On Saturday I was a volunteer subject for a yoga instructors workshop on assisting. The volunteers consisted of an assortment of newbies, somewhat experienced but injured yogis, and a few who seemingly fit yogis with significant handicaps you’d never know they possessed. This included life altering illnesses far more extensive than the residual effects of the demyelination of my neurons (a brief autoimmune response) in my early teens.

As a volunteer, we subjects got to listen in and observe the instructors (and soon-to-be instructors) as they were taught about how and when to assist the yogis in their classes. It was fascinating.

One by one, each subject was asked to assume a pose for the group to gather, discuss the particulars about the subject’s form, and take turns trying to assist the yogi to better it. The particulars of each yogi, including their yoga experience (or lack of), injuries, or handicaps taken into consideration. I felt like a fly on the wall at times and like a cell under a microscope at other times. It was good — in an informative way.
[Read more…]