Adapt, Adjust and Accommodate

By Gopala Amir Yaffa · Rainbow Yoga · 28 October 2026 · About 13 minutes

When a relaxation practice does not fit a child, the child is not the faulty part. Adapt the practice, adjust the surroundings and accommodate the person who is actually there.

Imagine preparing the perfect relaxation.

The lights are lowered. The music is gentle. The imaginary beach is magnificent. There is not a single piece of litter on it. Even the seagulls have attended a professional-development session on respectful volume.

You invite the children to close their eyes, lie still and picture the waves.

One child sits up. Another covers their ears. Someone wants to stand. Someone else asks whether the beach can have trains.

At this point, there are two things we might try to change: the children or the plan.

There is also a third possibility. We can stop treating this as a contest between the two and find out what would make the experience work better together.

Perhaps the music needs to go. Perhaps the story needs fewer words. Perhaps the child who wants to stand would enjoy a slow movement. And perhaps the beach could accommodate a railway. The imaginary planning authorities are usually quite flexible.

When the research plan needed to change

A recent Australian research reflection offers a useful example of adults allowing participation to change the design.

The earlier mixed-methods feasibility study, published online on 22 August 2026, involved 13 autistic children aged 8–14 in six weeks of online yoga nidra. Anxiety changes were not statistically significant, despite some encouraging effect-size estimates. Heart-rate-variability findings did not provide a straightforward physiological success story. Interviews involved three participating children and their mothers. Small numbers and preliminary methods prevent firm treatment conclusions. The practical lesson is to take participation feedback seriously, not to advertise yoga as a proven anxiety treatment.

That distinction matters. Something can be thoughtfully developed and still need changing. A family can value an experience without a study proving a clinical benefit. An intervention can be promising enough to investigate while remaining uncertain.

For teachers, the invitation is wonderfully direct: be committed to the children, not to the success of your first idea.

Three verbs that should live beside every lesson plan

Adapt the activity. Make a story more concrete. Offer a movement instead of an internal body scan. Use a picture, demonstration or short repeated phrase rather than a long stream of instructions.

Adjust the conditions. Change the space, sound, pace, lighting, duration or number of people involved. Sometimes the most useful addition to a sensory activity is subtraction.

Accommodate the person. Allow an ordinary comfortable seat, a wheelchair, a familiar support person, a communication device, standing, watching, a different role or not joining this activity.

These are not three levels of “easier yoga”. They are three questions about access. We are not handing out a lesser experience to someone who cannot manage the real one. We are asking what the real experience should be.

We can keep the purpose while changing almost everything about the route.

That purpose might be enjoying a shared pause, exploring a comfortable sensation or discovering a preferred way to finish class. It need not be “everyone lies still for seven minutes”. That is a description of an arrangement, not a complete account of wellbeing.

Make relaxation sensory, not overwhelming

In my earlier writing about guiding children into relaxation and guided imagery, I explored the possibilities of voice, atmosphere, comfortable positions and sensory storytelling. A journey can contain textures and sounds, not only instructions to think peaceful thoughts.

Here I want to develop that creative approach further: sensory should mean available to the senses, not that every sense must be recruited at once.

A child may welcome a familiar texture and dislike added music. Another may enjoy a rhythmic sound but not a story. An imagined beach may be delightful, irrelevant or uncomfortable. Autistic children are not one sensory profile, and a diagnosis is not a script for someone’s preferences.

Offer one manageable possibility. Let the child examine it, refuse it or change it. Do not spring a new sound, scent or touch on someone after asking them to relax.

Begin without fragrances, unexpected touch or compulsory eye-closing. Use ordinary comfortable breathing rather than instructions to breathe as deeply as possible or hold the breath. Never remove a communication aid in the name of calm.

Most importantly, ask what makes sense to this child and the people who know their communication well. The adult’s idea of soothing does not get the final vote.

