Fascia is connective tissue that surrounds your muscles, blood vessels, nerves, and organs. When it’s healthy, fascia allows your muscles to slide and glide as you move. But when your fascia gets tight and stuck, it can restrict your movement. In this monthly workshop, we will focus on a particular area of the body to help release layers of fascia using props, techniques, and yoga poses. The goal of this workshop is to help decrease tension, improve body awareness, and release fascial “stuckness” so that tissues slide and glide more easily. Everyone welcome.
Props:
Tennis ball
SOFT fascial massage peanut
Puffy ball
2 Yoga blocks OR 2 large books
2 Blankets
1 Strap
If you do not have a soft fascial massage peanut or puffy ball, you can use a sock peanut as an alternative. To make a sock peanut, take 3 knee socks or crew socks, ball up 2 of them and put them side by side inside the third sock, and tie the end.
4 blocks or block like items4 to 6 blankets/towels1 bolster or cushion from sofa/couch1 strap or belt/tie/scarf1 eye mask
Yoga and The Pelvic Floor: A workshop for women* with Leslie Howard (ONLINE)
Saturday, Oct 23, 1-5p
$85 ($75 early bird rate by Oct 1), sorry, no WSY member discount
Proper strengthening and stabilizing of the pelvic floor helps to create the correct foundation of each movement in the body. This is the true meaning of “core work.” Whether you experience any of these conditions, or are just plain curious about this region of the body, this workshop is for you:
- pelvic pain
- lower back, hip or groin problems
- discomfort during sex or while using tampons
- skin irritation
- leak when laughing or sneezing
- have to go the bathroom too often
- prolapsed organs
- pre- and post-pregnancy
This workshop we will locate, assess, soften, stretch, strengthen and exercise the muscle groups of the pelvic floor, discuss mula bandha, abdominal health and how to utilize the pelvic floor in asana. Part one of the workshop will begin with anatomy, lecture and discussion, followed by subtle experiential movements to awaken your understanding of this often ignored area. Part two, will be yoga asana to address the two types of pelvic floors. A series of specific exercises and asanas for the pelvic floor will follow. Handouts will be provided. Bring your friends, sisters, mothers and daughters. Although helpful, no yoga experience is required. This workshop qualifies for continuing education credits with Yoga Alliance and IAYT.
Additionally, I want to acknowledge that due to societal inequalities the healing practices of yoga have been less accessible to Black communities, so I am offering two scholarship spots in this workshop to the first two Black yoga teachers that would like to take them. Please contact registrar@willowstreetyoga.com for more information.
* All female-identified or people assigned female at birth are welcome.
Leslie Howard is an Oakland-based yoga teacher, specializing in all things pelvic. She leads workshops and trainings nationally and has written a book about caring for the female pelvis, Pelvic Liberation. She is a regular presenter for the Yoga Journal conferences and a regular contributor to Yoga Journal magazine. Her own struggles with healing her hips and pelvis led her to intense study of the anatomy, physiology, cultural messaging, history and energetics of this rich place. Her teaching is informed by over 3500 hours of yoga study with senior Iyengar yoga teachers. She considers Ramanand Patel her most important influence and mentor. She has designed two very successful studies for UCSF on how to use yoga to alleviate incontinence and pelvic pain. To learn more about Leslie or for some online education opportunities visit: www.lesliehowardyoga.com
With the disruption that
currently surrounds us, it’s easy to feel stressed and
overwhelmed. Yoga Nidra, a
guided meditative practice, can help you find a source of internal
stability and resilience. It can ease tension and fatigue, calm the
nervous system, and restore energy.
In
this workshop you’ll:
-
Learn centering and relaxation techniques
- Practice gentle asana stretches for joints
and muscles
-
Explore yoga breathing techniques
-
Be guided through a complete Yoga Nidra
practice.
Yoga Nidra is practiced in a
comfortable lying or seated position. No prior experience needed —
everyone welcome.
