I’ve practiced long enough that I remember when assists were more common than not. I don’t believe that I was even asked if it was OK prior to a teacher putting her / his hands on me to provide adjustment. In the past five years, that has definitely changed. I’ve noticed that significantly less teachers offer assists in class.
Except for one teacher out of the many I’ve practiced with over the years, my experience has always been positive. Fortunately, I’ve never been hurt and have only benefitted from the assists I received. My negative experience was with a teacher who has very strong ego. Definitely not a dynamic that one expects in a yoga class. Overall, I made it into a good experience. I focused on her incredible knowledge and what I could learn from her. It was also a lesson to me about how to deal with my own ego.
Being a hands-on Reiki practitioner and using touch to do energy work makes me very positive about providing gentle assists to my yoga students. I do realize that doing one-on-one Reiki where the recipient expects to be touched is very different from hands-on assists in a yoga class with a broad base of students. I plan to provide assists in the future. I’ve been practicing assists with friends and classmates; I’m feeling more and more comfortable. As I progress in my teaching, I’ll get a better feel for when it’s right to provide assists.