Five practical ways into a shared pause

The following are original Rainbow Yoga adaptations of creative teaching ideas, not the intervention tested in the research. Offer them as possibilities, not a sequence every child must complete. Stop anything uncomfortable and follow individual support needs.

1. The cloud you can actually hold

An imagined cloud is not the only cloud available. Offer an optional piece of clean, unscented soft cotton fabric.

“You can hold this, look at it or leave it beside you. Is there one part you would like to notice?”

A child might feel an edge, notice a fold, move it gently or simply watch. A child who enjoys stories can turn it into a cloud. Another can leave it as fabric. The literal version is not less imaginative in any morally important sense. It is just the version they chose.

Keep it away from faces and necks. There is no need to cover eyes, wrap anyone or introduce a prop to a child who does not want one.

2. Lemonade, with the child in charge of the recipe

In 3 Ways to Help Children Understand Relaxation, I used playful contrasts such as lemonade and spaghetti. We can keep the play while removing any requirement to tense the whole body, be handled by someone else or prove relaxation.

Try a small, self-directed version: “Would your hands like to pretend to squeeze a lemon very gently, then let it go?”

The child chooses the amount of movement, or watches your hands instead. No maximal squeezing, breath-holding or movement through pain. If the metaphor gets in the way, use the plain version: “Close your hand a little, then open it.”

Do not inspect their muscles afterwards. This is an exploration of difference, not a cooking examination.

3. The ocean with a volume control

A familiar quiet sound can be an option, but the absence of extra sound can be an option too.

Before starting, demonstrate any proposed sound at a low, agreed volume. Ask whether to keep it, change it or leave it out. A child might prefer drawing a wave, making a slow wave with one hand or noticing a sound already in the room.

Do not ask a group to tolerate discomfort because most people like the music. Where preferences conflict, use a genuinely quiet alternative or separate supported spaces. Individual access is not a popularity contest.

4. The magic carpet is allowed to stay parked

Flying carpets appear in my earlier guided imagery. For this version, the child gets a say in the journey before it begins.

“We can imagine a carpet, look at this picture or just stay on this mat. Does it travel, or does it stay here?”

They may choose a garden, a railway station, a familiar room or no destination. We do not need to insist that imagining flight is relaxing, or that everyone creates pictures in the same way.

A story can be offered through words, a drawing or an object. It can also be declined. The parked carpet is a perfectly respectable vehicle.

5. Let movement belong in the pause

Offer gentle, self-chosen movement alongside resting: a small hand wave, a comfortable seated sway or a slow change of position. Keep enough space and adapt to mobility and individual support needs.

Then ask whether the person would like to continue, change or finish. Do not make stillness the prize at the end, or present movement as a failure to reach it.

A class can share an intention without presenting a row of identical bodies.

A sensory story with room for the listener

The Lesson Remix Deck

FREE PRINTABLE / NO SIGNUP

Give feedback somewhere to land

The deck starts with three choices: KEEP, CHANGE and STOP. It also includes NOT NOW, HELP, NOT SURE, QUIETER, MORE SPACE, NO TOUCH, MOVE, SIT, REST, WATCH and other practical options. There are 24 cards altogether, but nobody needs a conference table full of choices.

Begin with a few relevant, understandable choices. Model their meanings and use the child’s established communication supports. These new symbols are not a replacement for augmentative and alternative communication, and they are not automatically meaningful to every child.

Download the Lesson Remix Deck · PDF

The large, no-cut Keep / Change / Stop board is included on page 6. Read the plain-text companion below.

The eight-page deck includes four printable card sheets, a large starter board, an example sensory practice and a “You said. We changed.” sheet. Original Rainbow Yoga resource, version 1.0. Not a clinically tested intervention, diagnostic tool or validated communication system.

THE LESSON REMIX DECK
By Gopala Amir Yaffa | Rainbow Yoga
Version 1.0 | 28 October 2026

Original teaching resource, not a validated intervention or communication system.
Start with one familiar signal or three core choices. Model meanings. Never require a card before respecting refusal. Use existing AAC, speech, gesture, signing or drawing. No eye contact, touch or disclosure is required.
STOP means stop the optional activity now, while retaining necessary safety support. Silence is not assent.

