The Art of Assisting: Safe, Supportive and Consent-Based Yoga Assists

Sunday, August 16, 2026
11:00 a.m.
South Side Cultural Arts Center

Assisting is not about pushing a student deeper into a pose. It is about learning how to observe, communicate, and offer support in a way that honors each student’s body, boundaries, and individual practice.

Join Nzingah Oniwosan, E-RYT 500 and Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider, for an interactive workshop created for yoga teachers who want to feel more confident offering safe, intentional and consent-based assists.

During this training, we will explore both hands-on and hands-off approaches to assisting. Participants will learn how to use clear verbal cues, demonstrations, props, positioning, and appropriate touch to help students experience greater awareness, stability, and ease within their practice.

The workshop will also examine the ethics of touch, consent practices, power dynamics and the importance of creating an environment in which students feel comfortable declining an assist at any time.

• How to observe students before deciding whether an assist is needed
• The difference between assisting, adjusting, and correcting
• How to establish and continually honor consent
• How to communicate before, during and after an assist
• Foundational principles for safe and intentional touch
• Hands-on assists for commonly taught yoga postures
• Hands-off alternatives using verbal cues, demonstration and props
• How to adapt assists for different bodies, abilities and experience levels
• When not to offer an assist
• How to support students without forcing them deeper into a posture

Participants will have opportunities to observe, practice, and receive feedback in a supportive learning environment.

This workshop is designed for:

• Registered yoga teachers
• Recent yoga teacher-training graduates
• Yoga teacher trainees
• Experienced instructors who want to refresh their assisting skills
• Teachers seeking more accessible, ethical, and trauma-aware approaches to assisting

Participants should have a foundational understanding of common yoga postures. You do not need previous experience providing hands-on assists.

Yoga teachers who attend and successfully complete the full workshop will receive 2.5 Yoga Alliance Continuing Education contact hours.

Educational categories may include:

• Teaching Methodology
• Techniques, Training and Practice
• Anatomy and Physiology
• Yoga Philosophy, Lifestyle and Ethics

A certificate of completion will be provided following the workshop.

Please bring:

• A yoga mat
• Comfortable clothing that allows you to move
• A notebook or journal
• Water

Because this is an interactive training, participants should be prepared to practice teaching, observing, and assisting with workshop partners. Every participant may choose whether or not to receive hands-on touch.

Nzingah Oniwosan is an E-RYT 500, Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider, holistic health consultant, Pilates instructor, teaching artist, and movement educator. Her teaching background includes Vinyasa, Ashtanga, restorative, Yin, prenatal, children’s, accessible and culturally rooted yoga practices.

With decades of experience teaching movement and wellness in studios, schools, cultural institutions and community settings, Nzingah brings an inclusive and practical approach to teacher education. Her work encourages teachers to develop the awareness, adaptability, and confidence needed to serve the actual people in front of them.

Space is limited to support individual attention, partner practice and instructor feedback.

Participants must attend the complete workshop to qualify for Yoga Alliance Continuing Education hours.

Early Registration: $59
Regular Registration: $75

Day Registration: $85

For questions, contact [email protected]