Props as teachers

What do you think about using props?  Do you feel that they are a sign that you are not advanced enough to do a pose?  Or, can you see a prop as a teacher?

There are three ways to adjust someone in a yoga pose. 

The first is with words.  As a teacher, when I use my words, I get to see if the student understands what I am asking them to do and if they have the intelligence in their body to do what is being asked of them. 

The second way to adjust someone is with a prop.  Using a prop helps a student access what may have been unconscious in their body. It still puts the task of finding the action on the student.  This helps them become more conscious in their body.

The third way is with a manual adjustment.  This is the trickiest.  The teacher needs to be knowledgeable and skillful.  You have to meet the student where they are and work with their limitations.  It can be easy to be too aggressive, to push the student where the teacher thinks they should be.  But, a good hands-on adjustment can often teach the student in an instant what might take months or even years to discover on their own. 

Personally, I love using props.  Props help me work with the asymmetries in my body.  They help me do poses when I am tired, or injured, or just hurting in some way.  Props also teach my body to feel something that I can try to re-create when I am not using the props.

Take these two pictures of Down Dog, for example:

This first one is a nice pose.  The legs are straight, the hips are lifted, but there is just a little rounding in the back. 

In this second photo, my student uses the rope wall to get the feeling of changing the shape of his spine.  Using the ropes around the tops of his thighs helps this student to move his thighs back.  By placing his heels up on the wall, he is able to lift his sit bones more.  This releases his low back.  His whole torso elongates and he finds that he needs to walk his hands forward.  It’s a beautiful pose!

Once he has felt that elongation and freedom, he will look for it and try to find it without the ropes.  John Friend used to call this the Optimal Blueprint:  The body recognizes when it is in good alignment.

The Yoga Wall is especially helpful for people with scoliosis and other asymmetries or issues such as arthritis.

If you are interested in working on the Yoga Wall, contact me for information on private sessions.