Hi Baddies,
With trauma awareness beginning to gain traction in the last few years, as well as the time period of social distancing and isolation - long lost are the tactile cues in Yoga, and long lost is the art of touch.
Don't get me wrong - as a traumatised germaphobe, I jumped for joy at the thought of people keeping their hands the fuck away from me during 2020 and beyond. As an antisocial, low iron girlie who is chronically exhausted, I loved that I could slack off from walking around the room and putting my hands on people.
However, as a kinesthetic learner and an embodied movement practitioner, I have also had experiences with tactile cueing in Yoga and Pilates that have completely elevated, enhanced and transformed my practice.
There are a few personal policies I have for those who wish to (and are brave enough to) touch me:
You ask my consent, or I have given explicit ongoing consent to you. This should be obvious.
You have an excellent understanding of anatomy and biomechanics.
You do not hesitate, you are confident.
You have been trained by someone beyond your 200hr facilitators about how to safely and effectively touch someone in a movement practice.
The way that you touch me is not to assume that I am big and strong, and therefore you can 'go hard.' You need to be intuitive and listen to my body's feedback.
Your assist is intentional, purposeful, present, correct, firm, safe - and it enhances my practice, rather than take away from it. This enhancement could be a subtle body / energetic enhancement.
All the above considered, I am going to begin hands-on assisting again in my classes, with explicit consent, especially if you ask for my assistance.
With the exception of the traumatised - tractile cueing can be a really beautiful way to connect with your student, and help your student with mind-body connection.
I will be putting together an assisting training mid year for anyone that needs a refresher or wants to learn more about their own body/practice, but for now, if you'd like some personal mentorshipor a teacher's refresher for your own studio, please reach out and I'd love to collaborate with you.
With loving hands,
Eve 