For students who have attended at least one of our Osteoporosis and Yoga workshops, we’re excited to offer a unique 7-session experiential workshop that blend Yin/Yang poses and movements designed to target specific fascial lines in the body.
Stretching: A Key Component to Resilience
According to Tom Myers, from Anatomy trains, the key to building resilience is a 5 pronged full body approach. Resiliency includes mindful movement, stretching, humor, service and pranayama!
It is important to stretch regularly. Stretching allows the fascia to maintain fluidity which will keep the joints functioning properly. A Harvard Health article explains the physical benefits of stretching. Another response to elastic fascia is healthy functioning organs. A study has shown that when you passively stretch you maintain a healthy heart.
Range of Motion As We Age
Many people find that when they don’t move enough, their body gets stiff. Others might also notice that as they age their mobility decreases. Or some might remember times in their youth when they were much more flexible than they are now. In short, our bodies drastically change as we age. Our muscle composition, bone density, and even our center of gravity can change. As a result of these changes, functional changes have to occur to keep the body moving as it ages.
Pain is Connected to Fascia
Pain is a protective mechanism. It is a signal that there is something wrong in the body. Pain is an alert message. It tells you that there is a problem that needs to be addressed. Pain is a sensation of the nervous system, but as scientists try to learn and understand pain, they are finding that fascia is important in pain generation and treatment.
Fascia Maintains Homeostasis
What is Fascia?
I think I first heard about fascia about 5 years ago when my step-mom asked me to go to a Yin Yoga class with her. She said that the class was great because you stayed in each asana for extended times so that your fascia could get stretched. I had no idea what she was talking about. Was fascia another one of those yoga terms? I took many biology and anatomy classes in high school and college and yet fascia was never discussed. You don’t find fascia listed as components in biological systems. But you hear it all the time in yoga classes. Why? What exactly is fascia?
Tensegrity and Yoga
What is tensegrity and how does it apply to yoga?
You may be familiar with your yoga therapist explaining that a certain pose will help your body “open” in a certain dimension. But what is going on inside the body to allow this to happen? There is an engineering concept called “tensegrity”, a combination of tension and integrity, that can be applied to your body. We usually think of our bodies being built on the skeleton, where movement is limited by the bones and joints. It is natural to think about it this way since we use skeleton models to understand how the body moves. We are primarily a system of soft tissues, the muscles and fascia, with secondary support from the bones. Instead of the bones holding everything together, the balance of tension across our bodies is the main support.
Design a Yoga Practice for YOU! Workshop on January 19th
During the workshop, we integrate mind-body activities to increase awareness of habits that impact our health and provide techniques that can be applied in daily life to create opportunities to re-pattern our movements, mindsets, and support improved health.
Date: Sunday, January 19th
Time: 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM
9:00 AM to 12:30 PM Part 1: Skeletal Variation and Yoga
1:15 PM to 4:30 PM Part 2: Fascia & a Daily Practice to Benefit YOUR Health