KEEP: Keep this.
CHANGE: Change something.
STOP: Stop this activity.
NOT NOW: I will pass.
HELP: I need support.
NOT SURE: I need time.
QUIETER: Less sound.
MORE SPACE: Give me room.
NO TOUCH: Do not touch me.
LIGHTS SAME: Keep the lights as they are.
NO PROP: Nothing in my hands.
DIFFERENT STORY: Try another story.
MOVE: I would like to move.
SIT: I would like to sit.
REST: I would like to rest.
WATCH: I will watch.
TOGETHER: Join me.
ON MY OWN: Let me try alone.
SHOW ME: Show one step.
SAY LESS: Fewer words.
SLOWER: More time.
AGAIN: Repeat that.
NO STORY: Stay with what is here.
MY IDEA: I have another way.

FACILITATOR LOOP
Ask what is comfortable. Show what will happen and its ending. Offer few choices. Change one thing. Check without pressure. Return next lesson with what changed.
Do not score participation or reward compliance. Private preferences can differ from the majority.

SENSORY INVITATION
You may sit, stand, move or rest. Eyes may stay open. Offer an optional unscented soft cloth: hold it, look at it, or leave it. Invite noticing one feature or an ordinary object already in the room. Offer story, imagined favourite place or no story. Use ordinary breathing, no breath holding or forced deep breaths. End with an agreed cue. Ask Keep, Change or Stop.

FOLLOW-THROUGH SHEET
What did we offer?
Activity, setting and practical purpose.
________________________________________________
What did children communicate?
Words, choices or observable actions. Separate observation from interpretation.
________________________________________________
What did we change immediately?
A real adjustment, or stopping the optional activity.
________________________________________________
What remains uncertain?
Do not turn silence into agreement or assume a child’s feelings.
________________________________________________
What will we change next time?
Who will do it, and when?
________________________________________________
How will children know we listened?
The sentence or demonstration we will return with.
________________________________________________

Research inspiration: https://doi.org/10.1080/13284207.2026.2747777
The deck was not tested in this research.
Free to print and adapt for non-commercial family/classroom use with attribution and cautions retained.

Listening is what happens after the card

A choice card is not a magical object. Its usefulness depends on what an adult does when someone uses it.

If STOP is answered with “just two more minutes”, the real lesson is that stopping is not available. If CHANGE is answered with a lengthy explanation of why the activity is already excellent, we have created a feedback system with no exit.

Stop the optional activity when asked. Respond to distress even when no card is produced. Maintain necessary safety support, but do not confuse support with forcing participation.

When someone asks for change, offer one or two concrete alternatives. Perhaps less sound, fewer words, a different position or a familiar object. Then give time to experience the change. Repeatedly asking “Is this better? Is this better now?” can become its own demand.

For a child who communicates without speech, note what you can observe without pretending you know exactly what it means. “Turned away when the recording began” is an observation. “Hates relaxation” is a large conclusion. Seek understanding with the child and familiar supporters.

At the next lesson, close the loop: “Last time you asked for no music. Today we are starting without it.”

A child’s influence becomes real when they can recognise what changed because they were heard.

The most flexible thing in the room

Teachers need plans. A good plan helps us prepare accessible materials, organise support and keep people safe. Flexibility does not mean arriving empty-handed and hoping the children will design the entire session for us.

But preparation should make responsiveness easier, not make it feel disloyal.

We can arrive with a lovely story and discover that the child needs less story. We can bring music and leave it off. We can teach a relaxation in which one person rests, another moves and another decides to watch.

Yoga does not replace safeguarding, healthcare or appropriate professional support. Nor must it become another place where children have to look comfortable for adults.

Adapt the invitation. Adjust the conditions. Accommodate the person.

Perhaps the most important flexibility we bring to children’s yoga is not in our hamstrings. It is in our willingness to change our minds.