Hands-On-Adjustments To Be Wary Of, Especially As A Beginner

While hands-on-adjustments can be a game-changer for your practice, it is important to understand which ones are actually safe.

Practitioners and teachers around the world swear by hands-on-adjustments, and sure enough, they are great in terms of helping with alignment, or guiding the body into the correct direction, or for giving that gentle push one might need to go deeper into a certain pose. But, what about when that gentle push turns into a burdening weight, forcing you into a pose your body is clearly not ready for?

If I were to hand someone, with zero strength training experience, an 80-kg weight, they are bound to collapse under it. A person with tight hamstrings, who can’t reach anywhere close to their toes, will have a similar reaction when a teacher lays upon them in attempt to push them into a deep Paschimottanasana. It can lead to a disc bulge, or a hamstring injury.

Backbends are often a favourite when it comes to hands-on-adjustments. But what a few teachers and students, alike, fail to understand, is that there may be numerous reasons behind someone being unable to access back-bending postures. It can be tightness in certain muscles, it can be a spinal injury, or it can be bone spurs or spinal degeneration in older people. You can probably already guess the consequences of an external pull in the latter two cases.

It is your choice whether to consent to an adjustment or not. Be vocal about any discomfort or pain. While gentle adjustments are beneficial, there is absolutely no need for anyone to use their body weight on you, or use extra hands to keep you restrained in a pose, especially if you are not ready for it. Choose your teachers wisely and set your boundaries when it comes to accepting any external push.