Last week I attended an awesome workshop with the fantastic Yoga Anatomy Guru, Gary Carter on myofascial movement in yoga & with a focus on gravity.
As Gary spoke about economy of movement & the myofascial web, I felt very grateful for my 20 years of body exploration through dance training, martial arts because these foundations have nourished healthy, connected & organic movement patterns within my body. Patterns that have allowed my experience of movement and motion to be easeful & enriching & through which I have delighted in a built-in, intuitive relationship with weight-bearing, muscular-skeletal organisation & sensorial joy.
I also felt grateful for spending 20 years exploring so many different styles of yoga, as i now draw upon all of them. Along with my Dance & Martial Arts Training, my experience with Scaravelli Yoga, in particular, has contributed to my foundational sense of rooting, anchoring and allowing, in order to lengthen, to rise, elongate & find space and ease in the body.
As an embodied experience (and for creating health and longevity) I see that the essence of the above principles sometimes get lost in the Vinyasa style of yoga…
I think this is because Vinyasa Flow is characterised by a sense of pace and momentum (and sometimes over-efforting). Whereas, going slowly is how we can give time to the body to allow the ‘giving in to the earth’ to spread through the whole system.
So the two things are at odds… it takes, I have always felt, tremendous somatic presence to maintain genuine anchoring (that spreads through the WHOLE myofascial system) AND to simultaneously move through flowing sequences.
This is sometimes an interesting challenge for me as a Vinyasa Flow Yoga Teacher in terms of managing the expectations of students who come to take a Vinyasa Flow Class… (Side Note: one example of why mentoring, supervision & reflective practice is a vital part of being a yoga teacher – stay tuned for info about my mentoring CPD ‘blossom and grow’)
Join me for my Yoga workshop GRAVITY & INSIGHT where we will explore bringing the two things together with the aim of establishing healthy movement patterns to avoid injury & nourish longevity in your ongoing yoga practice.
@spaceyogastudiouk Brighton on Sunday 31st March 2019 2-4pm £28