Why I Don't Offer Hands-On Assists — And Why I Don't Think You Need Them

If you’ve been to one of my classes, you’ll know that I won’t come over and press you deeper into a forward fold or reposition your hips in Warrior II. That’s not an oversight — it’s a deliberate, considered choice. And I want to explain why.

Hands-on assists are so normalised in yoga culture that many people have never questioned them. I did, and what I found changed the way I teach entirely.

Let me start with something personal

I don’t enjoy being touched by most yoga teachers. There, I said it.

For a long time, I thought that was something I just had to put up with. That saying no would be rude, or that I’d stand out, or that it would imply I wasn’t a serious student. I used to think I had to say yes. A lot of people do.

When I need physical input on my body — genuine structural, alignment-based work — I go to an osteopath. Someone who knows my history, has clinical training, and has built a relationship with me over time. Many yoga teachers I know quietly feel the same way. We just haven’t always had the language to say it.

Consent is more complicated than it looks

Most yoga teachers who offer physical assists will ask first. A quick “is touch okay?” at the start of class, or a tap on the shoulder before adjusting. And that’s well-intentioned.

But consent in a group setting is genuinely complicated. When a teacher asks in front of a room full of people, many students — particularly those who tend to people-please, those who don’t want to be difficult, those who are new and don’t want to stand out — will say yes automatically, even if their body feels uncertain. That’s not freely given consent. That’s social pressure wearing consent’s clothes.

There is also the question of power dynamics. The teacher-student relationship carries an inherent imbalance. Students often defer to teachers, trust their authority, and assume they know best. That’s a responsibility I take seriously, and it’s part of why I don’t want to use physical touch as a teaching tool in group classes.

Yoga teachers are not physiotherapists

This is something the yoga world doesn’t always like to hear, but it’s true. I have yoga training, trauma-informed training, and a genuine interest in how the body works. What I don’t have is your medical history. I don’t know about the old lower back injury you’ve mostly forgotten about, or the hypermobility you’ve never been diagnosed with, or the place in your left hip that has always felt a bit different.

Hands-on assists have caused real injuries. This isn’t a myth or a fringe concern — it’s documented across multiple yoga traditions, including some of the most respected lineages. A 2013 systematic review published in PLoS ONE, which analysed 76 documented cases of yoga-associated adverse events across multiple traditions, concluded that yoga is not without risk and that teachers and practitioners should never push themselves or their students to their limits. Reported injuries spanned the musculoskeletal system, nervous system, and beyond — and the number of published cases grew steadily over the decades. The review also noted that several adverse events occurred during supervised practice. That last point matters: having a teacher present doesn't automatically make an adjustment safe.

Touch and the nervous system

From a trauma-informed perspective, touch is never neutral. For some people, being touched during yoga feels grounding and supportive. For others — and you often cannot tell by looking — unexpected touch can feel overwhelming, disorienting, or even retraumatising.

When touch is unexpected, or happens within a power-imbalanced relationship, it can activate the nervous system’s stress response rather than supporting learning or ease. The body may brace, hold its breath, or disconnect — exactly the opposite of what yoga is meant to cultivate.

Many of my students carry stress, chronic pain, sensitive nervous systems, or histories that mean their relationship with their body — and with touch — is nuanced. I want my classes to feel safe for all of them, not just for those who happen to be comfortable with being touched.

So how do I teach instead?

Through words, options, and time.

A skilled teacher can guide you into a pose, help you notice sensation, and offer variations — all without laying a hand on you. I believe in the power of language to create awareness. When I cue you to notice the weight through your feet, or the space between your shoulder blades, or the quality of your breath in a shape, I’m asking you to become the expert on your own body. Because you are.

I might pass you a prop. I might offer a verbal suggestion. But you are always in charge. You don’t need to explain yourself, push through discomfort, or perform for anyone in the room — including me.

That’s what I mean when I say I teach yoga as an embodied, non-performative practice. How you feel in your body matters far more to me than how a pose looks from the outside.

One-to-one is different

I want to be clear: I’m not saying touch in yoga is always wrong, or that every teacher who offers assists is doing something harmful. In a one-to-one setting, there is space for conversation, for building trust over time, for real ongoing consent rather than a quick question asked across a busy room. That context changes things.

But in a group class, I don’t think the conditions exist to make hands-on assists genuinely safe and truly consensual for everyone present. So I don’t offer them.

You are the authority on your own body

One of the things I hear most from students who come to my classes is that they feel relieved. Relieved to move without being corrected. Relieved to stay in a shape because it feels good, not because they’ve been told to go further. Relieved to rest when they need to, without explanation.

That relief tells me something. It tells me that a lot of people have been holding their breath in yoga classes, waiting to be touched or corrected, performing wellness rather than actually experiencing it.

My classes are a place to put that down. You don’t need to earn rest, prove flexibility, or be adjusted into the ‘right’ shape. You just need to show up, and I’ll take care of the rest — without ever laying a hand on you.

Curious to experience this for yourself? You’re welcome to join one of my group classes or explore one-to-one sessions where we can work together more closely.

Hi! I’m Barbara Sunchaser

Yoga teacher & psychology student in Banbury, Oxfordshire 😌

Helping stressed adults feel calmer, mobile & sleep better

Book a class at www.barbarasunchaser.com