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workshops Adjustments Workshop
workshops Adjustments Workshop
| Monday, 03 May 2010 | |
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Primary Series Adjustments Workshop - Dec/Jan - exact dates TBA with Guy Donahaye Cost: $350 Pre-registration is required There is an option for students who practice only half of primary series to take 3/4 of the workshop. This workshop will focus on how to give hands on adjustments for the Primary Series of Ashtanga Yoga. The course is suitable for teachers and for students with a regular daily practice of Ashtanga Yoga who would like to deepen their knowledge. Course participants will adjust each other, learning a number of different ways of assisting each posture, with plenty of time for repetition, feedback and discussion. We will create a safe context to learn adjustments, introducing methods which utilize breathing, the use of body weight instead of strength as both counterbalance and means of adjusting. Moving the body through its natural range of motion does not require force but understanding and guidance, sensitivity and correct perception - these are the qualities we will work to cultivate. Participants will also gain deeper insight into their own practice as we focus on individual postures, receive adjustments from different participants, give feedback and discuss whatever questions arise. In this workshop we will explore the techniques used for helping students get deeper into the asanas while maintaining stability, strength and a sense of ease or comfort. Adjustments should give the students a sense of release, freedom of movement and safety while at the same time leaving them grounded and stable. New postures will be introduced each day, but we will start by practicing all the adjustments learned to date. Adjustment practice will be in groups of 2-3 - each participant will take turns to adjust, be adjusted and to observe. After each member of the group has taken a turn for each posture, participants will rotate and work with a different group. In this way students will have the opportunity to adjust each participant in each pose each day. (it is possible that due to time constraints some poses may be skipped on some days to allow for deeper work on specific asanas). We will work on all the important asanas which are normally adjusted in the Ashtanga Practice and will learn a number of ways to adjust each pose, taking into account common injuries and alignment problems. It is our intention to develop a thorough understanding of the techniques for adjusting through plenty of repetition. In this way participants will get plenty of experience both with adjusting each pose and with receiving adjustments in each pose, experiencing and discussing the rationale behind each asana and adjustment. By the end of the course students will have both learned the adjustments and had the opportunity to practice each asana repeatedly. Feedback from Previous Adjustment Workshops: "The traditional method of teaching Ashtanga yoga postures is by physically adjusting the student into correct alignment or simply deeper towards the postures' true expression. Guy Donahaye embodies a unique combination of gentleness and power. From the first moment as a student in Guy's hands the sensation was one of security and trust, allowing me to relax and breath into the posture. It is inadequate to talk only about the physical nature of Guy's adjustments. He communicates a calming spirituality, rooted in tradition, which sets one free into the present moment. For a teacher, learning Guy's approach to adjustment would be priceless. My yoga journey has included many master teachers. Guy is among the very best." - Tom "I highly recommend GD's intensive adjustment clinic for all ashtanga students who are interested in deepening their practice and for teachersinterested in exploring the intricacies of adjusting. Guy's years of experience as a teacher and teacher of teachers comes through as he addshis own philiosophy and style of adjusting while grounding students in the traditional methodology of ashtanga as taught to him by Pattabhi Jois. Each day the clinic included instruction, practice and ongoing discussion and feedback. It was a great opportunity to practice adjustments directly on students and to learn a variety of adjustments for each pose of the primary series. Guy is a patient teacher who makes his students feel comfortable; the clinic is both rigorous and tons of fun." Aliza "In addition to becoming comfortable with using my touch on others, and learning the actual adjustments, I think it also really strengthened my relationship to this practice. I suspect part of that may have come from spending so much time at the shala every day and from the intensity of the experience. Beyond this though, I think we all benefited from having an opportunity to understand many of the principles behind the way you teach and the reason things are done the way they are... ...This workshop has really deepened my respect for teaching. I kept thinking throughout the workshop about what a big responsibility you take on as a teacher. I am beginning to see that although I always thought of my practice as "mine", that the teacher really makes the practice in some sense. The teacher's relationship to the practice and interpretation of the practice is passed on to the student in so many ways." - Julia "The repetition of adjustments rapidly deepened my own practice. I guestimate that we each received about 30-50 adjustments a day (about 720 adjustments during the workshop). That could be equal to or more than the number I’ve received the last 18 months. (!) This was the most valuable aspect of the workshop for me... ...It was very beneficial and generous of you to demonstrate adjustmentsagain, and again and again if needed. There are many possible adjustments and you were emphasizing a certain style. It became apparentyou see a hierarchy of asanas that are most important to adjust." - Katherine "Some features of the organization of the workshop were really outstanding: 1) rather than doing every asana of the primary series, you focused on the ones that most typically need adjusting; 2) we rotated partners each day for each asana. In other workshops, when stuck with the same partner all afternoon, it was a limiting factor. Before, when paired with someone who could not drop back, I failed to learn that adjustment. 3) always reviewing what we'd previously learned 4) later, rotating asana by asana - doing a different body and a different asana, afairly good replication of an actual class." - Kathy "I would say that the workshop enhances one's ability to learn non-verbally through hands-on instruction. The strength of the workshop as I see it is the time and attention that you, Guy, give to each student as they learn the adjustments. It seemed as if you were always there when needed to guide and answer questions." - Maureen |
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