Workshops and Trainings for 2024
Exploring the alignment, energetics and meditative dimensions of dynamic and restorative inversions
Lime House Yoga, Cornwall, 11-2pm Sunday 8th September – £30
Turning your world upside down in yoga – like in life – can bring up fear and aversion (dvesa). It can also bring a new perspective! This workshop is an opportunity to come with questions and more time to investigate these wonderful poses. We will mindfully engage in a collective and personal inquiry into the potency of dynamic and restorative inversions in practice.
The workshop will look at some modified, accessible and energetically economical routes into classical inversions, like shoulderstand, headstand and their friends. We will play with:
- The subtle energetics of inversions and how we might use them to refresh and replenish our prana (energy) stores
- The health benefits of inversions: including their aid in lymphatic drainage, circulation and improve balance and core stabilisation
- Reminding ourselves that inversions are all poses in which the head is below the heart, we will awaken our awareness of the foundational inversions in our standing sequences, like downward dog and standing forward folds
- We will explore the importance of building a supportive foundation and Samasthiḥ stability in a variety of inversions.
- We will investigate the muscle groups that can make some inversions feel more difficult: especially hamstring tightness and shoulder and neck issues
- Once we have built some confidence with the basics we’ll begin step by step progressions to suit all practitioners for shoulderstand, headstand, forearm balances/dolphins, handstands/wall walking
- Toward the tail of the practice we will absorb the regenerative energy of our practice in restorative inversions.
Nb. This is not for complete beginners, a stable shoulder stand or equivalent and some preparatory work on headstand is a prerequisite.
PAST EVENTS
Backbends and Inversions: Creative Krama for Awakening Prāna
In-person at Meadowlark Yoga – Saturday 2nd December 2023 9:00-12:00
In this dynamic, playful session we will explore how backbends and inversions invigorate and stimulate prana in the body; prāna is the energy associated with the thoracic cavity that drives life forward. It is a dynamic, zesty and propulsive energy (the opposite of feeling deflated). Prānic practices can help us in the bhāvana or loving cultivation of creativity, confidence and openness. They help us ward off lethargy and stagnation. We will address foundations first and take a krama (step by step) approach with progressions for every practitioner’s needs. We will also explore the importance of breath and bandha to support these practices.
https://www.meadowlarkyoga.com/yoga-workshops-edinburgh
The Churning Rod: Twisting the Spine
In-person at Meadowlark Yoga – Sunday 17th September 2023 14:00-16:30
In this deep dive into spinal rotation – churning – we will explore dynamic and restorative twists to understand how they function as a catalyst for spinal health; improve posture; awaken spinal awareness for other groups of poses; reduce back pain and can even give rise to strong energetic release. We will consider the spine as our plumb-line, our centre, through which gravity connects us to the centre of the earth. Myth and storytelling will be woven in to suggest how churning and centring are at the heart of all meaningful yoga practice.
https://www.meadowlarkyoga.com/yoga-workshops-edinburgh
2022 Saturday 19th February Inverted World: Playing with dynamic and restorative inversions @ Meadowlark Yoga IN PERSON
Going upside down can bring up a lot of fear and aversion (dvesa). In this workshop we will delve safely into an inquiry into the importance of inversions in Yoga to understand why headstand and shoulderstand are referred to as the king and queen of Yoga asana. We will explore the importance of building the correct foundation and Samasthihi stability in a variety of inversions. After culminating in a playful look at handstand and forearm balance variations, we will absorb the regenerative energy of our practice in restorative inversions. This is not for complete beginners, a stable shoulderstand and some preparatory work on headstand is a prerequisite.
2021 Saturday December 4th 2021 09:00-11:00 Freeing neck and shoulder tension through yoga @ Meadowlark Yoga ONLINE
Many of us hold tension in the same key areas of the body; the neck, shoulder region is one of those places for many of us. This area is deeply connected to how we carry mental and emotional stress. It is also strongly connected to our everyday physical patterns of movement; whether that is jutting the chin forward when working at a computer, hunching at a desk, carrying a baby, playing an instrument or even the pillows we use when we sleep. This can build up to cause tension headaches and nerve pain. This workshop will address how yoga – practised mindfully and generously – can release this stiffness and also consider ways in which practising in the wrong way can aggravate this tension. The practice will balance dynamic asana with deep releasing and restorative poses to ease out held tension and address how to practice in order to prevent future suffering in this area. This session is open to beginners and seasoned practitioners alike. https://www.meadowlarkyoga.com/yoga-workshops-edinburgh
2021 09:00 – 11:30 Saturday 18th September @ Meadowlark Yoga
Opening the Upper Back: Thoracic Extension in Asana and Pranayama
We will open with 30 minutes of pranayama for optimal lung capacity and rib cage expansion. Then address how the spine naturally moves as we breathe. Participants will deepen their understanding of spinal extension to understand why the inhale takes us into backbends in yoga. We will then venture into an asana practice focused on opening the upper back (the thoracic). We will explore a variety of classical backbends and restorative variations. There is no prerequisite for the workshop, but it would help if you let Amy know beforehand if you have any breathing or back issues.
