Hey everyone!
We are so excited to get back to our “normal” routine after summer. I know those of you with kids are probably feeling the same way.
We’ve updated our Yoga schedule for the fall and we believe many of you will be super happy to learn that there are more classes to allow for flexibility.
Because our Friday afternoon FREE Hot 75 class taught by our student teachers is doing so great, it’ll become a regular class offered by one of our very own graduates.
We just got through the 5th weekend of the 6 weekend intensives with our Alkaline Method Yoga teachers in training. It’s mind blowing how far our student teachers have come in the last 5 months of training.
Our Yoga Teacher Training is very intensive and was designed to push the boundaries a bit intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually.
The bar is set high and it’s awesome to see students who breakthrough their limiting beliefs about their capabilities.
Alkaline Method Yoga
As I look back to the true catalyst for the creation of Alkaline Method Yoga Therapy I realize that it was due to frustration from what I was seeing in the field of Yoga.
I personally experienced Yoga as a powerful “healing” modality. But it wasn’t until I decided to dive deeper by signing up to become a teacher that I really understood the depths of the practice.
I first began practicing Yoga on video with Rod Stryker in 1993. Eventually I progressed into other vinyasa practices, but at the time there weren’t many Yoga studios conveniently located to me.
I was a cardio junkie at the time and Yoga provided me with much needed stretch that I wasn’t getting from my workouts.
As I practiced and followed the DVD sets with Rod, I fell in love with Yoga. I began to practice on my own, venturing out into other yoga DVDs that were available for me.
What I didn’t know was that Yoga requires a dynamic balance between strength, mobility, stability, and proprioception. All of which were absent in my practice until I committed to the study of the practice.
Something miraculous happens when tuning inward by focusing on your breath. You begin to “feel” and “move” your body in ways you never have before.
I learned that I was moving my bones but not activating my muscles.
I began to feel the aches and pains from pushing into the poses without proper activation of my muscles.
Yoga as a “Work-In”, Not a Workout
As I treated thousands of patients, I had an epiphany.
There must be a sequential and synergistic activation of various muscles. But in order to achieve this balance, one must learn the fundamentals of moving one’s body deliberately with intent.
I also realized that in our world today, we are prone to be so busy in our minds that we lack the connection to our bodies.
Most students and patients are coming from a place of immobility and trying to achieve flexibility too fast.
We need to work on understanding how our bodies are designed to move.
Also, we need to work on unlearning poor body programming to relearn proper body alignment and posture.
This is not an easy feat. This takes patience and commitment to yourself to preserve your health by preserving your joints and muscles.
We all are born with ONE body and it’s in our best interest to respect and take care of it.
Pranayama
In Yoga, pranayama is the practice of breathing. Breath is the source of prana, a vital life force which is what we tap into every time we get on the mat.
Cultivating awareness to match our breath with movement is key in promoting health and vitality. We can have full control over our state of being by intentionally tuning inward and focusing on our breath.
Too often, we can’t pause long enough to do so. We are hard wired to “react” to our environment and its demands, including our to-do lists, electronic devices, and obligations.
Most of us are in constant fight or flight mode (sympathetic nervous system activation). This is a hard wiring in our brains that signals to us that we are in a state of danger.
This signal used to serve us well in the Paleolithic times when we were running from predators, but it doesn’t serve us much today.
We need to tap into our parasympathetic nervous system that allows us to be calm and zen.
It is this imbalance of sympathetic and parasympathetic activation that throws all other systems in our bodies off balance.
True Role of the Medical System
When systems are out of balance for too long, we now understand from scientific evidence that it can wreck havoc in the normal workings of our bodies, ultimately leading to disease.
When we are not well, we are conditioned to seek out care from an “outside” source, such as a Medical Professional. We are conditioned to assume the role of a “patient”.
This model no longer serves us as it assumes that something “outside” of ourselves has the ultimate power over the proper workings of our bodies.
While it may serve us at times of acute distress to seek a professional for their assistance, in most cases, we don’t fully heal until we tune inward.
We have to understand that we are the ones with power over our own health and destiny.
If our self alignment isn’t in place, it’s really hard to get it from outside of us.
This is the fundamental belief you must adapt in order to begin healing.
Healing is an Inside Job
I’ve treated thousands of patients in my clinical practice. I’ve learned that my role as the practitioner is to be a “partner” in their journey towards healing.
I can point and guide them in the right direction, but if they lack the commitment to themselves to get better and follow my lead, no matter what we do, the efforts will fail.
So I want to encourage you to take 100% responsibility and ownership for your health today. Begin to take the necessary steps to get closer to your health and life goals.
In my experience, the recipe for success in life begins with understanding that ALL of us have the power to heal ourselves. It’s when we give our power away that we get lost.
We want to bring you back to yourself. Knowledge is power and through the practice of the Alkaline Method in your daily life, you can ultimately keep the Doctor away and achieve your health and life goals.
Interested in our Alkaline Method Yoga? Sign up for our Webinar: 3 Secrets to Elevate Your Yoga Practice While Helping Others to Do the Same. Click here.
Want to transform your life? Sign up for our Alkaline Method Yoga Teacher Training here. Class of 2020 begins in September!
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Thanks for watching, see you next week.