This weekend will explore breaking down poses into their component parts, examining alignment principles, commonly taught in class, exploring traditional alignment as well as new ways to practice an old pose. Students will learn how to make the connection between similar actions taught in basic foundational postures and more intermediate and advanced postures, giving them the tools to build a strong and healthy practice and to facilitate continued growth.
Foundational Poses:
This workshop will explore basic foundational warm-up poses and common transitions like the vinyasa to low plank (chatturanga), knees, chest chin and several different sun salutations. We will look at bad habits that often lead to injury and learn how these basic foundational warm-up poses help to prepare the body for more advanced asanas. Doing these poses correctly is essential to building a strong and healthy asana practice.
Standing Poses:
This workshop will look at the key poses in a standing warm-up sequence. We will break down each pose and put it back together again, learning how alignment and a knowledge of basic anatomy can help to teach us boundaries and give us more freedom to explore each pose safely. Understanding the proper alignment in a pose will help you to identify and undo old patterns that aren’t serving you in your body, in your practice and in your life.
Balancing Poses:
This workshop will look at various standing balancing poses. Breaking these poses down, we will learn how to stabilize the pelvis. By exploring the key muscles involved in stabilization and learning techniques to awaken these muscles we will learn how to create strength and stability in standing balance poses, allowing us to explore in these poses fearlessly.
Arm Balances:
Balancing on the arms is not just about brute strength. This workshop will help students to understand the actions used in each pose, key muscles involved in achieving balance on the arms and how proper alignment affects the center of gravity, making gravity either a friend or foe. Preparation poses for those not ready to balance on their arms yet will also be explored.
Inversions:
An exploration of inversions from the ground up. This workshop will break down the alignment in the inversions; head balance, shoulder stand, handstand and the forearm balance. Students will learn how the body creates stability by using opposing actions, how to use the core to stabilize the low back and how the muscles of the shoulder girdle work both with and against each other to provide a foundation for a healthy inversion practice.