2021 June 5th All Back to front: back bending as front stretching @ Lime House Yoga
In this workshop we will explore the relationship between the front and back lines of the body and the major hip flexors which connect them. Students will deepen their understanding of how – in the same way that forward folds stretch the back body – at best back bends stretch the front body. The practice will move between deep hip flexor stretches and exploratory back bends. This is suitable for practitioners who love and practitioners who hate back bends – the marmite group of asana.
2021 Sunday April 11th 14:00 – 16:00 ONLINE with Meadowlark Yoga
Spinal Decompression: exploring side body and hip flexor extension
One of the early sightings of yoga asana was by Alexander the Great who saw Indian sadhus hanging upside down in trees. Of course hanging is something our evolutionary ape-like predecessors did a lot of. We, on the other hand, engage in many activities or inactivities that can lead to sensations of compression in the spine. Whether due to too much sitting or overreaching in yoga backbends, we will explore a variety of postures that extend the side body, lengthen the flexors that attach at the spine and extension in forward folds to aid decompression. There will be a short dynamic exploration, but much of this practice will be deep, slow and low with a meditative focus on the breath. Hopefully we will all leave with quieter minds, more space to breathe into and maybe even a little taller. If you have current back pain do let Amy know, but this may be a useful workshop for you.
2020 Saturday November 7th 2020 09.30-11.30 @ Meadowlark Yoga Studio
Preparing Western Hips for Ashtanga Yoga
The lotus leg comes early in the Ashtanga standing sequence; unsurprising given the first students were young Indians whose hips were far more open due to the cultural practices of squatting and sitting cross legged. Western hips are not so well primed by lifestyle for the lotus and leg behind head postures of Ashtanga. This session will highlight how opening the hips is critical for the safe and pain free practice of Ashtanga Yoga.
Saturday May 2nd 2020 09.30-11.30 @ Meadowlark Yoga Studio
Building blocks for back bending
In this workshop we will literally be building some block structures to help build our backbends. However, we will also return to the fundamental principles of safe backbending which are the same whether you are dropping back or doing cobra. We will explore how to stretch the front body; focusing on hip flexor extension to find space in the lower back. We will also focus on opening the upper back so it participates more fully in backbends. We will explore a range of classical backbends with modifications and options for beginners and advanced practitioners alike.
Saturday February 1st 2020 – 09.30 – 11.30 @ Meadowlark Yoga Studio
Inverted World: Exploring dynamic and restorative inversions
Going upside down can bring up a lot of fear and aversion (dvesa). In this workshop we will delve safely into an inquiry into the importance of inversions in Yoga to understand why headstand and shoulderstand are referred to as the king and queen of Yoga asana. We will explore the importance of building correct foundation and Samasthihi stability in a variety of inversions. After culminating in a playful look at handstand, we will absorb the regenerative energy of our practice in restorative inversions.
This is not for complete beginners, a stable shoulderstand and some preparatory work on headstand is a prerequisite.
Sunday November 10th 2019 – 14.00-16.15 @ Meadowlark Yoga Studio
Opening Anahata: thoracic opening for building an upper back bend, improved respiration and removal of excess kapha
This workshop is an opportunity to explore different approaches to opening the upper back so that it participates more fully in back bends. The practice will address a variety of back bends both dynamic and restorative, with plenty of modifications and adaptions to suit all practitioners. We will explore the pranayama associated with building lung capacity and removing excess kapha in the body.
Sunday 7th July 2019 14.00-16.15 @ Meadowlark Yoga
Preparing Western hips for Ashtanga Yoga
The lotus leg comes early in the Ashtanga standing sequence; unsurprising given the first students were young Indians whose hips were far more open due to the cultural practices of squatting and sitting cross legged. Western hips are not so well primed by lifestyle for the lotus and leg behind head postures of Ashtanga. This session will highlight how opening the hips is critical for the safe and pain free practice of Ashtanga Yoga.
Booking through Meadowlark – https://www.meadowlarkyoga.com/events/