I hope this techer will become more mature and know that we all have different bodies and tolerences to work with pain. Peace, love, namaste,

[Administrator]

He was right. A yoga teacher should never push a student beyond his or her limits.

[Administrator]

Hello Harlan! I could not believe it when I read about your yoga teacher pushing you like that! How insensitive for a start, not to mention the unprofessionalism to go with it. I hope your knee and ankles have recovered and that you have found someone nurturing. I have not had that experience through yoga but have had similar experiences outside of yoga. One was when I was having a so called 'sports massage'. I went because I'm a big fan of strong massage and thought that would be nice and strong and what I needed. I was wrong, it hurt like hell!! I could feel not just my massages in pain but also my bones. When I told the therapist that it was hurting he said, 'you've got alot of blockages'. The next day the bruises showed and throughout the week more came visible until I looked like I'd been beaten. The other time was through dance training. I'd never in my life been able to do the splits so my teacher decided it was time I could. She put me through some intense sessions, pushing me beyond my limit. There was no nurturing at all in the dance training and I don't think it was expected either. (although it would've been nice). I managed to do the splits after about one month on intense training, but after that my hamstrings have been very sensitive and I have to be careful not to tear them.
I'm sorry you went through this with your yoga teacher. By the way, while I'm here, I wanted to say thankyou for the book (40 days to personal revolution). It was a surprise as I didn't expect to receive it. Thankyou, it's a very good book.
Good luck Harlan

[Administrator]

Frankly, I am amazed that there are people teaching yoga in this manner. It's one thing to be a little strict with your students -- sometimes people need a push to go beyond their perceived limitations. It's another thing altogether to become the cause of pain for a student. As a teacher, teaching in this manner is a surefire way to destroy your reputation. People come to yoga classes and take private lessons to enjoy and challenge themselves, not to suffer. The practice of yoga can be a form of torture if you let it be, and I'm sure that a person who allows their practice to be torture for themselves doesn't need any additional help!
As a teacher, I communicate with my students when giving adjustments. I tune in to how their bodies are responding to my touch and will often ask "Is this OK?" or say something like "Let me know if this is too much". I never want my touch to be the source of great pain for a student. There is a fine line between moving some one deeper into a pose, which could potentially cause a little discomfort, and causing them unnecessary pain. The key is, of course, communication. A student has to trust their teacher in order to keep coming back to their sessions or classes. It sounds like, in Harlan's case, his teacher was very effectively blocking his efforts to communicate. A recipe for disaster.
So Harlan, you certainly did the right thing. Chances are you are not the only person with whom this teacher pushes her boundaries and she will have to learn the hard way. We can certainly hope, however, that your email was in fact a wake-up call and she is re-evaluating her approach. I wish you, and her, the best of luck.

[Administrator]

This is a letter of great interest to me as my partner and I have recently (in the last 4 months) opened a yoga studio. I have had a practice of my own to greater and lesser extents since 1981 and have always found yoga to be a bit of a mixed bag with some instructors being far to aggressive for my tastes ( I am male 45 and have been a professional wilderness guide/teacher for 22 years, so have seen a lot of aggression. I find aggression in a yoga studio whether physical or emotional/mental to be completely out of place) and many instructors being far to ... simpering and dreamy for my taste.

Firing an employee is never an easy thing to do.
Especially one we have had faith in. However when faced with a continued dis-regard for studio policy and for the wisdom of a students own body-experience becomes an issue, termination of employment is the only answer. Everyone deserves the chance to make a mistake, even in some cases the same mistake twice.

But, a failure to change evidences an ego which is un-restrained and that coupled with the potential for physical injury of students leaves a very clear and concise path.

While it is true that breathing into poses creates openings, our body-selves carry scarring of many types that preclude forced entry whether through our own ego pushing to hard or through the exertions of outside
forces- In my own teacher training and personal
experience:
a teacher never forces an opening in the student in any way! It is my considered opinion that all aspiring teachers (and we are all aspiring teachers) should read the work of Paolo Friere on teaching. His premise is roughly this:

A student can never learn what a teacher wants to teach. A student can and will learn only what the student wants and needs to learn. As a teacher we have three lessons to plan:
what we are needing to learn
what we are wanting to present
what the student asks for

this should simplify our lives as the first two are all about ourselves anyway and easy enough to do and the third, well whether right or wrong if the student doesn't want what we have to give, let them find the teacher that is appropriate for them and as teachers we simply surrender- again.

The letter sparked particular interest for me as I am at the crossroads with one of my teachers for a completely different reason. In our case her presentation style has become the ultimate example of dreamy and floaty. I attended one of her classes earlier this week and was shocked at the change in both her vocalization and her attention to the details of the Asanas, she was sloppy in the extreme and hurt a student with lack of attention to the details of his reported injury (he did not report the injury to either my partner or I but to the teacher this situation refers to). After 4 days of careful consideration I have realized or come to believe several things:

First off, no matter how solid, present and in-touch a teacher is when hired, I must continually attend classes to make certain that the teacher is holding to the policies and intention of the studio. Part of that intention and policy is no-pain. Not a little pain is ok BUT no pain!

Second is that as teachers we can change and must be careful not to fall in love with ourselves or our own Yoga. Yoga is not about us. In some ways it is not even about the student. Yoga exists in each person on this planet. Yoga is or can be everything we do. It is about attention to life, or as the Poet William Stafford says, "...it is important that awake people be awake or a breaking in the line may discourage them back to sleep; the signals we give- yes, or no, or maybe- should be clear: the darkness around us is deep."

Our job as a teacher/student is to help awaken the body-self to the Yoga that is within us. If in the process we can assist another person to find her or his Yogi, well, it should be a lovely surprise more akin to a gift the student gives to us then the other way around.

With this awareness we can begin to move toward Iswara
Pranidhanan:
"offering up to the highest good"
Good Luck