Adjusters Training

JANUARY 27, 2019

Adjusters Training – Illuminating, Digestable, & Fun

Who wouldn’t want some of that? If you are a Yoga Teacher and looking to grow your skills the Adjusters Program is it! As a Yoga Teacher it can be daunting to walk into a room full of practitioners and offer adjustments and assists.

This 80 hour program is created so that you can gain knowledge and practical experience of advanced alignment and manual adjustments. Being comfortable and confident in both your hands on and verbal assists is a gift. The gift your students will receive extends just as far!

We had a chance to connect with the ever inspiring Amy Thiessen who is now running the program as well as some pretty spectacular Yoga Teachers that have taken the course.

Amy when did you take the course?

Wow… this is crazy to say, but I took the first adjusters program back at the studio in 2005/2006. There were only two of us in the program and it was back in the days when the studio still had carpet and only one room. Times have definitely changed since then and I am super thrilled to now be running this program.

We are too! Can you tell us a little bit about the program and how it runs?

What makes this program unique and powerful is that it engages a type of learning that comes from experience and is quickly applicable; quite different then only practicing with other teachers. In many trainings you will learn and practice assists with many others who are also in this program. However, in this program participants are in the room with classes after their first weekend. Many people learn best through experience, application, and practice thus, participants are encouraged to stoke their own curiosity. A segment of each weekend is devoted solely to the questions and situations that they are dealing with in their classes!

The full curriculum draws from over 15 years of experience; from personal practice, to course development, and teacher facilitation. Participants are given a framework from which to build effective assists. With practice and experience, they are soon able to intelligently assist all types of poses and bodies. Fortunately within the program you will be able to practice these tools with various body types, from different members of the community, to your fabulous adjusters program cohort.

What really makes this course extra special is the community. The friendship, laughs, and interactive learning that occurs over this 80 hour program is magic. Each participant offers the insight and wisdom from their own practice and as such, the entire group expands their learning. To this day I still learn new techniques and ideas from new students, as well as the current adjusters who come into the program to share their ideas and update their skills. The nature of this program thrives in community which in turn builds confidence and learning for everyone.

We reached out to some of our teachers and some of Amy’s past graduates. We received some pretty sweet applauds for this program and wanted to share a few with you.

Amy Thiessen’s adjuster program has been the best thing for my personal and professional practice. The program helped me to better understand my movement patterns and my body. I am now much more aware in my personal practice and am constantly working at making physical adjustments to experience greater depth in my practice.

Professionally, the adjuster program has helped me to start identifying patterns in students’ practices. Once I identify the pattern, I am able to provide verbal and manual adjustments to help students’ experience poses more deeply. In addition, I have learnt many adjustments that improve the safety of students and that will benefit them in their practice in the long-term.

I highly recommend the adjuster’s program as it has truly improved my knowledge of my own practice and others. In addition, the program has helped me to gain confidence in my interactions with students. –Jenny Hutton

This training was so good! It is built on a wealth of knowledge from teachers with decades of experience. It really allows you to get more comfortable in the role of a teacher while supporting your students on a deeper level. Amy (and the other facilitators) created an environment which was collaborative, supportive, extremely educational and yet still hilariously fun at times – everything you need to learn and grow. Highly recommend! –Liz Giles

I highly recommend this training! Offering hands-on adjustments can be daunting, but Amy presents this material in a way that is illuminating, digestible and fun. Whether you are looking to expand your skill set as a teacher, deepen your own practice, or even just immerse yourself in the incredible Santosha community, this program will deliver. Truly a transformative experience – Kathryn Kohlenberg

This training was such a great opportunity, not only to dive deeply into the physical alignment behind yoga postures, but also to gain insight into why and how we can approach different body types/personalities safely to enhance a student’s practice, how to hold space for students energetically, and how to create clear intentions for adjustments. Being able to observe a class (without having to worry about sequencing) and work with the other adjusters was a game changer for boosting my confidence in being able to walk around a room and communicate clearly with students. Many skills that I learned in this training translated directly into increasing my competency on the mat, as well as off the mat – for example, helping with how I approach my daily interactions with people, and how I set healthy boundaries for myself to ensure that my “energetic cup” is full.

On top of all of that, I got the opportunity to give back and be an integral part of a wonderful, thriving community that had already done so much for me and my personal practice! From the incredibly knowledgeable teachers facilitating the program, to the fellow amazing (and hilarious) students enrolled in it with me, to all the other teachers for their continuing support and openness, there really is no other program like this that I’ve found. The connections and skills I learned through this program directly led me to my first yoga teaching gig and I could not be more grateful! –Jillian Dalsin

There is more information on our website under trainings. If you have any other questions beyond this please reach out. We would be happy to share about this program with you!