Comments on: Yoga Workshop Handed Lawsuit for Improper Adjustment Injury, Are All Studios Doomed for Sue-dom?

By: Denice

Denice — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 05:04:02 +0000

A yoga class with good assists is an amazing and transformational experience. I have been practicing Power Yoga for 12 years and teaching it for three years. Before teaching yoga, I was a chemist in the polymer market for 25 years. In order to become a really good chemist, I studied hard to earn a BS in Chemistry and a Masters in Polymer Chemistry. In order to graduate from a university or college, you have to meet stringent requirements and are tested to demonstrate compliance. When I decided to teach yoga, I researched yoga trainings that had stringent requirements and a test to demonstrate compliance to meeting those requirements as well as someway of ensuring the safety of students. Yoga Alliance has a two hundred and 500 hour certificates which are the closest thing to ensuring teachers are trained well. Then there are certification programs that do not meet Yoga Alliances requirements like Gym certificates where a person goes through a weekend of training or Yoga studios that want to have a teacher training program as a revenue stream but don’t want to invest the time in training teacher that meet a 200 hour Yoga Alliance so they call them a 55 Hour Teacher Training. These type of programs to me are like getting your degree from filling out the back of a cereal box versus going to a state university ( a 200 Hour) or a grad school (a 500 Hour). I have no idea what the teacher ’s training was involved in this case and in no way am insinuating that it is poor. What I am saying is a general statement that in no way would I want anyone’s hands on me that doesn’t have a 500 hour Yoga Alliance Certification any more than I would want a dentist in my mouth who has a cert from Santa’s Workshop like Herbie on Ruldoff the Red Nose Reindeer. If my teacher has a 500 hour, I signed a waiver and I gave permission to be assisted then an injury and lawsuit is less likely to happen. But when you have poorly trained teachers being cranked out like what is happening now, more and more lawsuits are inevitable. I doubt that an assist injured this man in the lawsuit. I hope that on his waiver he reported his previous injury that was probably aggravated by the assist but not caused by the assist. To the man filing the lawsuit, yoga is not just about asanas (poses). Asanas are only one of eight limbs. The first Limb is the Yamas and Nijamas. The first Yama is Ahimsa, to do no harm to others. A well trained teacher is coming from this direction, your attorney as well as most ambulance chasing attorneys are not. A yoga teacher does not make that much money. My question is for the person suing, are you coming from the direction of non-harm or are you coming from your attorney’s direction of financial wealth? Please be true to yourself as the outcome of this case may have grave impact to millions of students who are taught by well trained teachers. assists may become as extinct as lawyers who entered law because they loved law and wanted justice.

By: Patricia

Patricia — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 01:07:25 +0000

I am way late to this story but I once had an Iyengar teacher ‘adjust’ me when I was trying to do reverse prayer (hands in namaste behind my back). Seriously, *unsolicited* she literally YANKED my hands up and together to my shoulder blades. I hurt from that adjustment for over a year and never went to another Iyengar class. That being said, I love a good adjustment; that just wasn’t one of them!

By: wholesale singing bowl

wholesale singing bowl — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 07:21:00 +0000

Yoga is really a great medicine for all.

By: The Kitchen Dispatch

The Kitchen Dispatch — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:48:32 +0000

It makes me wonder if we’ll come to the day where a yoga teacher has to take out malpractice insurance.

By: Meaghan Hutchings

Meaghan Hutchings — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:00:57 +0000

In my teaching I rely on adjustments that work to correct alignment rather than make the student move deeper. In fact, most of my adjustments bring students into a less intense, but properly aligned pose. For example guiding a student up from a shoulder slumping, chest closing, hand-to-the-floor trikonasana. I’ve never been a fan of rough hands-on adjustments, but have had wonderful experiences with teachers guiding me deeper through verbal and gentle hands on cues (saying “I think you can tilt the pelvis a little more” while placing a palm on my low back in paschimottanasana). The work comes from within, but the knowledge and experience from the teacher’s guidance.

By: YOGANONYMOUS » Blog Archive » THIS MAKES ME SICK – Yoga teacher gets sued for “bad adjustment”!!!!

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:02:43 +0000

[...] taken from YOGADORK [...]

By: David Turner

David Turner — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:25:56 +0000

On my first-time-to-the-studio-data sheet, I have a question asking students if adjustments are ok, as they are an integral part of my teaching style (I believe in teaching to the 3 different modalities of learning:kinetic, auditory, and visual). My philosophy on is that adjustments should be first and foremost for helping with alignment rather than pushing farther into the pose. That being said, it is still up to the student in the majority of cases to tell the teacher when too much is too much. I have been adjusted too far, but it was entirely my fault, since I knew where the line was (where I should not cross) and let it be crossed. A power dynamic can come into play which prevents the student from stopping the teacher, either from being in a “subordinate” position, or through a belief that the teacher knows where the point of no return is.

This kind of thing terrifies me, since anyone out to make a buck could claim that this happened to them in a class where the teacher makes adjustment.

By: Waylon Lewis

Waylon Lewis — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:01:18 +0000

We’ve updated our report on elephantjournal.com: after talking with Mary Taylor of the Workshop yesterday, it appears the paper may have the story and headline wrong in a major way. Their headline, “Man sues Yoga Studio…” doesn’t seem to be accurate. And it appears this has already been settled. http://www.elephantjournal.com/2009/11/man-sues-richard-freemans-yoga-workshop-for-unwanted-adjustment/

Thanks for the shout-out, and your own in-depth report puts ours to shame. As always, yours in yogadorkiness ~ Waylon

By: Student sues over injury causing adjustment « Elephantbeans

Student sues over injury causing adjustment « Elephantbeans — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:53:10 +0000

[...] READ MORE [...]

By: YogaLove

YogaLove — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:38:48 +0000

As an instructor, I’m deeply concerned and interested in knowing more about the facts of this lawsuit. Since I do not know all the facts, it would be inappropriate for me to form an opinion at this time. I will be watching the outcome of this case closely and hope justice will prevail.