Learning to Feel Movement Thoroughly Is as Subtle as Learning to Taste Water

This blog post was written by Handspring author Sherry Brourman, author of From Bodily Knowledge to Intuitive Movement.

When it comes to sensing distinctions within our own movement, I believe natural human longing for safety coupled with our perfectionistic culture breeds a special self-conscious movement impatience. We’re compelled to know, to rush, to categorize, to perform—whether for others or ourselves—and all of this obstructs bodily presence and the self-awareness that comes with it.

Even the simple intention to shift into a calmer, slower gear—the state needed to take the time to truly feel movement can seem ambiguous or uncomfortably unfamiliar. Initially, just setting that intention may bring anxiety. This isn’t resistance to truth, a character flaw, or the absence of some innate ability that only some people have. Yet it appears and feels subtly defensive.

In over fifty years of observing, discussing, and guiding people toward greater movement sensitivity, I’ve come to believe that simple underexposure is the main barrier. Whether chemist or athlete, most people have had little experience with this kind of inner attention—and so we can grow shy, even to our own witness, much less someone else’s.


Please sit upright in a chair as you read this next part. For today, I’m choosing a less common area as more familiar tensions often fade into background noise making them harder to discern—so we aim for a place new enough to grab your attention. The exploration begins with the more recognizable layer (physical) and moves to deeper layers (mental, emotional, spiritual) as we stay with the process.

Please begin leaning a bit forward in your chair and lifting a heel so that you’re leaning on the toes and ball of that foot; toes pressing into the ground and heel lifted. ‘Listen’ to your toes, as they press into the ground. Then:

  • Pause and scan your body for tension.

Now, trace what else is involved in this sensation.

  • Is there tension in an adjacent joint or muscle?
  • Does an entire leg or even the entire body weigh in to this sensation?
  • Might this reflect a movement habit like commonly lifting a heel when sitting, that repeats regularly.

Try describing every nuance you notice:

“When my heel rises, I press my first three toes into the floor along their medial sides. My knee rolls inward slightly, my same side hip gets tired, and my medial calf stays subtly tense.”

Now, widen your scan:

  • Is there unrelated tension in your jaw, neck, or chest that tends to accompany this pattern?
  • What about your breath? Don’t change it—just observe its rhythm and depth.

If you notice shallow breathing or a rhythm shift, pay close attention—Is it familiar? Does this breath rhythm feel relaxed or somewhat tense? Now, down-shift even a small amount to level the rhythm a bit. Then ask:

Did that shift also influence the tension in my toes? Anyplace else?

As you notice and name sensations, the language you choose becomes a bridge: between subtle awareness, physical action, and your relationship with other bodily systems. This kind of linking is at the heart of bodily awareness.

And then perhaps—if you stay with it—you might sense even finer threads:

  • Does this tension carry an emotion?
  • Is it old?
  • Does it muddy or clarify your current thoughts or intentions?

This sample can be tricky since just reading and sensing in this position can be cumbersome and render it seemingly useless. Do this process- take your time with a different posture/tension and then talk someone through as their guide. With a little more sampling, you’ll be able to use it comfortably and get a good sense of how reading inwardly, articulating for yourself, brings bodily awareness and improves your ability to articulate with others.

***

From Bodily Knowledge to Intuitive Movement prepares physical therapists, yoga therapists and all movement practitioners to recognize various components of discomfort including the bio, psycho, social and spiritual contributions to posture, movement patterns, and to their pain. This book offers practical advice, real-life examples and case studies as well as deep insight into how individual bodies can move and heal within each body’s ‘normal.’ Sherry Brourman masterfully coalesces physical therapy, yoga therapy and pain science to create this valuable resource that ultimately utilizes intuitive movement for better health.

What is Pelvic Yoga Therapy?

by Cheri Dostal Ryba, C-IAYT 

I suspect by now many of us have heard that kegels may exacerbate symptoms for some people, and can have limited benefit for others. Pelvic health, like any health or fitness pursuit, requires a dynamic, whole body and whole person approach to creating a lifestyle that both minimizes symptoms and supports healing and thriving. No ‘correct posture’, ‘best’ exercise, or one cookie cutter approach can possibly meet the varied demands of daily life, our psychoemotional fluctuations, and the ever-evolving needs at different seasons in a woman’s cycle and lifespan. Yoga therapy represents a customized, integrative, and collaborative approach to healthcare and wellbeing that respects the complexity of the individual.

