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"Teaching with your hands" demands a solid knowledge of alignment, the ability to read a student's movements and energy and the intuition to touch with grace. Assisting and adjusting a yoga class is incredibly powerful and will often profoundly move students. The art of assisting allows you to contribute directly to a student's growth and evolution while providing the tools and experience to profoundly shift your personal practice.
First Steps: the Essentials of Assisting. The program begins with basic alignment and assisting principles. Before applying to the program, we ask you take the Art of Alignment Workshop conducted twice a year in January and July. Here you will learn hands on adjustments and modifications for each pose, when to use different assists, the difference between corrective and deepening assists, how a simple direction or light touch can create new energy in the body while a deep, firm assist can radically change a student's experience in a pose.
Next steps: Mentorship Training Program Having taken the workshop, students are welcome to apply for Down Under's Assisting Program. This highly customized 3 month in-house training program takes you deeper into the role of an assistant, enhancing your repertoire and allowing you to:
- Practice hands on adjustments and modifications in partner sessions in a live classroom guided by a mentor or senior teacher.
- Shadow assist with your mentor in a live classroom, learning how to pace, address individual limitations and read the energy of the room and the individual.
- Take customized workshops and learning labs, deepening your confidence in different assists and your knowledge of injury assessment. The workshops are designed give you the time to ask questions and gain clarity on issues that arise in your mentorship phase.
Graduates from this training then be invited to solo assist, becoming an integral part of the studio community and the fabric of studio yoga classes.
To Apply: Please contact studio manager Emma Burrows at emmabduy@gmail.com.