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TRIGGER WARNING – please be advised that some of the content as well as the graphics of this article may be triggering.
Wow. Sexual misconduct under the guise of “yoga adjustments” gets called out in The New York Times? This sh#t’s getting real.
Flash back to the late 90s.
I remember seeing pictures of Patabhi Jois, in his Calvin’s, pressing his body up against a leotard-clad female student and wondering, “How the hell is he getting away with that?”
But, believe it or not, it was considered good (though no one could quite say why) yoga teaching back then. I felt like the little boy in The Emperor’s New Clothes, except, I’m an adult, so like all the other adults in that story, I basically just blew it off and decided to stay away from that dude.
As you are probably aware, several students have recently accused Jois of sexually assaulting them while giving them “adjustments.”
In India it would never fly. One ashram I stayed in would not even allow men and women to practice asanas together.
But in the latter part of the twentieth century, California was literally the wild west for this kind of behavior because American yoga students were typically uninformed about the customs of Indian culture, and believed they should trust this guy, and that he knew what he was doing, and there was nothing to worry about.
I had a student back then who had studied with Jois in Hawaii in the 80s and told me that he was known for being “handsy” and so, mostly, she just tried to avoid his adjustments.
Yeesh.
Fast forward to the early 2000s.
I’ve just moved to yoga-mecca Asheville, North Carolina. The vinyasa culture (which, to be clear, was spawned from Jois’ work) is dominant. And there are lots of “juicy assists” (i.e. pressing your body up against your students for reasons that eluded me then and continue to now) going on. Yoga teachers can even take workshops to learn how to give “juicy assists.” And many of the popular teachers are playing the game.
Whaaa?
I stay away from that and try to forge my own path by focusing on therapeutic yoga and reaching those who may not be interested in participating in that particular kind of yoga studio culture.
Fast forward to 2006.
I’ve been training teachers for a few years, but now I start my own teacher training programs and bring in a psychotherapist to help trainees better understand the emotional ups and downs of their yoga journey, and also to help them get clearer about the ethics of teaching such a personal, intimate, body-centered practice.
I am very minimal about hands-on adjustments. I have no problem with touching people (I’ve actually been a massage therapist for years) but I think adjustments, particularly full body ones, are a loaded gun and largely unnecessary. Even reasonable, less invasive adjustments should be reserved for helping people avoid hurting themselves and only with permission – folks need to have their own experiences and learn to trust their own bodies.
But some of my trainees want to know how to do hands-on adjustments because they’ve internalized the myth that they can’t be good yoga teachers unless they know how to manipulate others’ bodies into the “proper” form of the asana. I spend a lot of time untangling that thinking.
EDIT: I had a gif up here from the movie Couple’s Retreat because I thought it was funny and that the scene perfectly captures they dynamics of this problem. But someone complained about it being a trigger and I agree, I was not as sensitive as I could’ve been, considering the nature of this post. So, I took it down. But if you’d like to watch the yoga clip of the movie, it says it all. here’s a link.
Fast forward to today.
For over a decade the yoga world has had access to great information about trauma informed best practices – spearheaded by Elizabeth Hopper, David Emerson and their groundbreaking work with yoga at the Trauma Center in Boston. I took my first workshop about trauma sensitive yoga in 2010 and felt like I was a little late getting there.
And let’s not forget that the #metoo movement explodes in 2017.
And yet, on Monday The New York Times releases a video shot in 2019 during a yoga festival (in Asheville, ironically enough) of a teacher so egregiously ignorant of this information that he continues to share his “diaper change” adjustment during his workshops. My Facebook feed explodes with outrage.
A real-life friend comments that she feels embarrassed to call herself a yoga teacher.
And while I appreciate that his female students in the video are trying to help him wake up and smell the twenty-first century, what I find mind-numbing is that there are yoga teachers still pawning this garbage off as expert teaching.
Heave. 🤢
Yoga is about waking up – and woke women need to step up.
We need more trauma-informed women in positions of power in the yoga world, and we need to stop giving away our power and believing that through some magical process, random teachers have been imbued with a wisdom that casts them as the definitive authority of women’s bodies and minds.
In the early 2000s, I felt compelled to keep these opinions to myself. I would’ve been ostracized and gaslighted as “unyogic” or “too negative” (and also, my personal fave, “too intellectual.”)
