My Husband got a Cramp…. My husband got a calf cramp while riding his fancy pants new bike up a steep trail the other day. Scientifically speaking, muscle cramps are sudden, involuntary and painful contractions of muscular tissue. He made the mistake of telling me about it while we were driving somewhere together. I went all “movement scientist” on him, but he somehow managed to keep driving without incident, after all he was basically a Read more…
In this Balance Tips and Tricks I discuss how changing the base of support challenges your ability to balance. I’ve included a short video and some “playwork” (my word for homework or practice).
I’ve been thinking a lot about a question I am often asked – “what do you do for a living?”. It’s a complex answer for me because telling people that I teach movement is sort of a vague answer, although really that’s what I consider my “work” to be – a movement teacher. Saying I teach yoga often engenders this reply, “Oh I need to stretch more” or “You must be in such good shape”. Telling Read more…
Have you ever experienced that moment where someone says something to you and although you’ve heard the words before, somehow this time they penetrate your thick skull and hard emotional armor? There are times in my life when I can clearly remember the exact life changing words that someone has said to me. Words that stopped me in my tracks – thick skull penetrated, armor dropped….. Words that may have saved my life. The words Read more…
I’m now old enough to have experienced the waxing and waning of passion and love in many of my steady relationships. This includes my relationship to people, movement/exercise, life-long learning, spiritual practice, and my yoga practice. These particular relationships are all very long term for me, and very dear. Let’s get something straight … the common denominator in this waxing and waning relationship thing is me. None of the things I am in Read more…
Restorative Yoga Didn’t Used to be My Cup of Tea… OR How I came to appreciate restorative yoga – wherever you are, there you are When I was in my 20’s and dancing was my main squeeze, I began to have a fling with yoga. I was lucky enough to find my teacher, Judith Lasater, early in my relationship with the yoga asana practice. Judith’s teachings resonated with me because although she was a senior Read more…
Welcome to your thoracic spine! Did you know that your thoracic spine, made up of 12 vertebral bodies, is the longest section of your spinal column? T-spine rests between your neck (cervical spine) and your lumbar (lower back spine) and develops in utero as a primary curve, or kyphotic curve. Yep, you’re supposed to have a bit of a curve outwards in this part of your spine behind the heart area. The thoracic spine acts Read more…
As we age, we undergo physical changes. OK, that’s sort of a “no brainer” statement. Although physical changes occur with aging, we have the ability to bend the aging curve. It just requires us to better understand what can affect that curve and how to go about doing the things necessary. We need to know the “why” and then figure out the “how”. It is likely that aging will affect our balance acuity. Read more…
Welcome to your Lumbar Spine I’ve mused in some of my recent blog posts about how we might view our body as a stack of joints, the importance of variable movement and the cardinal planes, and the concept of “stiffness” (which is really about stability) in our spine. Now I’d like to delve into how the various segments of the spine work together as a functional family to support full body movement. The individual regions Read more…
I had every intention of continuing my tome on spinal movement in this next blog post, but I’ve become completely enchanted by an instragram yoga posture challenge I’m participating in. It’s fulfilling a deep need (or a kick in the ass) to explore my asana practice more deeply and write about the process. I’m taking videos/photos each day and then writing about what I did and what I experienced. For 84 days! The theme of Read more…