The Art of Assisting Yoga Asana

How can we best attend individually to students during a general yoga class without disrupting the flow of the class?

Verbal and hands-on assisting for yoga asana is a skill and an art that aims to elevate the individual student’s experience and support their understanding, learning and hopefully enjoyment of yoga.

Workshop Description

In this workshop we will look at practical tools and techniques to integrate individual verbal assists, lightweight tactile assists and deeper hands-on assists. You will develop your knowledge of how to skilfully expand on typical visual and language cues delivered in class, and add depth to your teaching through individual assists with and without touch.

Individual assists can enrich a student’s experience, benefit their understanding, be therapeutic, and add a different dimension to their practice.

Whether you're a seasoned yoga teacher or just starting out, this workshop will provide you with additional grounding and knowledge to enhance your teaching.

Workshop Structure

We will meet for 2 evenings live on Zoom followed by an optional day in person at Yogacampus in Finsbury Park.

What you’ll learn in the online sessions:

• An overview of observing and reading bodies
• Different types of yoga assists and how to deliver them: opportunities for ‘self-assists’, individual verbal instructions, gestures, light-weight touch and deeper hands-on assists
• The ethics of hands-on assists and the importance of consent
• What type of assist to choose when, and when
• Benefits, safety considerations and cautions
  
• Who to assist and when to choose not to, including working with physical restrictions, injury or hypermobility
• The therapeutic power of touch, the purpose and considerations of delivering hands-on assists
• The teacher – student relationship with regards to assists

What you’ll learn in the day-long in-person workshop:

This is our chance to put into practice what we’ve explored in the online sessions:

• Understand how to apply hands-on assists for a variety of (mostly) standing postures including forward bends, side bends and twists
• Practise delivering hands-on assists in pairs or small groups
• Learn to apply hands-on assists in a skilful, sensitive and appropriate way that empowers your students, and refine your knowledge if you’re already working with hands-on assists.

This workshop – including the online sessions and in-person tutorial – allows you to refine your teaching skills in a supportive and collaborative environment. By the end of this workshop, you'll have a deeper understanding of how assists can enhance your teaching, and the tools and confidence to integrate these techniques into your classes.

The workshop will include:

Teacher led talks

Group discussions

Practical teaching tutorials and partnerwork

Personal and group feedback on teaching tutorials

Who is this workshop for?

This workshop is aimed at yoga teachers and teacher trainees who are looking to bring different modalities of assists into their classes, expanding on visual and language cues and adding individual assists with and without touch without disrupting the flow of the class.

Recording Replay

Recordings of the 2 evening sessions will be available for 30 days after the workshop.

Certification and accreditation

This workshop qualifies for 10 hours CPD with Yoga Alliance Professionals. You will receive a Yogacampus certificate of completion after the workshop.

Meet the Teacher

Isabell Britsch started her teaching journey in 2009 and now teaches yoga, mindfulness and meditation privately and at studios around London at a senior level. She also trains new yoga and meditation teachers. Her teaching is inclusive, and infused with warmth, care and humour.

Her flowing vinyasa yoga classes interweave yoga philosophy and thoughts on the psychology of the mind with intelligent, imaginative (and often somewhat unusual), fun sequences. Connection to the breath, attention to alignment, and encouragement to develop clarity and awareness off the mat are integral to her teaching. Isabell’s classes typically include hands-on assists and eclectic playlists.

Isabell trained as a yoga teacher with Yogacampus and in her ongoing advanced training is mainly influenced by Richard Freeman, Doug Keller and Rod Stryker.

Isabell’s mindfulness and meditation teaching is influenced by her long standing Vipassana and mindfulness practice. Courses and workshops cover a range of subjects including mindfulness, self-compassion, resilience, eastern philosophy, modern psychology, neuroscience and more. She also regularly gives talks on wellbeing, managing stress and building resilience in corporate environments. Every year Isabell leads several yoga and mindfulness retreats in the UK and abroad.

Isabell has taken extensive training in mindfulness and yin yoga with Sarah Powers, mindfulness and self-compassion with Karen Atkinson at MindfulnessUK, and trauma-sensitive mindfulness at an advanced level with David Treleaven. She trained in neuroscience with Dr Sarah McKay at the Neuroscience Academy.

Every year Isabell leads several yoga and mindfulness retreats in the UK and abroad. And she usually attends 3 weeks of silent meditation retreat every year at Amaravati Monastery in Hertfordshire, Gaia House and with her teacher Burgs. She is also influenced by the teachings of Tara Brach, Rick Hanson and Jack Kornfield.

Isabell holds accreditation by the Counselling and Psychotherapy Central Awarding Body, the British Wheel of Yoga, and Yoga Alliance.

Visit her website for more info on yoga, mindfulness and meditation: www.bodyheartmind.co.uk