Vancouver Yoga Conference

Vancouver Yoga Conference this past weekend at the Vancouver Convention Centre. Yoga garden, yoga vendors, ooommm coming from all directions, & a busy/happy/joyful energy. What a great time!

I caught up with my friends at Halfmoon Yoga Products - providing props and love to everyone in the yoga garden!

I was able to get in 2 workshops with my mentor Susi Hately - from Functional Synergy therapeutic yoga!
1. Bio mechanics of the core
2. Considerations for cancer survivors

In addition, I was privileged to assist Susi for her workshop on managing back pain. We had a blast. 7 great yogis who have had back pain and/or have yoga students who have back pain.  We covered a great range of topics throughout the day including: what back pain is all about - how the pain is manifestation of dysfunction occurring elsewhere in the body, exploring default patterns, discovering leg bone to pelvis connection, as well as pelvis to spine connection, and spine to shoulder blades connection - how these can all have potential to cause discomfort or pain depending on how congruent these connections are. It was a wonderful day of exploration!

I am excited to share insights from the other workshops in further blog posts.

When I got home, my husbands tells me that he can barely move his neck.... well it is a good thing his wife is a yoga therapist. We have a date in the yoga room in about 5 minutes.... poor guys is a menace on the road as he is having trouble making shoulder checks.... I'll be working with him for the good of all the drivers in our local area..!

30 Day Challenge – On the path to find ease and pain free movement

Yoga Therapy – a 1:1 practice involving movement, breath, and stillness. Instructor and student work closely together to assess movement at the major joints to determine each individual’s optimal range of motion. The purpose is to decrease and/or eliminate pain, find relaxation, & ease of movement.

I just finished my intensive yoga therapy training with Susi Hately from Functional Synergy. Throughout the training we have been exploring the kinesiology of yoga & therapeutics. What is therapeutic yoga? Basically, it is about moving in the way the body is anatomically designed to move to relieve pain via easing compensations throughout the body. In other words, this is yoga rehab. I love this stuff!

I am an occupational therapist and yoga instructor by training; now I can add yoga therapist to the resume and skill set. It is all about function, when pain in the body gets in the way of the activities of daily living that you want to do and you’ve had enough…. Call me, I can help!

Living my practice and practicing what I preach.

I have been challenged by my therapeutic yoga teacher, Susi, has given me a 30 day mind/body exploration. If I learned anything, I learned a lot about my body through this training. Basically, I have pain in my body, I have limitations, and I am compensations – it has got to be a bit of a vicious cycle and I’m ready to do something about it. 30 days. Assess my movement, explore my body and my breath, get still and letting go of tension. This is the space in which I can heal PROPERLY!!! I’ve been on a “yo-yo diet of back injury healing” – enough is enough.

Not only is this a great opportunity it ease pain in my body and really experience the benefits of this transformative practice. I will be blogging my experience including rating my pain and tension levels throughout.