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Tim Feldmann on the value and pitfalls of yoga adjustments - Blog

By A Mystery Man Writer

Yoga adjustments are a direct and personal way of communicating and teaching yoga. To both the yoga teacher and student, navigating this world of yoga adjustments can feel like walking a tightrope. Done well, these adjustments can be transformational, as international yoga teacher Tim Feldmann describes from his own early experiences of a hands-on yoga practice. Physically adjusting students is not without its pitfalls however. Giving students verbal instructions is one thing, but actually putting your hands on a student’s body is another thing entirely: it can be seen as inappropriate, uncomfortably intimate, triggering, confusing or can even lead to physical injury if a student is pushed too far. Yogamatters approached Tim Feldmann, director of Miami Life Center and authorised Ashtanga yoga teacher, to share with us all his personal views on and approach to hands-on adjustments. As you were starting out on your yoga journey and then training to become a yoga teacher, how did you view hands-on adjustments? Did you find them helpful? Here is my personal experience. One of the very reasons I began practicing Ashtanga yoga was because I met senior certified teacher Lino Miele upon one of his first visits to Copenhagen, Denmark, my residence in 1999. At the time, he was one of the 2 main Ashtanga teachers in Europe (the other was John Scott). There were a few other teachers working in smaller shalas in Europe, yet most people were practicing either with Lino or John. Lino’s hands drew me to him, so when he told me ‘you got to let me get my hands on your body’, my only question was ‘how do we do that?’. Lino is /was what we used to call a ‘non-verbal’ teacher, using hands and gestures before verbal instruction. Verbal instruction was simple, ‘foot there’, ‘twist here’, ‘nose dristhi’, ‘continue’ .. that type use of verbal instruction. Lino skilfully and accurately expressed, supported and encouraged my asana aspirations with his hands alone. Under lino’s hands, my body became like soft clay. His adjustments with me were often firm, always caring and never off point, sensitive and intuitively advanced. I have had very few adjustments before and since with a similar level of skill, depth and kinesthetic understanding as Lino wordlessly embodies. When Lino puts his hands on you, you melt, you remember what surrender is. That’s the effect he had on me and I learned more by his Read more »