The following partner poses and assists are simple but deeply relaxing and rejuvenating. Being assisted in a yoga pose helps one to relax tight muscles, feel a deeper stretch, and feel proper alignment.
Partner Child's Pose: A Double Assist
One person comes into child's pose, feet and knees together, sit bones resting on the heels, forehead on the floor, and hands at the side of the body. The partner lies over this person, back to back. The partner places his sacrum on the bottom person's sacrum and slowly lies back. The partner's head may rest on the back of the bottom person's head or to the side. The partner's arms are extended above his head. This is a gentle backbend and chest opener for the partner. The bottom person experiences a stretch in the ankles, knees, and hips and a release in the low back and an opening of the vertebrae.
Assisting in Pigeon Pose
Here are two options when assisting in pigeon pose. Place the hands on your partner's hips with the thumbs in the hip crease and the palms resting on the outer thighs. As he exhales, push down and out with the hands, rolling the hips open gently and deepening the stretch in the connective tissues in the joint. You may also place the hands across the sacrum and gluteal muscles. Push down again on the exhale, releasing pressure slightly on the inhale. This helps deepen the actions of release in the pose in the exhale and lengthen the muscles being extended in the pose. Easing up on the inhale allows your partner to breath fully and expand and lengthen with the breath.
Assisting in Downward Facing Dog
There are two common assists for downward dog. Standing at your partner's head, push back and up on the low back on the posterior surface of the iliac crests. This helps tilt the pelvis back and up and lengthens the hamstrings. You may also stand behind your partner so that you are straddling their legs. Place your fingertips on the anterior surface of the hips at what is referred to as the hip crease. Gently lift up and back. This and the former assist take weight out of the hands and back into the feet. It also helps align the spine by opening the chest, shoulders, and sides of the torso and tilting the pelvic floor up to take roundness out of the low back.
Assisting in Staff Pose and West Stretch Pose to Maintain Alignment
These two seated poses look simple, but can be difficult in regards to maintaining proper alignment.
When assisting in staff pose, place the outside of the foot and leg against the back of your partner. Place the hands gently on the top and front of the shoulders. Gently roll the shoulders back and down to open the chest and allow the side of the leg to help flatten the convex curve of the lumber spine that may occur if the pelvic floor is tilting forward.
In west stretch, the back should also be in it neutral alignment, the lumber slightly concave, the chest open with the shoulder blades in line with the spine. It is difficult to fold from the hips and maintain this alignment. A partner may assist by reaching under the student's sit bones from outside the hips and gently lifting him up and pulling back. This helps increase the tilt of the pelvic floor back and deepen the fold at the hips rather than rounding the back to get the head closer to the legs. Remind the student that in West Stretch, the back body is lengthened and the student should focus on the heart reaching for the feet. Other assists include pressing against the soles of the feet to lengthen the back of the legs and puling the shoulders back to open the chest as in staff pose.
Laura Susan Henry - I am currently teaching yoga in Charlotte, North Carolina. I have been many places and lived many lives, but the threads of my life ...
