Keep it clear
Yoga instruction for the visually impaired
- - by Violet Snow
“Blind people carry a lot of tension in their bodies,”
says Gretchen Hein of Namaste Yoga. “They never know when
they might get hit or fall off a sidewalk. Yoga is very beneficial
for them, but blind and visually impaired people don’t often
come to yoga classes, which can be intimidating, and most of the
CD’s I’ve listened to don’t break the poses
down properly.”
Hein and Marty Klein, have recorded a set of five CD’s entitled
Beginning Yoga for the Blind and Visually Impaired, designed for
use at home and as an introduction for those wishing to join classes.
Sighted people wishing to practice at home will also find the
directions explicit and easy to follow, while yoga teachers can
learn from the instructional detail.
Three of the disks feature Hein’s sweetly clear, steady
voice guiding the practitioner through a series of yoga postures,
each with its own track, plus a one-hour class. Additional insights
from the blind perspective are provided by Klein, a massage therapist,
counselor, writer, and musician who lost his vision completely
in 1974. The other two CD’s include general information
about yoga, provide warm-up and alignment exercises, and offer
advice for yoga teachers. “You can give the CD to a yoga
teacher to listen to,” says Hein. “It explains, for
example, that a teacher shouldn’t rush in to take care of
you every time something goes wrong, or flip out if you get frustrated.”
Klein was introduced to yoga by Kingston instructor and spiritual
teacher Jonji Provenzano, currently undergoing chemotherapy for
stomach cancer. Klein, who has practiced yoga for over twenty
years, comments, “Often a yoga teacher will come and give
me personal attention, and I don’t want it. I want clear
descriptions. There’s not a lot of consciousness around
disability in yoga classes. They think there is, but there isn’t.”
Hein’s narration was developed through a series of classes
with blind and visually impaired people, who gave feedback on
her directions. “I was trained in the Kripalu tradition,”
she says, “in which people are guided to listen to the body.
I’ve also studied in the Anusara and Iyengar traditions,
so I address alignment with more precision than most Kripalu practitioners.”
On the CD’s, she offers activities to help blind and visually
impaired people orient their bodies in space. “We use our
sight to refine our sense of alignment,” she explains. “If
you’re told to raise your arm to the side at shoulder height,
we can use our eyes to correct the angle, but blind people don’t
have that. I start by having them stand by a wall to help them
feel where the body is in balance. Having the body out of alignment
eventually creates pain. By rectifying that, you begin to get
your full body back—that’s one of the beauties of
yoga.”
Among the tips offered by Klein is how to deal with the balancing
postures, such as the “tree pose”, where the practitioner
stands on one leg. Students are usually instructed to focus the
eyes on a point straight ahead to help with balance. Klein says,
“I suggest that you turn on a radio ten to fifteen feet
away and focus on where the sound is coming from.” Other
hints include how to deal with confusing directions from a yoga
teacher (a problem many sighted students also encounter); how
to use the mat to maintain alignment; how to avoid injury; how
yoga can help with lower back pain; and much more.
“There are 10.5 million blind and legally blind people in
the U.S.,” says Klein. “That’s one low-vision
person for every 30 sighted people. But how many blind or visually
impaired people do you know? I’m out a lot, but I’m
almost always the only blind person around. They tend to stay
home, where they have more control and there’s less weird
stuff they have to deal with.”
Klein is the author of two books, Emotional Cleansing: The Spiritual
Journey Toward a Clear Heart (Creative Arts Book Company, 2002)
and Blind Sighted: One Man’s Journey from Sight to Insight
(Baba Doofus, 1993). He comments, “My whole existence is
about finding ways to empower visually impaired people. I started
a website and wrote over 100 movie reviews that tell whether a
film is easy or difficult to follow by listening, how much help
you need from a sighted assistant to understand what’s happening
in the silent parts. In Florida, I started a disabled social hour
and gave workshops for visually impaired people and their allies.
I want us to become more prevalent out in the world so people
will get used to it, instead of seeing it as something awkward,
new, and weird.”
Beginning Yoga for the Blind and Visually Impaired is a 5-CD set,
now on sale in Woodstock at Mirabai Books and the Golden Notebook.
