Align & SHED Pt. 1
Pt. 1 Meeting Alignment ON THE MAT
I can remember very clearly the moment I knew I wanted to focus solely on teaching private yoga. It was in the first week in my first teacher training almost 20 years ago. One of the anatomy books we were assigned to read was a book called “Structural Yoga Therapy” by Mukunda Stiles. In it he teaches, among many things, the concept of range of motion. Range of motion (ROM) is how much each joint and each movement within that joint can move. Each of those movements has a general amount it is “supposed” to be able to move. A healthful joint has full range of motion for each of the movements that joint can preform. It also has an equal amount of strength and it also needs to be pain free within these actions.
I remember being stunned, like I just had a great mystery unlocked for me. All we had to do was pay attention to the quality of these small actions, to balance them, to clarify them and the body could remain free of pain. And if the body were to remain pain free then the person inhabiting that body could remain out in the world doing what they came here to do- fulfilling their dharma as we say in yoga. And if I could help more people move that way then I could help more people fulfill their live’s purpose. Moreover if a person was already in pain I could help them untangle so much of that pain by welcoming them into their bodies in a truly mindful way-WOW!! Now that was the job for me!!
AAAAANNnnnnnnd then I was told I had to get out there, the next day, and lead a class of 20 people. I froze. How on earth could I give each person the attention that they needed? How could I welcome each person into the experience of their body that let them learn about how they were truly moving, not just how they “thought” they were moving? How could I learn their life stories and how those were showing up in their bodies-And forget about that- how could I ever keep them all safe when the poses I was supposed to teach them made no sense whatsoever with the range of motion they actually had???? Needless to say- I was overwhelmed, but that moment started me on a journey for answers.
As soon as I returned from that training I sought out the author of the book mentioned above- and became his student (and later became a yoga therapist under him). I taught only private lessons for a long time and that knowledge allowed me to create a system that let me safely and effectively hold space for 6 people at a time, and that system allowed me to open a yoga studio and to teach other teachers my system and that teacher and my studio and those teachers I taught and allllllll of the bodies I have been able to hold space for in the last 20 years have allowed me to move my teachings virtual and be able to expand my work further than I could have imagined.
And that is what has brought me to you, on this page, in this moment, now offering to do this work with you.
Would you like to know how you are truly moving? Meaning would you like to know any of the following things:
what your current range of motion is and where that compares with standard
how well balanced your strength is
how to finally get “into shape”
how to finally “get your body back after baby”
why you keep having the same injuries pop up
why certain pains keep returning
why there are fitness goals you can’t reach
how an event from your past in influencing your body now
or anything similar in this realm?
If you answered YES then you are going to want to stay tuned. Tomorrow I will share a video with a bit more about range of motion in our yoga poses and how you can do a self diagnostic for two of the biggest joints!
With great respect and love,
N
