The last workshop of the year for my Elite members :-). It was a doozie... enjoy!

This workshop directly explores what and 'awakened spine' both means and feels like. And then we take note of how every other part of the body can engage in ways that suppport this freedom. The double bonus of this is that the rest of the body benefits from this union as much as the spine does.

The thighs are like your 'pelvic wings'... I continued the previous week's theme with a bit more emphasis on the lower half of things - and how hands and feet need to operate to become the ultimate support for the spine to express itself in movement.

I had a nice day with Diane Long and brought my interpretation of the experience to my students...

In my intention to simplify, there hasn't been a single occasion when 'moving from the spine behind heart' hasn't ended up as the ultimate answer. Everything else I teach is to help all the parts of you that prevent this movement out of the way. When you move from the heart, and it is genuine and natural, every part of you will be involved in a supportive way. This workshop gave you things that make this experience clear to your own felt sense.

Whatever title or description i come up with for this doesn't do it justice... We hold our heads when we think, talk, look at something, even when we are 'relaxing'. And it is the main thing that prevents us from natural expressive movement from the thoracic spine and heart. This workshop built a step by step guide to awakening the spine through putting in the effort required to no longer require the head to hold itself... the outcome shows you what it feels like to move from the spine naturally.

A workshop on a theme that is developing - included sidebending, twists, leg extensions and approach to wheel

This very small workshop was like a 2 and a half hour yoga solutions for hips and lower back. We started lying down in various arrangements to explore the space we can create, then employed movement from the ribs to reorganise ourselves into positions where the movements of core and ribs happen simply because we breathe.... Taken into standing and sitting postures and the final relaxation.

This session turned into one of my most comprehensive workshops. I began as always asking what people were interested in, and I was presented with a few questions that inspired answers that seemed to make sense of everything to the participants. (they have all been with me for a long time, so the reason I can say that is that everyone's practice was reflecting the first principles I am always talking about - so I know they were having direct somatic experiences of what I was talking about). There is a superb relaxation at the end that i may add to the 'art of letting go' course....

I had someone new turn up for this one, which is always good because it means I can build up the picture of what we are trying to achieve with our practice from the very beginning. This is essentials. My work relies on people being able to shift all the standard ways of thinking of the body in favour of allowing the body to begin to share its voice with us... This workshop explains the fundamental 'rules; that allow this, mostlly focussing on how actions the breath need to be able to support whatever we are doing (rather than the spine being relied on to carry our weight)

After a summer break, my practice (as always) was centred on simlifying... and yet again my body came to the conclusion that absolutely every solution for every part of the body is a relationship that allows the thoracic spine to be the source of movement, and its centre to be the centre of gravity... This workshop went deep into this principle understanding.

Yin yoga (passive) only works if the organisation of things precisely matches the releases you need. This takes precision of awareness to be able to organise your bones so they can do their job without the effort of holding them up. If you have some time, and a mindset to heal through resting - follow this (to the letter)

A very small (and just 1hr) workshop that launched into this principle from a question from a participant. IT went on to explore how we use arms, legs, hands feet wrists and and ankles, when movement is sourced in the thoracic spine. (ie. moving from the heart)

This starts on our backs and builds to a rhythmic pulsing flow of actions that are confluent with an expressive exhale... The thing we practice is involving each part of ourselves in the same action in the most confluent way we can find.... follow and enjoy.

I started this very small workshop by sharing the start of my morning practice (Kapalabhati, first in depth, then as an exercise that turns it into a movement, followed by a retention breath that sets you up for a release into what you are doing). This practice can be done with any of the exhale-based pranayamas. The second part followed an awakening of the chest and ribs (also pranayama in physical practice) applied to bridge and cobra...

This workshop explores the natural core responses to being throat-centred... a lot of the 'core-type' instructions that we usually make happen with bhandas or because I instruct you to use your ribs or core - but what is often missed is that these are natural responses to natural expressions of being human. The practice will give you a window into the feeling you get as a human being that centres in the throat... It should lead to a sense of natural strength as well as a psychological shift in relationship to the world.

