Mission
Rubber Band Method® sets the standard for anatomically and energetically safe touch in yoga. We provide instructors with a structured, accessible system for offering effective and respectful hands-on support—grounded in anatomy, sustainable body mechanics, intentionality, and tissue reading—equipping teachers to offer safe, personalized assists and adjustments. Our framework prioritizes both student safety and teacher longevity, empowering classroom environments rooted in personal agency, consent, and trauma sensitivity.
Vision
Rubber Band Method® envisions a world where energetically and anatomically safe touch is integral to the yoga practice. A global community of RBM-trained yoga teachers who thrive in their profession—supported by a robust and loyal following of students who seek out and deeply value the health and well-being benefits of the safe, skillful touch they incorporate into their teaching. We envision consent-based, supportive touch as a cornerstone of yoga education—enriching the experience of both teachers and students for generations to come.
Origin
Kiara Armstrong, the creator of Rubber Band Method®, developed this innovative approach to help others unlock their innate capacity for self-healing. The method emerged from Kiara’s deeply personal journey navigating the complexities of a long-standing misdiagnosis of complex post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). During this challenging time, traditional medical treatments repeatedly failed, ultimately prompting her to seek alternative, body-centered healing practices.
For nearly a decade, Kiara grappled with treatments for a condition she didn't truly have. Doctors prescribed increasingly aggressive medications that only intensified her symptoms and produced severe side effects, profoundly destabilizing her physical and emotional health. Eventually, these compounded stressors culminated in a significant health crisis. One of Kiara’s doctors recognized that the intense stress and emotional turmoil she experienced likely played a substantial role in her declining health, and recommended she explore holistic ways to support her mental and emotional well-being.
Taking this advice to heart, Kiara immersed herself in practices designed to restore inner calm and emotional resilience, including yoga, meditation, breathwork, and healing-oriented touch. During this period, safe and supportive touch became particularly meaningful, providing a sense of safety, comfort, and grounding at a deeply destabilizing time. The experience of receiving such touch significantly improved her emotional well-being and contributed positively to her overall health within months.
Kiara’s appreciation for the transformative power of touch was not new—having grown up with a massage therapist parent, she was already familiar with its benefits. However, experiencing safe touch during such a vulnerable period amplified her understanding of its profound potential. This realization inspired her desire to bring safe, supportive touch into her work as a yoga instructor, creating an environment where students could experience comfort, connection, and a deeper sense of well-being.
Drawing from her personal healing journey, years of teaching yoga, direct feedback from students, and extensive anatomical study as a massage therapist and dissection student, Kiara developed the Rubber Band Method®. Designed specifically for yoga instructors, the method sets a new standard for anatomically and energetically safe touch—emphasizing both purposeful, informed touch and cultivating environments of consent, agency, and autonomy, ensuring yoga classrooms remain spaces of safety, healing, and empowerment for every student.
About the Founder
Kiara Armstrong ERYT500 YACEP CMT
Kiara Armstrong first started practicing yoga in 2002. It played a central role in her personal journey to overcome mental and physical illness. In 2010, she began her first 200-hour yoga teacher training and started teaching in 2011. Five years later, she began leading 200-hour yoga teacher trainings and has since taught continuing education programs, including 300-hour yoga teacher trainings. She has a deep reverence for the human body, having spent time working independently with a cadaver and sharing her knowledge as an anatomy instructor in both yoga and massage schools. In addition to being an E-RYT 500 registered teacher with Yoga Alliance, she is also a certified massage therapist. Her experience working with clients in a medical setting has given her a more intimate understanding of the body—one that extends beyond what is visible in a yoga classroom.
Kiara’s love for hands-on assists began early in her yoga practice when she was introduced to them in structured, traditional settings. Over the years, she encountered a wide range of assisting styles—some that felt profoundly helpful and others that left her questioning their safety and effectiveness. At times, she experienced strains and injuries from well-intentioned but imprecise touch interventions, which led her to explore the mechanics of assisting more deeply. As an employee of Yoga Journal Magazine, she was exposed to a variety of teachers who employed different approaches to hands-on techniques, further reinforcing the need for a system that was clear, teachable, and adaptable to different body types and classroom environments.
Her search for a structured approach led her to formal Thai massage training, which provided valuable insight but ultimately did not translate seamlessly to a yoga setting. She continued experimenting, refining her understanding through thousands of hours of teaching and hands-on experience. Slowly, through practice, observation, and adaptation, the Rubber Band Method® was born. This method makes a clear distinction between Assisting and Adjusting, recognizing that while both have a place in yoga instruction, they are not interchangeable. Kiara developed a systematic approach that prioritizes sustainable body mechanics for the teacher, purposeful and intuitive touch for the student, and the ability to read tissues through tactile awareness.
Through years of trial, refinement, and student feedback, Rubber Band Method® evolved into a structured, accessible system that any yoga instructor can learn and apply with confidence. Designed to prioritize both student safety and teacher sustainability, it provides a clear framework for offering hands-on support that is intuitive, effective, and respectful of each individual’s body. Kiara continues to refine and share this approach with the goal of making safe, skillful assisting an integral part of modern yoga education—one that can stand on its own and be passed on for generations to come.