Yoga Posture Adjustments and Assisting: An Insightful Guide for Yoga Teachers and Students

by Stephanie Pappas

This is the first comprehensive guide for yoga teachers and yoga students providing all the details on how to adjust or assist someone while they are performing a yoga posture. With yoga's recent worldwide popularity, this book is invaluable to millions who teach or practice yoga. The book goes beyond just the physical aspects of yoga - it deals honestly with some touchy matters that affect yoga teachers and students alike. The book's clear instructions and generous supply of photos make it easy for yoga teachers to learn how to adjust or assist their students. Yoga students can use this book to enhance their personal practice by working with a partner. Yoga Posture Adjustments and An Insightful Guide for Yoga Teachers and Students demonstrates and explains adjusting techniques for over 65 postures and contains over 200 photos. You can • How to adjust or assist someone who is performing a yoga posture
• How to perform the yoga adjustments using effective body mechanics and leverage
• Multiple variations for adjusting a posture
• How to use yoga props
• Verbal cues to help your yoga student or partner
• Ways to accommodate different body types
• How to safely take your students deeper into the yoga postures The book also features a thought provoking section on how to navigate the physical, mental, and emotional challenges of being a yoga teacher or yoga student. It candidly discusses topics such • Dealing with difficult emotions before, during, or after class
• Coping with thoughts that can surface during yoga class or home practice
• Managing expectations and judgments about ourselves, our teachers, and our students
• Dealing with unusual situations in the classroom
• Handling competitiveness, jealousy, nervousness The international yoga community will greatly benefit from this book. _______THIS BOOK IS ALSO AVAILABLE IN SPANISH - SE PUEDE COMPRAR EN ESPAÑOL_______ Este libro es la primera guía extensa y comprensible para instructores y estudiantes de yoga, que provee todos los detalles de como ajustar y asistir a alguien mientras realiza una postura de yoga. Con la reciente popularidad que el Yoga ha adquirido, este libro es invaluable para millones de personas que enseñan o practican esta disciplina. Las claras instrucciones y la generosa cantidad de fotos facilitan a los instructores el aprendizaje y comprensión de como asistir a sus estudiantes. Los mismos estudiantes pueden utilizar esta guía para profundizar en su práctica personal, aplicando los principios en parejas. En el libro se demuestran y explican las técnicas de ajuste y asistencia para más de 65 posturas ilustrándolas con alrededor de 200 fotos. Usted puede • Como ajustar y asistir a alguien mientras realiza una postura de yoga
• Como ejecutar ajustes utilizando mecánicas corporales efectivas
• Múltiples variantes de como ajustar en una postura
• Frases que pueden ayudar a sus estudiantes o parejas/compañeros de yoga
• Maneras de acomodar diferentes tipos de cuerpos
• Como ayudar a sus estudiantes a profundizar en las posturas de manera segura La comunidad internacional de yoga se beneficiará enormemente con este libro.

Genres: Nonfiction, Textbooks, Reference

260 pages, Paperback

First published January 17, 2006

Reviews

[Liz Filippone · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book and recommend it to anyone who does yoga or teaches yoga. As a teacher, it really gave me good insight on how to position myself when adjusting students so I won't injure myself. I don't remember going over a lot of this stuff when I was in teacher training. we did go over it, but not in so much detail like this book and with variations.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to read, great cues on how to get in and out of a pose for teachers to be. Illustrations are well done and description of poses make this book a five star. If anyone is looking to become a yoga teacher, this is one of those books you will come back to again and again...it is that good!

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fairly comprehensive book on adjusting for basic yoga poses. I liked that there are suggestions for cueing and using props. So much of what I teach in yoga is very fast and verbal cues are much more applicable, but I want to feel comfortable with a hands-on approach as well. Having said that, there are a number of suggested adjusting positions in this book that wouldn't be comfortable for either party. It's probably more a reflection of our society's aversion to people being within "our bubble," rather than a comment on the efficacy of the adjustment, but I just can't imagine "sandwiching" a forward fold and NOT feeling like the contact was inappropriate.

The content of the book would be most useful to yoga teachers, unless you and your partner happen to share a yoga practice (wouldn't that be nice?). The material is organized in a way that makes sense and is generally easy to absorb but print quality is a little dated. Color photos would add value. I could do without the quotes on adjusting, which were distracting and out of place, and the Q/A at the back seemed like it belonged in a different book. Criticisms aside, I read this from cover to cover, and I can see it being a helpful reference in my teaching journey.

[Jayme · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a great overview for yoga teachers to the most common postural adjustments. I didn't find anything new here, but it's a comprehensive review and provides both photographs and descriptions of each adjustment. I bought this book on Kindle and found that it was ill-suited to this format, with lots of blank pages or pages filled with just one quote. I could have also done without all of the quotes from the author's students and promotion of her teacher training school. The book seems to be written to an audience of yoga teachers. We don't need to be persuaded of the utility of adjustments by a bunch of teacher trainees. The quotes were fluffy, annoying and detracted from the overall quality of the book.

[Lorraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a useful book for beginning yoga instructors. Instructions are provided on how to assist students so that they can maximize their poses without compromising their alignment. Prop suggestions are made, and also verbal prompts: "What you might say."

The book was a little antiseptic. It would have been more enjoyable with some anecdotal input from the author. The quotes lack a degree of inspiration. A chapter for chair yoga would be lovely to include in future editions with considerations to the older population or impaired.

All in all, a very general book which new teachers could benefit from.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is really only relevant if you're a yoga teacher, but for that I found it a WONDERFUL companion to learning how to do assists and adjustments on people. it's something that intimidates me and is hard to find good material on (since you mostly learn by doing) so I am very thankful to have this book as a follow-up to what I learned during teacher training. Now I just need to find people to practice on :D

[Clara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I would not attempt many of the assisting suggestions in this book, I did find a lot of information that was helpful as I progressed through my yoga teacher training course. Remember when reading this to be mindful about what you and your students are comfortable with before putting any of these corrections/adjustments into practice.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Gets right down to how to adjust postures with helpful instructions not only for the teacher but also for the student.

[Asha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful. Can't wait to use these teaching tips.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great guide for assisting students.