The good news is that things are shifting.
Now it’s not only acceptable to say these things, it’s essential to call this stuff out in order to end the institutionalized legacy of sexual misconduct in the yoga world. It’s been a long time coming, but change is finally happening.
For me, personally, it’s incredibly validating. And it’s exciting to be riding the crest of this wave.
You are a woke yoga teacher, so whatever your gender, let’s all do this together. Even if it seems like everyone should already be on the same page, clearly, we still need to have frank and open conversations about adjustments and gender power dynamics.
Interested in sharing your work with people who really need it? Please watch the second video in my series about creating a thriving, sustainable yoga career here.
If you haven’t seen the first video in this series, you can check that out here.
You can watch the NYT video here.
There may come a time when I change my mind, but so far in my teaching experience of nearly a year now, I have not felt the need to make any physical adjustments. And I have only done a handful of assists, as my classes have been at my day job and at a gym for all levels, and keeping mainly to standard asana with no handstands or headstands thus far.
In Colorado, there are no touching laws in non-massage therapeutic practices, especially with minors. Personally and with my own personal story, I am as uncomfortable with touching as I think many women are with being touched.
As I am teaching, I explain on many levels (visual, verbal, kinesthetic) what I am demonstrating, and what I am feeling in the asana, I point to and adjust myself to demonstrate any corrections, and it has been going very well.
The extra touching when not helping someone into a handstand felt very unnecessary to me in YTT, but that might be a personal choice. I reserve the right to change my mind later if a student just is not getting it 🙂
*Edit: “no-touching” laws. Want to make that a bit more clear.
Thanks for sharing your experience Karen – it’s nice to hear that newer teachers are not feeling compelled to adjust – it was not always like that.
Thank you for the heads up!
In the tradition where I was trained, we did learn adjustments, and there was quite the discussion about how to best handle “non-adjustment” situations, where the student directly requested no adjustments.
I’m torn by this because I know how to adjust (I hope) without really invading someone’s space, usually with a finger or gesturing where they need to move to. Because in some circumstances, a gentle, appropriate adjustment is necessary. I don’t think I’d adjust EVERY student in EVERY class; but when I read stories like this, and know them to be true, it makes me cringe and my stomach heaves. I can’t imagine being in a situation where this was traumatic and I feel deeply that there has to be a better way to keep yoga students safe. I’d like to think my students trust me. I’d like to think my studio is a safe place. Thank you for bringing this out in the open. It can only help us all be better.
I agree that adjustments can be helpful, but as you said, often a finger or a gesture is enough. And I think we have to keep having these conversations as unpleasant as they are.
I was trained by Judith Lasater to always always ALWAYS ask, “May I touch you?” And to honor the student’s answer without any kind of judgmental sound or word. I experienced an injury early in my yoga experience by an over-enthusiastic teacher so I’ve been extremely conservative and only with the idea of guiding as I was trained to do. Plus this notion of attaining the perfect yoga pose is such a myth that I often question my reason for wanting to assist someone into a pose.
I believe this is a very important conversation to have and to continue.
I also want to add that, impropriety aside, I think all these physical adjustments may discount injuries and people’s own body geometry.
No two people are going to look exactly alike in an asana. I always give many variations, called so very much on purpose, for each asana. For example, just this Sunday, I had 20 students in my class with a peak asana of wheel. I had several students in constructive resting pose, several in bridge, several trying out a bridge with wheel arm positioning, and some in full wheel. I. Loved. That!!! I felt as though the students were really experimenting with their own practice.
I admit that while I am new to teaching yoga, I have been teaching dance for over 25 years, and it may be challenging for some teachers to develop the “teacher’s eye” and allow for individual variance. It can be disconcerting to begin with.
I myself have been injured when my sway back, proven by x-ray, was not getting straight enough in whatever asana one teacher was trying to get us into. Now, I just think that particular “teacher” did not know what she was doing.
Anyway, just a few more thoughts I wanted to share.
I completely agree with you, Karen. Not everyone is going to look the same in a pose, especially with different body shapes, injuries, and range of motion to consider. How can anyone really know what is going on with another person’s body…or their mental state, for that matter?
