Savasana Adjustments

Before I had accumulated any of my (minimal) experience teaching yoga to kids, I would have thought what they liked best was the opportunity to be more bendy, or to take a nap, or to do pairs poses and giggle at each other.  But after teaching kids for a year, I find myself continually surprised that their favorite pose is pretty consistently savasana with some kind of guided meditation.  I have a few ideas why, but I think I need a little more experience and a little more time working consistently with kids to really figure it out.

However, I think one of the reasons is the adjustments.  I had a yoga teacher when I was first starting out who made really fantastic savasana adjustments.  She would grasp a foot, one at a time, with her thumb on the arch of the foot, and pull.  The way she did it, it adjusted the hip and made the legs feel longer and relaxed.  I imagine you could get a similar result from pulling on an ankle, especially since some ankles tend to pop uncomfortably if you put even moderate pressure on them.  In any case, the almost all the kids I've worked with have loved this adjustment - in fact, I can't think of one off the top of my head that hasn't.

The second adjustment is to do essentially the same with the arms.  This can relax tension in the shoulders and neck, and make the arms feel more relaxed.  I'm consistently amazed by how many kids carry tension in their shoulders.  Sometimes I'll see even eight- or nine-year-olds with their shoulders around their ears.  I usually follow this with making sure the palms of their hands are flipped toward the sky and either pulling fingers lightly, or putting light pressure on palms with my thumb.  This is another favorite.  When it's done to me, it makes my hands feel grounded and my fingers seem longer (a nice bonus if you're a musician or teaching musical kiddos).

Adjustments are tricky things.  As yoga teachers, we have to be careful not to cause any injury or pain, which means being hyper-aware of any previous injuries or sore spots.  I'm terrified of making an adjustment that hurts a student.  Because of that, I likely make adjustments less frequently than I should.

That being said, the ever-present yoga student in me looooves adjustments, and there's nothing better than a yoga teacher mindfully helping me to where I need to be.  Yoga in the West is a mind/body fusion (emphasis mostly on the body), and I think it's important because of that for teachers to be aware of how to adjust and not be scared of it.  In the end, I'm still a teacher coming to terms with the student in me that just wants that adjustment. 


Adult students, by the way, also love the savasana adjustment, according to the feedback that I've had from adult classes.  And heck, feedback from myself.  Some days when I couldn't get off the couch to a yoga class for any other reason, the promise of that little bit of extra stretch was enough.