| The answer to the second half cannot be separated from the why of it.
The reason for substituting is incredibly important. If I'm teaching a backbends theme and the class is in Sarvang and this one person is in setu bandha what do I do when the class comes down and I take them into Setu Bandha? What do I do with that person who's already been there? They could stay, of course, or they could do something else (now subbing for set bandha?). The "why" of it is relevant.
So my answer would be "it depends".
The pose may be substituted for. But I would prefer to take a "reduction" approach with that student in Sarvangasana. And keep the sauce of it reducing until I got to the point where the student was doing the pose with ease.
The question, for me, is one of walking the continuum of safety vs. efficacy. So I'm constantly efforting to provide the most effective pose in the most safe way. In this case I back down the effectiveness hill gradually until I come to the pose on the chair and bolster. If you gander at page 212-213 in Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health, Sarvangasana is proped with a chair, bolster, and folded mat. If the wall didn't work I'd move in this direction.
If all else failed with the student and their comfort, then yes I would have them do Setu Bandha Sarvangasana on two bolsters (assuming for safety's sake that there was a larger issue I may not have fully identified.)
Edited by purnayoga 2007-04-14 10:20 PM
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Need advice