Amen!! Great article, great timing! I have been adjusting for 12 years. The studio I’m at has both a teacher and an adjuster for many classes. After a 300 and a 200 hour training I took a 9 month adjusters course. Many of the training sessions we had covered “appropriate” vs “inappropriate “ adjustments. We also had sexual abuse survivors speak with us and As a survivor of sexual abuse Myself I have been and will continue to be cautious and considerate and professional with any and all bodies I touch. I do not do adjustments that are more intimate unless I know the student and there practice well and I always preface it with a verbal explanation and if they agree I also tell them if it’s too much tell me to back off. Many teachers/adjusters (particularly seasoned ones) seem to have a 6th sense when it comes to knowing who does and who doesn’t want adjustments and we start each class with an explanation and give the students an out if they prefer not to be adjusted that day. I love adjusting/supporting the students this way (and yup this is my ego talking), especially when they are well received. Thanks for your emails etc. I love your philosophy!!
Thanks so much for sharing your experience Wendy. I feel like I developed that “sixth sense” very early on in my teaching – but a sixth sense isn’t enough – verbal consent is essential, as you say. Glad you are enjoying my blogs!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Karen. Variation is the spice of yoga life!
I have always preferred to have the student make their own adjustments, so I coach with words, and example. I’m not afraid to touch people, but it doesn’t seem the most efficient way to “get them” to embody the pose. I had a particularly painful adjustment from a teacher who prided herself in her adjustments. She yanked my knee toward her in Warrior I pose. She did not think to ask, if it would be okay to do so. It was not! I was about to go in for hip replacement surgery so it caused unnecessary additional pain. It just validated for me why I don’t do physical adjustments.
ouch! Sorry that you went through that Barbara. It’s an important point in the conversation – plenty of adjustments are non-sexual, but that doesn’t mean they are always safe physically.
I have to say, I do love adjustments and have never experienced anything inappropriate. Apparently I’ve been lucky. Well done adjustments helped me experience and feel depth that I wouldn’t have on my own. Adjustments have deepened my awareness and brought deep releases. So I appreciate a good adjustment and think there should be better training. As a teacher I don’t adjust much. I work with Marma points which also can bring deep changes. But I have not had much training in adjusting so I keep it pretty minimal.
It’s disturbing to me how much violation there is in the yoga world. Having never experienced this side of yoga, it’s alarming and disappointing. Thank you for shining light on all these “accepted” practices. They have become the standard and it’s time for new standards.
In addition to being a yoga teacher/C-IAYT, I’m an occupational therapist. I have a pretty big opposition to many adjustments/types of instruction. Do no harm. If. Am going to a Thai massage class I expect touch, any other, no thanks. We have to help our students be the arbiters of their own bodies. I almost never touch my students outside of offering props and maybe offering light touch to facilitate direction (like to indicate extension or flexion). So many of us have no business doing all this pressing and pushing. We don’t have X-ray vision. We can’t see anatomical bony restraints and anomalies. I know anatomy really well and I don’t know it well enough. Where I was instructed (and many of us are OTs, PTs, nurses, and therapists) the dangers of touch were emphasized. Thank you Kristine for confronting this madness. I’m still shocked that this man was invited to a yoga conference as an expert. Where is the common sense?
Thanks for your perspective Mary. I just wish yoga people were listening to folks like you 10 years ago. It’s amazing how common sense can fly out the window in the face of supposed authority.
Thank you!
“……..we still need to have frank and open conversations about adjustments and gender power dynamics.” Yes please….the louder the better. This stuff ranges from unnecessary to criminal and as evidenced by this article there are large parts of the yoga community that just don’t get it. This behavior is manipulative and controlling and one of the reasons I stay away from mainstream yoga…don’t understand it.
Thank you, I have been in teacher trainings in the past where hands on/partner/body adjustments were taught and encouraged. I knew something was terribly wrong. I have had students tell me other teachers made them uncomfortable and they decided to take my classes. At work, it took me years to convince those in charge, that I wanted the sexes taught separately. Yoga is such a spiritual ,intimate ,personal experience that we have to respect each other’s space and boundaries. I am so glad there is this community that is coming together to build trust between teacher and student and working to do what it takes to maintain that trust.
The lineage I studied was a classic approach which encouraged men on one side of the room and women on the other. I appreciated how different the energy feels. Our modern world is being pushed out of binary male and female expressions. To separate classes may cause feelings of exclusion. I had a friend that preferred a male gynecologist for the same reason I preferred a female. Comfort and safety may not be limited to same gender teachers. Perhaps the separation of men and women is a more advanced understanding of energy.
