Friday Evening: Simple Keys to the Shoulders

6-8pm

There are some secrets to knowing how to move the shoulders well for the sake of greater freedom — and it’s not just about stretching! We need to understand how the joints of our shoulder girdle work, and how lack of proper ‘joint play’ causes tightness as well as weakness and pain syndromes.

In this well-rounded session, Doug will explain the significance of ‘joint play’ and lay out a few fundamental principles for working with the shoulder joints safely and effectively. This will be an all-levels class that focuses upon some main points (that will be explored more deeply on Sunday) while giving you a nice Friday evening experience of yoga, ending with a deep relaxation.

Saturday Morning: The Feet are the Keys to the Hips and Knees

9am-12pm

Our nervous system regulates our flexibility according to the freedom it perceives in our joints. This ‘first principle’ for working with the body is called ‘Joint Play.’

We’ll begin by looking at this in the structure and function of the feet — and how the state of our feet profoundly influences the flexibility of our hamstrings, hips, and low back, as well as the healthy function of our knees and hips.

This session will start with simple movements and exercises for our feet that will be translated into principles for movement in asana — and will be essential to your working effectively with your hamstrings, as well as your knees and hips.

Sat. Afternoon: The Heart of Movement: the Sacrum and Spine

1:30-4:00pm

All movement in asana begins with the spine, and the natural undulation of the spine in movement is also the foundation for the health and steadiness of the mind. And the heart of the spine’s movement is at the sacrum, whose movement initiates the stimulation into action known in the wisdom tradition of yoga as ‘Prana Vayu,’ as well as the grounding, centering movements characterized as ‘Apana Vayu.’

This session will explore the movements of the sacrum and pelvic bones in forward bending, backbending, and twists, starting from standing poses, and the interwoven threads of muscles connected to these movements by which the integrated whole-body movements of these asanas takes place.

This session will be a very practical and accessible exploration of sacral and low-back health as well as the keys to healthy movement patterns in asana. It will include straightforward understanding of the actions of the ‘Core’ which supports these movements, which are traditionally known as the ‘bandhas.’

Your experience of forward bending, backbending, and twists — without going to extremes — will be transformed by this understanding, and your low back will thank you for it!

Sunday Morning: Essentials for Shoulder Freedom

9am-12pm

The shoulders are the most mobile joints in our body, and yet most of us get tight — causing pain in our neck and back, as well as suffering pain and limitation in the shoulders themselves. Even flexible people can have shoulder and neck pain!

There are secrets to knowing how to move the shoulders well, to achieve more freedom — and it’s not just about stretching! We need to understand how our shoulder joints work, and how lack of freedom in these joint causes tightness, as well as reducing the strength of our muscles. If we move the joints well, flexibility in our muscles will follow!

In this session, Doug will lay out fundamental principles for working with the shoulder joints safely and effectively in all of the different ways we move our shoulders in yoga.. The session on Friday gave an experiential taste of the essence of these principles. In this session we’ll be able to go into greater depth, and include work with the hands, wrists, and elbows, as well as getting into the relationship between the shoulders and neck freedom.

Yoga poses help us to explore shoulder freedom, and there are lots of variations and exercises that keep the practice interesting and accessible. With Doug’s guidance, you’ll understand the purpose of these actions, poses, and variations, and will easily remember them so you can incorporate them into your yoga practice, or just into your day!