Manju Jois TT pt 2 of 4 : Ashtanga Adjustments ?

Here's a picture from the Adjustment workshop element of Manju's TT course in Crete last week.

(NB: If you see yourself in any of these pictures and would rather not have them posted here let me know and I'll take them down- have tried to seek permission were possible).

Picture by Paris Georgiou/ Vinyasa Yoga Studio, Limassol Cyprus

I used to struggle with pictures like this, adjustments seemed so forceful, so... up close and personal. Is it  necessary, really? 

Are ANY adjustments/assists necessary?

I mean, 'I never had em, never missed em',

I went from here, overweight, struggling with the standing sequence......

to Advanced series in, what, three years and without ANY assists or adjustments, no injuries either, not even a sprain . 

Now admittedly my Advanced B ( A too...come to think of it and my 2nd series and Primary also for that matter) lacked some... finesse, some polish (to say the least and still does)  but it was/is coming along. 

And it was around then I switched my focus to Vinyasa Krama, by the time I came back to Ashtanga I was less interested in Advanced postures and more curious about exploring the possibilities of the breath in Primary and perhaps 2nd.

In Vinyasa Krama there never really seemed to be any hands on adjustment, more a case of verbal cues I seem to remember two assists from Ramaswami's TT in 2010, a push on the sacrum in Pashimottanasana and a hand keeping the bind on the toe in supta vajrasana. I seem to remember Ramaswami saying that mostly, Krishnamacharya would talk the student through the posture.

Krishnamacharya, it seems, didn't adjust...or did he?

I came across this ....

Krishnamachrya adjusting (Screenshot from a photo album in Breath of Gods)

It seems Krishnamacharya did adjust occasionally and perhaps adjusted a lot more in his earlier years, his Mysore period.... interesting thought.

And of course I HAVE had adjustments, all those modification of postures in David Swenson's book are in a sense adjustments or assists, at least for the home Ashtangi, a block, a pile of cushions, a strap, a bolster for supta vajrasana an alternative bind, these are all home adjustments, home assists.

It was something I was finally prepared to explore and try and understand a little better, one of the reasons I chose Manju's TT rather than his Intensive.

And it was an eye opener, a game changer.

I don't know how others adjust/assist but with Manju it stuck me that he was mostly about being supportive, helping somebody keep their balance in standing postures, allowing them to keep the bind they already had in some of the seated asana, reminders, guidance and lengthening into the postures, making room for the breath.

And it was fascinating to watch, Manju has been doing this for a LONG time, he's been adjusting bodies since he was fifteen, teaching with his father, Shri K. pattabhi Jois back in the early days of his father's shala.

I saw another series, what would that be seventh series, the adjusters series.

In Aikido there is the move and then the counter to the move and even the counter to the counter of the move, it felt a little like that. For every asana there was, in a sense, a new posture, finding balance, a place of strength, stability, comfort for the Adjuster to adjust the adjustee and both led, guided by the breath, fascinating.

And that's why it's so up close and personal, again like Aikido you step in close to better work with your partner, their energy, the direction of their body, to redirect rather than impose your own energy on them, the least force possible.

Ashtanga Mysore, It's a long class, there can be a lot of bodies.

It's like lifting a box you don't want to bend over and and reach out to lift it, you want to get as close to the box as you can, get your legs around it if possible... like a Sumo wrestler, wrap your arms around it

http://www.presentermedia.com/index.php?target=closeup&maincat=clipart&id=5227

....get up close and personal.

The Adjustment element of Manju's TT Course

I had wondered about this, had imagined that we would get shown an adjustment/assist by Manju, have the chance to practice it on a partner and then move on. Manju however is BIG on re enforcement. He showed us the assist, I practiced it in a small group, so on a couple of different body types, they practised it on me. The following day we would review all the assists from the previous day before being shown new ones. The following day and again at the end of the course we practiced them again, each time switching groups to experience as wide a number of body types as possible. This was excellent.

But there was more. The course was organised  by Kristina Karitinou, Kristina must be one of the most experienced Ashtanga teachers working today. You can get an idea of how good a teacher Kristina is by seeing how many excellent teachers she herself has taught and who continue to come back again and again for her workshops. Each group had a group 'leader' somebody more often than not teaching themselves elsewhere in Greece, part of Kristina's extend Ashtanga family, they had taken Manju's course with Kristina before, often it seems several times before and here they were again offering guidance as we tried out our assists, generous in their advice and suggestions.And of course Manju himself and Kristina are wandering around the room checking what your doing, making themselves available for being called over to ask for clarification.

This can make a huge difference for a  course like this, we were perhaps a little spoilt in having so many experienced teachers, who had taken the course before, to go around. It might be worth enquiring about this if you book the course yourself in a different location, drop an email to the organiser and ask.  

Thank you to everyone I worked with on the course.

Picture by Paris Georgiou/ Vinyasa Yoga Studio, Limassol Cyprus

The above is interesting, in these squishes, Manju has us lay on the back of the person you're adjusting and then move forward  lengthening their spine. At one point another member of my group mentioned to keep...the groin area out of the way. I waved my hand and arm in between me and and the girl I was adjusting to show there was no contact, just my chest on her back with a towel between us. For guys with baggy shorts rather than the tights and capri's the girls wear some of these adjusts can look... too intimate. Lots of misunderstanding around about this perhaps and yet in this environment it struck me as being about as clinical as you can get. 

Picture by Paris Georgiou/ Vinyasa Yoga Studio, Limassol Cyprus

The one below is my favourite, thank you to Paris for shooting this. Again, from the picture, it looks dodgy as if I'm pushing down on the knees. Actually I supported my weight with my hands on the floor as I lowered my chest on to their back. Lengthened their spine by moving my chest forward and then with all my weight supported applied my hands to the legs to gently draw them back a little rather than press them down. I'll never look at a picture of somebody being adjusted in the same way again.