I find value in it and it’s great that you have provided that option for students. I question how that flies in our modern world.
Thankyou so much. Wonderful reading all the comments x I adjust verbally. Despite being a Bowen therapist. I don’t feel we covered enough about adjusting, the person on the mat may have trauma that they don’t even know about that may be triggered by touch, a smell, a sound. Allowing a students body to be, in its natural unfolding and letting the breath be the greatest adjustment. 🙏🏻
Thank you for this reminder, Kristine! It is such an important topic.
Watching this man talk makes me wanna say “he’s talking out of his *ss. It’s a good thing the women present were thinking on their feet and had the courage to speak up. I only hope that they all went to coffee together afterwards and wowed not to do weird adjustments.
I feel that us teachers (and teacher of teachers) have an obligation to be present, modest and kind. Our job is to guide, not force. Having a strong opinion has its place but it doesn’t belong in the yoga room. Being self righteous is just not “yogic”.
I have been adjusted forcefully in the past and walked away with hip pain and a conviction that I shall never do such a thing to anyone. But it must be said that more subtle actions can also harm. Not too long ago, following a vigorous “fitness style” class I was enjoying my well deserved Savasana when the AC was flicked on (hot class), the lights turned in my eyes and loud conversations began. Then the teacher approached me and asked “What’s going on, Nora? Have I pooped you out?” (I leave this hanging🤔)
Also, someone mentioned gut feeling. I used to believe that I had a strong sense of intuition when it came to teaching a class and I could “sense” when intervening was necessary until just recently a young student of mine (became a teacher herself since) was telling me about a constant back pain she had a hard time defining. As a yoga therapist I could’ve stepped up to the plate and do something but I did not. I merely asked if I could help but she brushed it all off with a smile and said she was “used to it”. Just recently she was diagnosed with Hodgkins limphoma. (She had no idea she had the disease.) Now I’m not sure that there is necessarily a connection to her back pain but I did learn that it had spread to her spleen.
On a final note, Ahimsa is a word we all speak about. Yet there is so much negativity going around in yoga circles that it shocks me sometimes. One doesn’t have to physically touch to do harm. I had been adjusted wrong before but the scars of a fellow teacher or, for that matter, a teacher of mine (happened too) belittling or ignoring me feels much worse and probably stays with me forever. Even if you “work through” these invasions, they are part of you from the moment they did their initial harm.
I know it seems like a separate issue but in my mind touch is just an extension of how we feel and what we believe. Perceptions can lead to assumptions which can be very dangerous in the practice of a healing art. Keep the healing to the person who needs to be healed (or “fixed” in any way) and be wise with your role in it!
Wow. Just watched the video and have to say that is arrogance in action. To say that he never asks permission and doesn’t think it’s important is blatant disregard for others feelings. Wow! And there’s the razors edge between humility and power.
I still love getting a good adjustment but completely acknowledge and recognize what might feel good to me won’t to someone else.
I’d like to see a balance. I’d like to see touching as part of our teaching scope of practice because there are times it’s valuable. And I see it’s tricky…. someone with trauma may feel uncomfortable speaking up or saying no.
Like any good lasting profession we continue to change, adapt, adjust, and educate ourselves. Self study and introspection. Inner refinement. More heart intelligence.
When I first completed my 200 hr YTT and started teaching, I was touching people left and right because that is what I was taught, but something always felt a bit off about it and I could not figure out why. I took a 4-year break from teaching to finish my college degree, as well as earn my black belt in Taekwondo. During that time I started my 300 hr YTT with Rolf Gates, as well as attended training with Veterans Yoga Project taught by Dr. Dan Libby, and Y12SR with Nikki Myers. Talk about a wake up call! That was the first time that I realized that touch was not necessary and not only be unwelcome but also invasive and triggering. By NOT touching my students I feel that I am able to speak more to sensations and my students learn to take the practice into their own hands and go as deep into the experience as they want to. In Veterans Yoga Project we tell the vets that we aim to create a Safe, Predictable, and Controlled Environment (SPACE) where they are 100% in control of their own body and practice, as well as the space on their mat. I remind all of my students that their mat is their home base, a safe place for them to land and practice.