So many of our daily actions from driving, reading, screen time, & chair sitting lead to the habit of dropping our head forward in front of the torso. Also, other body habits such as thrusting the hips forward or lifting the ribcage can also create the neck position that is the same as dropping the head forward. All of this can lead to neck tension, headaches, and excessive curvature of the upper spine. To lengthen the spine and keep the neck healthy, learn not to tilt the head back, but rather to Ramp the Head!
A forward fold can help lengthen the entire backside of the body. There are fascial connections that run from the soles of the feet all the way to the head, and getting into a forward fold can show us where we habitually shorten and hold tension in certain areas of the posterior chain of the body. That shortening of certain areas is caused by many things such as our sitting and shoe wearing habits, but it then affects our posture, walking gait and general ability to move freely. In this session, we'll breakdown all the parts of the forward fold and see how to get more movement throughout the body in this simple posture.
The habitual positioning of our body (mainly chairs) and the shortening of the muscle lengths that result from it can lead to strain and tension in certain areas when we do the simplest action of laying down on the ground. It's why people often report neck and back pain while laying down. In this class we'll look at how to realign our posture and how to iron out all those kinks so that we can elongate to our fullest length while laying down.
Exploring breath mechanics and how our alignment and positioning of the body may be restricting the free flow of not only air but all the fluids through the torso. Then we'll look at how to align, stabilize, and mobilize the tissues of the trunk.
A look at how alignment can help us move more of our body in our physical activities. This class will focus on the common yoga pose, downward dog. We'll see how limitations in our ranges of motion are causing us to avoid moving certain joints and how using alignment markers can help us get more movement and strength overall.