Picture by Paris Georgiou/ Vinyasa Yoga Studio, Limassol Cyprus

Adjustments, I've only scratched the surface here and there are of course many different opinions on how one should and shouldn't adjust, people are carving themselves out nice, lucrative careers from this, and from teaching anatomy. It's easy to get bogged down in it I imagine. With Manju it seemed balanced, common sense, as I said, more guidance and support, we're supposed to be assisting somebody in their practice rather than the adjustment element  itself becoming a distraction from practice.

And now perhaps I do want to teach, get a gig as an assistant to work on this some more, take the course again, practice on M. I'm hooked.

Oh an how did they feel these adjustments that I was experiencing for the first time... WONDERFUL. Such lengthening, I'm pretty flexible but we were finding space, room to breath even more fully, lifting, opening, releasing.... we're in the making space for the breath business. And then there are the hips that lift in postures, a firm hand can be a reminder, help you to drop your hip here to make more space there. We lean, the adjuster can redirect the direction of our posture which again opens up the chest, creates space, more space for the breath. I'll say it again

We're in the making space for the breath business.

I know, I know, you've all know this for years, you Shala Ashtangi's this is not new to you but to a home Ashtangi it's a big deal ( can you tell I'm still excited) and I know I'm scratching the surface of this, just beginning to get a handle on it.... I need to go to more Shala's, explore this more.

Thank you Manju, Kristina, her family of assistants and everyone else on the course I worked with.

More posts to come on the course of course including an overview but I was perhaps most excited about this aspect of the course, still have to tell you about my first Supta vajrasana adjustment ever, both giving and receiving, WOW and how Manju lays as much stress on chanting (meditative practice) and pranayama as asana, a traditional, integrated yoga practice.

Link to Kristina Karitinou website 

http://www.yogapractice.gr

Links to the extended Ashtanga yoga Greece family 

http://www.yogapractice.gr/links_directory

Manju's website

http://www.manjujois.com

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Updates/Out takes/ Notes

There are all these other bits and pieces I want to add to this post related to adjustments .

Biggest drawback of the Adjustment element of the course was that we were all relatively experienced practitioners (obviously as we we're on a TT). We could on the whole get pretty deeply into the asana, although some were naturally less flexible than others and still and there was a good mix of ages and sex. It would have been nice to have a class the last day of volunteers, newer practitioners from the shala who get a free conference with Manju in return for allowing us to practice our adjustments, not sure how possible that would be logistically. I had something Like this on my TEFL training years ago. There was an actual class of students who had paid half price to be taught English by new teachers.

I mentioned Aikido and the counter to the counter to the counter. In Adjustment workshops we have the adjustments by the trainer or group leader to the adjuster doing the actual adjustment/assist on the person who is of course adjusting themselves into the posture.

And there is that aspect of surrender, once you're being adjusted you just have go with it and trust the skill of the adjuster, trust that they can feel your breath, the misalignment  in your body (may just be a slight tilt to one side, the lifting of hip) and redirect it slightly to allow you more space to breathe with them more fully.

It was stressed throughout that in adjusting we (as adjusters) are NOT doing the asana for them, they have to do all the hard work, we're playing a supporting role, a little guiding and redirecting perhaps, offering a little more stability and thus confidence…this time, we may well not be there the next time they do the asana, were not there to be relied on.

The breath, constant reminders to breath while adjusting, there is a tendency to hold the breath which is ironic. Breath through the assist and feel the breath in the person you're assisting, often the hand is on the back, we feel it perhaps rather than hear it. And of course there is the option in assisting to make the ujjayi louder as a reminder to the person you're assisting. This was a problem for me, I like to breath long and slow but when being assisted in my practice the breath tended to be shorter than I was used to, wasn't sure what to do then. Perhaps the ideal is to tune in to the breath of the person you're adjusting and then as you give them more space, slow and lengthen the breath slightly encouraging them to breath more fully into the asana.

Not much assisting on the exits I noticed, assist them out of the posture, so it doesn't spring apart perhaps but then it's up to them to work on their own jump back, their own exit from Supta kurmasana say.

Supta vajrasana in the led second series, WOW, my first having always practiced this at home with a bolster, SO intense, thank you Nikos and for guiding me through returning the favour. Later I did the assist on somebody else, their own first time too, a nice moment.

Karandavasana: not sure about this, I can go down and up on my own. However, I'm not used to doing it away from the wall. I never seem to use the wall anymore but in flipping up I seem to need it for confidence. So I was helped here but in being folded down and up it felt as if it was all being done for me. When I practice this I move my hips and backside back as a counterweight for my lotus to come down, same when going up but here I felt I was being lowered and raised too horizontally. Would this assist help me to ever get it on my own if I was unable to land it, I wonder. But then perhaps I'm going about it in a less efficient way, finding a work around in my home practice and that is the reason I have difficulty straightening my arms as I take my lotus back up, will have to explore coming down straighter, see if that's possible.

And of course that's the point. you take your assist and then allow it to inform your own practice, to use it to notice the areas to work on when not being assisted. How many times was I assisted in every posture of primary last week? Lots to be working.

The course ended on Sunday, Monday I went to the Shala in Rethymno as a drop-in just to put all those assists, the whole week in fact in context, it was like seeing every asana for the first time.

UPDATE

See this extra post with a bunch of videos and photos from the course

http://grimmly2007.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/manju-jois-tt-crete-assistadjustment.html

Coming up 

Manju Jois TT pt 3 of 4 : Practice

Manju Jois TT pt 3 of 4 : Q & A