Assists as service

I completed my Mastering the Art of Assists workshop series last April, and I was deeply impressed by the amount of progress, confidence, and understanding that emerged from the participants over the course of the series. It was clear that what they took away from the course will extend out into their classes, benefiting both their teaching and their students.

When I led my first assists workshop at Loft108 in January 2025, I entitled it Refining the Art of Assists. It was structured around the participants themselves: I prepared a document with postures divided into categories and invited the group to choose what we would explore together. The workshop was intended for teachers who had fallen out of the habit of assisting post-pandemic, offering them space to revisit, refine, and practice on one another.

The response was overwhelmingly positive! At the same time, it became clear that four hours wasn’t nearly enough. There was a genuine desire to go deeper, to continue practicing, and to build confidence over time. Out of that enthusiasm, the Mastering the Art of Assists series was born.

I designed the series so that each workshop built upon the previous one. We moved through categories of postures in a way that reflects how I might guide a class — following the progression of postures related to the chakras. We began with the foundational poses of the Sun Salutations, then explored standing, balancing, forward folding, twisting, inversions, and backbending.

Each session was divided into two parts. In the first half, we focused on alignment and assists. In the second, I guided a 30-minute sequence centered around the workshop’s theme, giving participants the opportunity to integrate what they had just learned within the flow of a class. This feels like an essential approach to me — assists are not static, just as the poses themselves are not. There are micro-movements unfolding with the breath at every moment. I also wanted to give participants the opportunity to assist through transitions, allowing the practice to feel like a dance between teacher and student.

We began every workshop with opening chants, followed by key principles of assists drawn from the Jivamukti lineage from which I teach. One insight that has stayed with me since my own teacher training is the intentional use of the word assists, rather than corrections or even adjustments. My teachers emphasized that assisting is not about fixing what a student is doing “wrong,” nor about “helping” in a way that assumes we know better. Instead, it is about being of service.

This approach resonated with me immediately. Whenever I have received assists from other Jivamukti teachers, they have felt supportive and encouraging — as though they could see a possibility within me that I might not yet perceive. That doesn’t necessarily mean solely going deeper into a stretch. Sometimes it means being guided out of it to build strength, or being given something to press into for stability. Sometimes it’s about grounding, so that there can be more freedom elsewhere in the body.

This understanding — assists as service, touch as care, human contact as essential — has become a core principle in how I teach, both in my yoga classes and throughout the way I have taught yoga teachers over the past 15 years. I have noticed a growing conversation around whether assists are an outdated practice, rooted in control or in pushing students into shapes they may not be ready for. There is definitely value in questioning our motives and intentions when we offer touch. In fact, setting your intention is one of the key principles of assists. When the intention is to serve, trust can develop between teacher and student, allowing both to grow within the practice.

One piece of feedback that stuck with me came from a participant at the final workshop. She shared that she had fallen out of the habit of assisting since the pandemic and appreciated the opportunity to rebuild her confidence in doing so. She also noted that, in the past, she had approached assists as corrections — but that receiving them during the practice portion shifted her perspective. She experienced them as supportive and grounding, and said simply, “It was so nice.”

She had only attended the last two workshops of the series, and yet her reflection spoke directly to the heart of what I had hoped to share. Several other participants also joined the series à la carte, attending one, two or several sessions as their schedules allowed. When the series came to an end, their response mirrored what I had experienced after the first workshop: a desire to continue exploring, practicing, and reconnecting with this aspect of teaching. And so once again, I found myself being asked to offer another series, which I am of course very happy to do — assists remain one of my favourite aspects of teaching and an essential part of how I teach. For me, they are a way of guiding, supporting, and connecting through touch — an offering of presence, and ultimately, an act of service.

Photo credits: Javier Pelaez

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"Mastering the Art of Assists was a fantastic training. I truly feel grateful for the experience, and I think it’s a perfect complement not only for yoga teachers (whether new or experienced) but also for dedicated yogis who want to deepen their practice.

Even if you don’t plan on assisting much, it offers a completely new perspective on each pose. It deepens your understanding of the asanas in a way that’s incredibly valuable. Not just for hands-on assists, but also for clearer, more effective cueing.

I’ve already started applying what I learned in my classes, and the feedback has been consistently amazing."

- Clara Thomson

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To find out more and sign up for the next series click here.