After enjoying a summer of outdoor activities, holidays, and lots of essential vitamin D, it is nice to welcome you back to a fall routine. My family had a great summer, spending lots of time working in our yard (I even started mowing the lawn, for the first time in my life), playing at many different parks, teaching Olivia how to do handstands, and travelling out east to Ontario to visit family, see Niagara Falls, spend some time enjoying lake life in Muskoka, and seeing Coldplay at the open domed Rogers Centre.
Earlier this year, I applied, and was accepted for, certification and recognition with the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT). The application process took many many hours, documenting my last 12 years of teaching yoga. The IAYT supports research and education in yoga, and serves as a professional organization for yoga teachers and yoga therapists worldwide. Their mission is to establish yoga as a recognized and respected therapy, and to bridge the gap between yoga and healthcare.
In a typical yoga class there can be a tendency to focus on large surface muscle groups, such as biceps/triceps, quads/hamstrings, and hip flexors. Many students may over-stretch, or work to deeply into intense poses, which actually can create weakness and muscle compensation patterns, in the long term.
Yoga therapists, like myself, emphasize functional movement. We can look at how people are sitting and how they are moving. We can assess neutral spinal alignment, hip function, and teach people to focus on deep core stability and safe flexibility. We can also collaborate with other practitioners. For example, with car accident whiplash, yoga therapists, massage therapists, and physiotherapists can all work together to rebuild strength, guide effective stretching, and manage neck and back pain for quicker recovery.
Yoga therapists understand that not all yoga poses are good for all bodies. People are built differently and need to be encouraged to pay close attention to whether the poses and exercises we are teaching actually feel good. Yoga therapists offer different variations, props, and modifications so that everyone can feel safe in their yoga practice.
Throughout my own years of practice and teaching, I have discovered that one effective way to understand the meditative and spiritual benefits of yoga is through constant focus on the subtleties of movement patterns, beginning from one's core. To slow down, pay close attention to yourself, and let go of everything else is essential for our long term physical and mental well being. We all need more of this calm in our stressful lives.
I am thrilled and honoured to be recognized through this international organization and strive to continue my yoga education, practice, and study of functional movement.
So, this fall, see you on the mat.