Like all things, it's relatively easy to adopt concepts like this because it resonates with something deeper, but for me (and I believe for everyone) the reality of such things continues to evade us UNTIL it is directly experienced in physical reality. The breath together with your relationship to the space you occupy (through physical interaction) can give you the direct experience that will reveal the thruth of the matter...

Diagonal 'criss-cross' relationships between all parts of yourself, grounding from chakra junctions through releasing your weight, naturalising relationships through the breath and your relationship to the space you occupy ... the list goes on. But it is all part of 'creating the conditions' that will guide you towards the unified experience that can be recognised directly as 'the Yoga'.

This understanding of things can give you an enlightening approach to all postures and movements. (Reveals the chakras)

The relationships that YOU create from the way you engage with the world from each of your articulating joints - and how eventually that can lead to hands and feet supporting everything we need to happen with the breath and core

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This started with some talk about the natural desire to 'understand' first and practice after. But true understanding only really happens when 'the yoga' happens to you - ie. it is RECOGNISED through the body (so the mind can understand directly through somatic experience). This workshop turned into first principle practices that give the body the conditions it needs for you to understand things directly.

This started with a question about 'feeling' tense around the centre of the thoracic spine... this led to a deep investigation into spinal extension, brining awareness to the role of the face's relationship to space as the natural source of 'extension from above down'... and then the rest of yoga followed as a natural consequence

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The way to have free hips is to have a body that doesn't rely on the bracing of hip flexors to hold your weight in sitting or standing. To do that, the core needs to be responsive to both the release of your weight and the breath.

After a deep experience from practice the evening before, I had to share the outcome. Not a new idea - the solution to any neck/shoulder issue is to activate movement from the spine below the neck/upper ribcage - the difference was the depth of engagement that I took it to... The outcome is enlightening.

This was the first one for a while where the recording worked. It was a very small class with just one person on screen, but it led to a great deal of clarity. If you want to understand and experience deep core activation, just follow the instructions.

A difficult subject! The simplest of instructions (ie. let go of your weight) leads to the deepest confusions (because we don't know how to let go). Here we spent a good amount of time and persuasion to understand and create the conditions that allows the deeper core responses to arise naturally... unravelling the habits of a lifetime takes a moment or two :-)

-Detailed exploration of body alignment, focusing on spine movement, head positioning, and relationship to space.
- Discussion of scoliosis patterns and how they relate to movement and breathing techniques.
-Practical exercises involving head positioning, spine alignment, and breathing techniques

A few tech problems - sound was a bit rough , but ok when I was teaching. This was an exploration of what we need to stand well .. conditions created whilst lying down (actually hard work) then taken into standing postures (as much work unless gravity helps).

Following a 1:1 that reminded me of the value of a deep-dive understanding of feet, I ran the workshop on a massage sequence for both hands and feet that shows you how you're supposed to use them, and then applied the action to practice of other things.... and it worked superbly well

I alway maintain that yoga is meant to develop the most harmonious relationships between all parts of ourselves, and I mostly help people discover what these relationships are so they can heal and integrate .. but when movement, expression and support physically originate from the heart (literally - physically from the spine behind it), all the other relationships I talk about are naturally present...

A very organic workshop, with the tone set on restoring balance of energies, that led to a very integrative practice ... just follow and enjoy!

The wifi was unstable during this workshop, but somehow there was enough content to give you a lifetime of practice....

This one progressed from the foundation of previous workshops (the ribs using the ground for support and purchase),by bringing the 4 quadrants of the abdominal cavity into relating to whatever you are doing in space....

The 4 quadrants of the ribcage stayed with me insistently following the first workshop of the year. And as usual, with more clarity came deeper explorations. This one was of the quiet freedom and strength that arise when 'heart -centered' movement is sourced in the relationship that the ribs and spine above the heart can have to the support beneath us, and how gravity and breath can cause that relationship.

The winter holidays gave me a chance to go deep into my own practice, and the outcome was an even deeper appreciation of the meaning of 'moving and centering from the heart'. This workshop explores how the ribcage can be considered as 4 quadrants that cross-relate to each other (with core support) to cause 'movement from the heart' - or specifically the centre of the thoracic curve.