Offering Yoga to Deaf Students

Recently, I had an opportunity to make a yoga workshop more accessible for participating deaf students.  I am not one iota of an expert, but I wanted to share my experience in case it's of use to other instructors creating space for students.

Orientation: I am a hearing instructor.  I don't have a lot of experience working with hard-of-hearing nor deaf students.  Thankfully, a fellow instructor, Erik Marrero, has taught a deaf student in an open-level vinyasa class for some time now.  He also has done independent research.  He and I shared resources in advance of my workshop and I did some further research.  Erik shared that a lot of communication with deaf students is visual.  Demonstrating poses within their line of sight can be of great use.  It can be challenging to rouse a deaf student from savasana, given that their eyes are closed.  Erik began placing a singing bowl on the student's sternum.  He gently strikes the bowl to create a vibration to resonate with the student and alert them that the class is coming to a seat and concluding.  (This practice has been well-received.  A deaf student told Erik that in the past she had been left with no communication from the instructor.  When she opened her eyes after savasana she found that everyone in the room had left!)

The information I found on offering yoga to deaf students focused on a regular vinyasa practice.  Like Erik, this instruction emphasized being visible to students.  They also suggested using vibration.  If students are folding, slap the floor so that the vibration is felt, thereby alerting the students to come back to seated.

The workshop I was offering was not a regular vinyasa yoga class.  This workshop was geared towards other instructors who wanted to become more proficient in offering adjusts and assists to their students in back-bending poses.  I love adjusting and assisting students.  Part of what I find rewarding is delving more deeply into communicating with students via touch.  The description of the workshop emphasized this aspect of honing adjusting and assisting skills.  The deaf students who enrolled mentioned this as a draw.

These workshops usually involve the participants sitting, getting to know one another, and then going through an abbreviated practice to warm up.  Readied, I then demonstrate adjusts and assists on a volunteer while the other students watch.  Afterwards, they partner off and practice what they saw.

Obviously, there is lots of talking.  I hoped that my deaf students might read lips but learned that they didn't.  They requested an interpreter.  Our studio found an interpreter who was a great resource for me.  We met in advance of the workshop so that she could learn to sign names of poses and understand how the day would unfold.

I created materials for the workshop-- pages with stick figures assuming the poses we'd practice adjusting and assisting, along with the typed name of the pose in sanskrit and english, and space for notes.  I forgot that deaf students are visual communicators.  They can't listen to instructions and write in their own short-hand.  In the future, I'll make bullet-point notes.  As I became aware of this oversight, I promised to email notes to these students.

In the course of the workshop I tried to speak less.  Generally, I'm working on this with my teaching.  More breathing room, more quiet, seems to really serve students.  In a workshop like this, content-heavy, it was a challenge, but I worked towards being truly concise.  As the interpreter had suggested, I looked at deaf students when we spoke, not at the interpreter.  I tried to slow down.

I thought about how to work on pranayama with deaf students.  It made me aware of how heard ujjayi and other breath practices can be.  The only idea I've come up with, and this is untested, is first explaining to the student that we'll work on lengthening breath.  Elaborate on how to create ujjayi, how to make it soft, steady, seamless.  Then sit back to back with the student demonstrating the long, smooth breaths so the student can feel the practice.

Teaching this workshop was a powerful experience, and I'm so glad to have had the opportunity to work on making yoga more accessible for deaf students.  I would love to expand my skill set to meet the needs of other student populations.  I'd also love to hear from other instructors, deaf and hearing, to skill share resources.

Key Tips:
-Be visible to your students, especially if working on asana or physical movement
-Look at the student when communicating, not at the interpreter
-Prepare in advance.  Written notes and visuals for students can be helpful
-Speak less
-Remember to coax a deaf student from savasana or meditation.  A singing bowl on the sternum is a lovely way to gently lure them back into the room.