Pelvic yoga therapy, put simply, utilizes this comprehensive, therapeutic approach to yoga to improve someone’s pelvic embodiment and function.

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Allie Middleton, JD LCSW E-RYT C-IAYT on Moving From Me to We

In an old and favorite verse from thousands of years ago, the author of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad IV.4.5, considers this:

You are what your deep, driving desire is.
As your desire is, so is your will.
As your will is, so is your deed.
As your deed is, so is your destiny.

And yet, as we all wonder about the future now, shall we ask each other this next question, “What is OUR collective desire and what shall OUR collective deeds create now?

In my experience over decades as a systems change catalyst and leadership coach, I’ve had the privilege of helping many individuals and teams develop new strategies for high level impact. Whether in business, healthcare or communities, one of my initial questions is, “Who are we really, and what is our work?

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Svadhyaya Breath Journal: Download an extract from the companion workbook to Restoring Prana by Robin Rothenberg

Singing Dragon was proud to publish Restoring Prana: A Therapeutic Guide to Pranayama and Healing Through the Breath for Yoga Therapists, Yoga Teachers, and Healthcare Practitioners by Robin Rothenberg in December 2019, to critical acclaim. We are therefore delighted to announce that Svadhyaya Breath Journal: A Companion Workbook to Restoring Prana by Robin will be published in August 2020, and is now available to pre-order!

This companion workbook provides a pre-formulated breath journal, which follows the chapter chronology of the parent book, Restoring Prana, a training manual on transformative breathing presenting a new way of understanding and applying breath to a wide range of ailments. Each chapter in Restoring Prana ends with specific practices that the reader is asked to track in a breath journal – and this workbook provides a pre-formulated journal for this purpose, with the key concepts highlighted and with space for breath charts, logs and reflection.

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Lee Majewski & Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani on Yoga Therapy as a Whole-Person Approach to Health

Lee Majewski and Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani’s new book, Yoga Therapy as a Whole-person Approach to Health, is published in July 2020 – a groundbreaking book that explores yoga and yoga therapy as a multi-faceted approach to wellness.

Lee Majewski C-IAYT is a yoga therapist at Marsden Centre for Integrative Medicine, Vaughn, Canada and visiting senior yoga therapist at Kaivalyadhama Yoga Institute, India. She is a cancer survivor and since 2006 has worked with cancer and psychosomatic chronic disease patients, including running intensive yogic retreats for cancer patients in Europe, North America, India and Australia.

Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani is Director of the Centre for Yoga Therapy Education and Research (CYTER) and Professor of Yoga Therapy at Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth University. He is also Chairman of the International Centre for Yoga Education and Research at Ananda Ashram, Pondicherry, India and Yoganjali Natyalayam, the premier institute of Yoga and Carnatic Music and Bharatanatyam in Pondicherry.

Together, they created this book for yoga therapists, health professionals and all those interested in this modality to provide a deeper understanding of yoga therapy, carefully clarifying yogic concepts and exploring how deep yogic work can be practically applied to a range of chronic conditions.

Watch an in-depth discussion with the authors, facilitated by Dr Lori Rubenstein Fazzio, clinical professor of yoga and health at Loyola Marymount University, and owner of Mosaic Physical Therapy in Los Angeles.

 

Breath Hygiene: Keeping the Mind and Body Healthy Through COVID-19

Robin Rothenberg, author of Restoring Prana and forthcoming Svadhyaya Breath Journal: A Companion Workbook to Restoring Prana (June 2020), served for six years on the IAYT Accreditation Committee in addition to running a busy yoga therapy practice. Her yoga therapist training program was one of the first to be accredited by IAYT in 2014 and she has been a yoga therapist for over 20 years. You can find out more about Robin at Essential Yoga TherapyBelow she shares tips for keeping the mind and body healthy through COVID-19.