It will soon be available from the website www.blindyoga.net,
currently under construction. Marty Klein welcomes feedback from
the public. He may be contacted at marty830@verizon.net. Information
on Namaste Yoga classes may be found at www.namasteyogawoodstock.com.
I found this product to be a very inclusive and helpful series
of yoga instructions about poses, attitude and finding your wings
towards good health through yoga fitness. It feeds both body and
mind. The Hein - Klein duo have covered everything from a message
to potential yoga instructors about having a blind student in class
to information about orientation to the room and the yoga mat; from
pronunciations and different yoga traditions and practices to suggestions
about developing your own routine. Marty shares some of his difficulties
as a blind person and makes it alright for beginners to be less
than perfect with each and every pose.
The CD’s are easily navigated and the instructions are straight-forward
and easy to follow. I have long been an advocate of people who are
blind finding freedom to get moving with confidence and safety and
applaud this project. Gretchen and Marty are people I would truly
consider if I were in charge of giving out a prestigious humanitarian
recognition award. They have demonstrated sincere concern for their
fellow humans and blind humans in particular. Beginning Yoga for
the Blind and Visually Impaired is but one such example of their
concern and willingness to help others. Thank you both!
- - Sila Miller
I have been using the yoga program that I received from Marty and
Gretchen and I love it. Since my vision loss was only three years
ago, I had done yoga as a sighted person before and expected that
I could continue as I have been doing. My yoga experience began
when I was older to start, so my body was not as lithe and agile
as that of a twenty year old. As you mention my balance is not great
and Gretchen certainly makes allowances for this problem. I am so
glad I sent for it and thank you both for doing the program. Strange
where our paths lead and fortunate the people we meet along the
way. Thank you again.
- - Elaine Alger
LA YOGA Ayurveda and Health - www.layogamagazine.com
While Yoga is a practice that integrates all of the senses as a
means to being present, it does not mean that a disability in one
of the senses makes a person any less able as a practitioner. When
one our senses that receives information from the outside world
is at all diminished, it provides the opportunity to more fully
concentrate on the others. In some ways, this actually facilitates
the practice of Yoga, which asks of us to draw our attention inward,
a fitting practice. The five-disc set Beginning Yoga for the Blind
and Visually Impaired is an encyclopedic resource to guide people
who do not have the sense of sight, to fully engage in a suitable
and meaningful Yoga practice.
Partners in teaching and life, Marty Klein and Gretchen Hein united
to create this instructional series when they recognized the dearth
of attention in the Yoga community given to teaching those who are
not able to rely on visual cues. Klein lost his sight when serving
in US Air Force during the Vietnam era. He subsequently sought out
theories, groups and practices focused on health and well-being,
studied massage and became a licensed massage therapist and then
began his Yoga practice in the mid-80s. In his massage practice,
Klein noticed the physical tension carried in the bodies of visually
impaired people who walk through their day not knowing if their
next step will bring an undesirable surprise. As a result, Klein
and Hein created this Yoga tutorial with the intention of providing
tools for people who are visually impaired to lessen their physical
and mental tension through Yoga practice.
Hein, who has practiced Yoga since the mid-70s and is a yoga instructor
and well-studied in the Kripalu, Iyengar and Anusara traditions,
provides the detailed instructions for the postures in this series.
Klein adds to the teaching by adding his personal insights into
how the poses offer specific benefit both for people who are blind
and for the body in general.
The Hatha Yoga practiced here incorporates the use of the wall,
props (such as a chair and mat) and the floor to develop a sense
of body awareness, alignment and position in space. Many basic types
of movement are covered, from back extensions, forward bends, twists,
kneeling and supine postures and inversions, including a supported
shoulder stand series.
The facilitators’ depth of Yogic knowledge and true understanding
of what it means to be visually impaired creates is a valuable tool
for visually impaired students to create a rewarding personal Yoga
practice.
While it is more focused on aiding someone who is visually impaired,
this program could also be a good resource for teachers working
with students who have visual impairments as it explains their unique
situation and how to provide instruction through cueing senses other
than the visual. Following the belief that no one should be deprived
of Yoga, this is a good catalyst for people with visually impairments
who have always wanted to make the jump towards their Yoga practice,
but didn’t know where to leap. For more information: blindyoga.net.
--Reviewed by Vanessa M. Harris
