As a former athlete, I can attest to doing this very thing myself for years… until my body finally protested so profoundly that I had to stop and listen. And when I did, my life transformed. I discovered that one of my most valuable relationships was right there within me all along.

My dear friend Joanne Sarah Avison said recently that “Fascia loves micro-movements.”

It is a timely message. As a yoga therapist I often hear feedback such as “I can’t do yoga because I’m not that flexible.” When did this practice become associated with such extreme ranges of movement that the average person feels they can’t even walk into a studio?

The purpose of my mantra is to dispel that myth.

I have a confession to make to you all–I am afraid of heights.  

Yep, it’s true. And the word “afraid” is an understatement. I’m one of those hikers that slides down a slightly precarious down-slope on her bum while others casually step around me. I’m that hiker inching along on hands and knees across a narrow ridge, muttering prayers and doing my yoga pranayama in hopes it will get my body to stop shaking.

Often when we hear the term “yoga adjustment” we picture something hands on, externally focused, and with the overall intention of fixing something that’s gone wrong in a yoga pose.

Taking a good look at the wonderful world of fascia means approaching yoga poses in a backward and inverse way from what we are used to. Instead of general anatomy's perspective – beginning with the muscles and moving on to the tissue that holds them together – fascial anatomy looks at fascia first, and the way it folds and turns into pockets which fill in to become muscles. In this weekend workshop we'll be using the latter approach, looking at adjusting from the inside out, rather than the outside in.

Did you know that humans have many cues imbedded in our social engagement system that communicate with others non-verbally? Head tilting and eye crinkling are a few of the cues from our social engagement system that ripple through our whole body by way of the fascial system.
Want to feel it for yourself?

My personal chronic pain journey has led me to appreciate the power of being kind and gentle with my body.

I just finished watching a video from the Fascia Research Congress on fascia and pain, and it was fascinating! Research is telling us that fascia is actually much more sensitive to pain than muscles are. And not only is fascia much more sensitive to input, but we’re also learning that pain and threat are highly linked… which means that the type of self-care tools you use matters.

Have you ever had a moment when you felt really grounded, connected to your environment, and fully, authentically yourself? Can you think of the last moment when you were immersed in nature and it filled you with buzzing life force and energy? When feelings would surface, even hard ones like sadness, and it felt okay and natural to feel them? Or a moment with a beloved pet or friend that made you feel like time flowed by effortlessly and it was enough to enjoy good company with another warm body? Maybe it was simply a time when you were relaxed and calm and it felt good to be in your own skin.
That's what it feels like to be embodied.

As we move through the darkest days of the year, I often find myself wondering why it’s such a struggle for so many of us. Today I decided to try a sunrise hike on the solstice to celebrate the return of the lengthening days, and it hit me that at this time of year the ratio of dark to light is greatly in favor of the dark. As I walked up the mountain in the pitch black of the early morning hours, that darkness felt like a soothing blanket comforting me. It was so refreshing and peaceful, that it made me wonder why it is generally associated with negativity, fear and all the other so-called “shadow emotions.”

I heard about Mount Temple when I first started hiking. The mere mention of the place sent an instant ‘zing’ in my body, and I just knew—with a deep powerful feeling—I had to find a way up there. I heard from various experienced hikers that it is "doable," but at 3544 meters above sea level (11,627 feet) it is a very long, steep and moderately technical trek. So I set out on a training plan to get myself up there. After a year of preparing myself physically, mentally and spiritually, I finally felt ready to give it a try.

So what exactly is fascia oriented training? This is a movement practice that has the specific approach of targeting the fascial system. Rehydration practices, slow and dynamic stretching, and the utilization of elastic recoil are all examples of fascia focused yoga principles. Fascia researcher Robert Schliep says: "Such training should be practised once or twice a week in order to yield in a more resilient fascial body suit within a time frame of 6–24 months."

Spiritual evolution is often likened to the journey up a mountain.

So often in this metaphor, the story ends at the top of the mountain, as if when we reach that final peak it’s The End, roll credits, happily ever after.  As if somehow we can freeze time on this beautiful peak and stay in that euphoria forever. The teachings that are so often skipped over in spirituality are of the descent back down the mountain. The focus remains rigidly on the light, and we are not taught how to love the dark.

In the last six months or so I have taken a Yin Yoga training course and attended multiple classes so that I could get a feel for what it is, and discover a way to answer that question. And you know what? I fell in love with it!! Yin Yoga is a sweet and beautiful practice. I am still so new to it, however, that I can’t yet fully compare what I am doing to this amazing system. So instead of jumping in and attempting to do so, I will describe my practice in detail and allow the Yin Yogis to point out any similarities and differences.

During my first trip to the big island of Hawaii, I had a powerful and mystical experience at the volcano. The Big Island has an active volcano, and is one of the few places on Earth where new land is being created moment to moment. I am often very sensitive to energies of land and people, and this place turned out to be one of the most magical places I have ever visited.

When we drove up to visit the volcano I decided to walk around by myself for a while, and within a few minutes I started to become very aware of the energy beneath my feet. It felt as though I were literally walking on the body of a goddess, the Earth Mother, and could deeply and palpably feel her presence with me. I could sense a deep feeling of love from Her to all of her children, which I consider every single thing alive on this earth.

I'm remembering when I was 14 and on the swim team. We would get motivational speakers in sometimes, and they would tell us about setting goals, and how the human spirit is able to accomplish so much more than we give it credit for. They talked about how most people only use 10% of their potential. I really took that to heart and started to wonder what I could achieve.

A lot of spiritual teachings talk about the letting go of control. This is a very important aspect of spirituality, but one that gets really hazy, sometimes even to the point of dis-empowering people. I think perhaps the missing ingredient is the difference between control and choice.

A healthy goal for me these days is being truly mindful of my personal relationship with my body, including my relationship to my thoughts, emotions, sensations, and any and all other layers of experience arising from being in a body. Sometimes I even imagine that I am sitting across from my body at a dinner table, having a conversation with her. That conversation might go something like this.

During flu season I often see posts in my newsfeed about which steps to take to ward off the flu. Natural remedies, usually: anything from standing on my head to wrapping my feet in onions. Not that I am against any of those things, but what I find is that almost all of them support the mind virus that you are at war with your body. There is an implied message in many of these posts that your body is not very smart, adaptable, or resilient, and it's up to you to keep it away from all these dangers. But your body IS its own intelligent entity, and an entity that you are in a very important relationship with...for life.

One of the greatest perks of yoga is how it manages to heal your relationship with your body. I often say in yoga class that you can really tell your practice is working well when you notice your relationship with both your thoughts and your body is starting to get healthier.

Often when we begin to practice yoga, it will highlight our current relationship to our thoughts and the way it feels to rest within our own skin. We become aware, in some cases for the first time, how it feels to really be with our body, and the way in which we relate to our thoughts.