Over the past few weeks I’ve seen numerous social media posts counseling people to stay calm and stay clean. In my experience, employing good breath hygiene is the most effective way to both remain grounded and support immune and respiratory health. The breath is our greatest inner resource and with a little breath education, you too can develop the capacity to settle yourself, even when fear is gnawing at your gut!  Initially, breath hygiene may feel unfamiliar or awkward (much like learning to wipe down everything you touch with disinfectant) but the more you work with it, the easier it gets.

Here are five valuable tips for how you can use the breath as a powerful BFF to enhance emotional regulation, while simultaneously giving your immune system a boost.

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Thank you for attending our Virtual Yoga Summit!

The team at Singing Dragon would like to thank everyone who signed up, read, watched, listened or interacted with our first ever Virtual Yoga Summit. We believe that yoga really is for every body and we hope we managed to embrace that in this summit, putting a strong focus on accessibility, body positivity, empowerment and on yoga’s ‘whole person’ approach. Continue reading

Georgia Keal: Guided Meditation for Reducing Anxiety – Day Two

This guided meditation helps with reducing anxiety by releasing deep held tension that is created when we get anxious and our body tenses. It does this by shifting the energy from a anxious state to a relaxed one, using guided imagery of the chakras with a compassionate attention, using a focus of loving kindness towards the self. This meditation creates a deep sense of relaxation and reduces held tension to bring about a sense of inner peace and calm.


The Guided Meditation Handbook
Advice, Meditation Scripts and Hasta Mudra for Yoga Teachers
Georgia Keal

Help yoga students to access a deep state of relaxation with this guided meditation handbook. Offering yoga teachers scripts for guided meditations, students can learn how to cultivate positive emotions and let go of negative ones. Including practical information on how to set the scene for meditation in a yoga class, using music, lighting and props, the book also advises on how to introduce a meditation practice to yoga students. It explores the benefits of meditation for people from all walks of life, including sleep-deprived parents and those suffering from post-traumatic stress. Read more

 

Neil Pearson: Informing the Language of Yoga Teachers with Pain Science

Language is powerful, as is pain. Both can be forceful motivators of behavioural change. Spoken language can be interpreted in many ways. Sometimes we even question whether words mean what we think they mean. Pain can be the same. We wonder whether pain really is intended to “get us to stop or change our behaviour”. We might also wonder “exactly what is it that I am supposed to change? Maybe the change I need to make is to stop responding this way to my pain!”

As a yoga teacher, leading groups in asana requires instructions that will keep your students safe. As such, cognitive contemplations such as the above are not well-suited as part of an asana practice dialogue. We use language that guides our students to be aware of what is happening in the present moment. We guide them to find the right challenge so they can explore preconceived notions, all the while staying present with, and not ignoring what’s happening now. We use language that provides options for change. “What would happen if you changed the way you are breathing right now?” “Or what you are thinking?” “Or if you let go of some of the aversion to the emotions or tension that you are feeling in your body right now?” In other words, we use language that encourages awareness and language that encourages self-regulation – often of body, breath, thoughts and emotions. Note that this language of awareness is not the same as asking a student to be aware “as the first step to change”. This is language that focuses on awareness as important in and of itself. Continue reading

Charlotta Martinus: Yoga for Emotional Intelligence among Teens – Head to our Facebook Page Now!

Charlotta is considered the world expert in yoga for teenagers. Her book, Teen Yoga for Yoga Therapists (Singing Dragon, 2018) was published in August 2018 to high acclaim among both yoga researchers and school teachers worldwide, selling 2,000 books in the first 6 months. Charlotta also speaks on the BBC about yoga and young people. She is the director of the global charity Teen Yoga Foundation, which exists to promote yoga among young people as a tool for wellbeing.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN A LIVE WEBINAR WITH CHARLOTTA


Teen Yoga For Yoga Therapists
A Guide to Development, Mental Health and Working with Common Teen Issues
Charlotta Martinus. Foreword by Sir Anthony Seldon

Including yogic and mindfulness exercises that have lasting positive impact well beyond the mat, this book shows how to use yogic techniques in the optimum way when working with teens. It includes advice on dealing with anxiety, depression, addiction and bullying, with examples of asana, pranayama, meditation and much more. Read more