This workshop will meet online; Zoom links will be emailed approximately 24 hours and again 1 hour before the workshop begins.
Please register at least 12 hours in advance.
Summer 2021 dates: Aug 1, Aug 22, Sept 26 (register for all 3 for a
discount!)
Fall 2021 dates: Oct 24, Nov 21, Dec 19 (register for all 3 for a
discount!)
Yoga for Pelvic, Hip and Lower Back Pain: Three Week Series with Leslie Howard (ONLINE)
Mondays, Nov 1, 8, 15, 5:30-7:30p
$35 each, all 3 for $90
This three part workshop is designed to help people with pain or tension in the pelvis, hips or back. Pain and tension can result from trauma or chronic holding patterns. Trauma can include chronic poor posture, surgeries, difficult labor, sexual abuse or other strains. Pelvic trauma or tension can contribute to chronic pain, incontinence or pelvic organ prolapse. This workshop includes a brief anatomy lecture and discussion, breathing techniques and yoga poses done with particular attention to gently relax the muscles of the pelvis, hip and back. Handouts will be provided to help support your practice of what you will learn.
This series is intended for students who are female identifying and anyone assigned female at birth.
November 1: Brief anatomy lecture, breath as the bridge from conscious to unconscious, supine poses to gently open hips and groin and lengthen the spine
November 8: Building on the class before, breath awareness practice, introducing therapeutically focused standing poses
November 15: Breath awareness practice followed by stabilizing poses done with support to learn how to engage and lengthen muscles properly.
Additionally, I want to acknowledge that due to societal inequalities the healing practices of yoga have been less accessible to black communities, so I am offering two scholarship spots in this workshop to the first two Black yoga teachers that would like to take them. Please contact registrar@willowstreetyoga.com for more information.
Leslie Howard is an Oakland-based yoga teacher, specializing in all things pelvic. She leads workshops and trainings nationally and has written a book about caring for the female pelvis, Pelvic Liberation. She is a regular presenter for the Yoga Journal conferences and a regular contributor to Yoga Journal magazine. Her own struggles with healing her hips and pelvis led her to intense study of the anatomy, physiology, cultural messaging, history and energetics of this rich place. Her teaching is informed by over 3500 hours of yoga study with senior Iyengar yoga teachers. She considers Ramanand Patel her most important influence and mentor. She has designed two very successful studies for UCSF on how to use yoga to alleviate incontinence and pelvic pain. To learn more about Leslie or for some online education
We Can Be Brave While Brokenhearted: Yoga for Trauma and Anxiety
“We are the authors of our lives. We write our own daring endings.”
Dr. Brené Brown, Manifesto of the Brave and Brokenhearted
We have all been there…. feeling overwhelmed and unsure. We’ve been through months of isolation, distressing news cycles, personal grief, and emotional triggers. The holiday season is coming up, a time that can spark pain. This workshop will help solidify the connection between mind and body. We are including poses for healing, readings, and breathwork. Please bring a journal. We will also complete vision boards. All levels of students are welcome to attend. Everything in the workshop is confidential. We are the authors of our own stories. We will work together and individually to empower ourselves and one another. You are not alone.
This workshop will take place in person, at our Takoma Park studio.
The Instructor: Cheryl Kravitz, APR, CFRE, RYT200, Cheryl Kravitz, APR, CFRE, RYT200plus learned early on that yoga is a universal language and has found the practice resonates with the diversity of students she teaches. A survivor of breast cancer and domestic violence, Cheryl understands the calming power of yoga and meditation, having experienced the results in her own life.
She is a graduate of the Willow Street Yoga Teacher Training Program and received additional certification to teach yoga to survivors of trauma, restorative yoga, and yoga for brain longevity. Away from the mat, she is a certified diversity and inclusion trainer, a marketing and communication consultant, and a freelance writer. She has written extensively locally and nationally about the positive impact of yoga on the individual and community.