Sitting twists ....

Sitting and twisting is a simple enough thing to do, but are you interested in HOW you do it?
If you are someone with tight groins, you will pull yourself round with your groins; if you have lower back issues, you will probably be twisting from there, and if the uppers spine is stiff you will probably pull yourself round with your arms and neck. With a willingness to explore the 'how' of it, sitting twists can help you re-balance whole-body movements in a way that can relieve you of most common-place postural issues... (apologies - the sound is not that good, but the content is really transformational if you can follow it)

Groins, Squats, and happy baby

How to release the groins whilst using the legs (squat and happy baby)

3 separate issues - 1 fundamental solution

Frozen shoulder, tight ham strings, stiff neck....

Sphynx & Cobra

Does your back pinch in sphynx & cobra? That can disappear with a simple shift of perspective and intention (plus some quite intense work - which should feel pleasant to do)

Boat Pose - Developing centranl support and freedom through the breath

Boat pose ... how to approach so that you don't end up creating problems for your hips and groins... (if you already have these problems - perhaps just engage with the approach until the posture feels possible)... Enjoy!

Understanding and sorting groin and hip issues

How to 'open the hips' when there is groin pain/damage (or if there is basically resistance from the muscles and tendons around the hips)

SITTING!

Do you get dead legs/feet, painful knees, hips/lower back when you sit for any length of time? Here's why, and what you can do to solve these very common problems.

"Applying the solutions isn't easy because it will be all so 'counterintuitive' - here is my response to someone that wasn't sure about the intensity involved...
I did say you might need to let go of the idea of it being relaxing to start with! You can relax when there's balance over your base and through your spine, but to start with it most probably won't be comfortable! ... because the tissue around bones and joints won't be used to the arrangement... If you can relax into a new balanced arrangement, the tissue gradually changes to accommodate, and once it changes it will become both relaxed and more comfortable... and you will be generally more aligned... hope that makes sense. Marc"

Frozen shoulders & the splits!

Today I tackle the sticky problem of 'frozen shoulder'.
And I also have a go at hanumanasana (splits) - something I haven't tried for 20 years - but with the intention of ...
1. Seeing what happens when I apply my 'principles' of support and good relationships in approach
2. Seeing what the benefits of doing it are...

Difficult legs?

Here's another yoga solutions half hour session offering solutions to difficult legs in dog pose (and other inverteds) ...

The art of side-bending.

Like all potential functional movements of the human body, your somatic experience of side-bending will of course depend entirely on how you are doing it. And how you are doing it will depend on WHY.
Here I give you ways of understanding and engaging with side-bending in ways that should make total sense to your body. But as always, it will involve you tuning into the natural function of the thing so your yoga can point you in the most harmonious directions.

FEET! solving collapsed arches, turn-out and knocked-kneed postural patterns.

The way we respond to the earth beneath us with our feet is literally the foundation of our entire support system. Waking up the feet to the degree they need to actually support us is the most fundamentally important thing to understand, because without it, yoga is just like developing a 10 storey building on sand. The right foundations lead to a supportive strength that is uncontrived, and all practices you build upon it can become natural responses rather than tension and holding patterns.

Pregnancy and the hips

Pregnancy often comes with postural difficulties that can continue long after the birth (aggravated by baby carrying). And there are many common-place 'fix-it' ideas people turn to that simply don't work in any real way.
After a question on my group about this subject, I felt it was an important enough subject to put on a FREE live workshop for anyone that wishes to attend.
You don't have to be pregnant to get the enormous benefit that this workshop will offer you, but if you are, or if you work with pregnancy on any level, I would recommend going through this video from beginning to the end.
If you know my work, you know that I am all about real solutions that work for people, so do go to facebook at this link: www.bit.ly/fb-pregnancy , and tag people you know would benefit from exposure to this (basically anyone with lower back pain), and feel free to share it anywhere that allows it.

A 3 dimensional understanding of joints

On this masterclass I build up a kind of general understanding of joints and the muscular response in the two dimensions around them, then in practice how we need to expand understanding into 3 dimensions to find practical solutions

Freeing up the neck by quieting the control of the head

Here I shared a trick I use to help both myself and others to have the experience of spine/core centred movement without the reactions and control of the head and neck... the result is a release of tension and subsequent freedom in the face & neck.

Freeing up the spine from the head down...

On today's session I went quite deep into why a large proportion of us that practice yoga get stuck around up the upper spine (thoracic ~ from the neck down to the heart)...stiffness here leads to neck/shoulder pain and keeps you from the truly glorious experience of being able to release into elongation through the spine.
I of course offer a practice the helps you find what you need ...

Knees, Ribs and Anxiety !!

I start with a way of understanding limbs that should give you a clue of how to practice in a way that will solve knee problems (and elbow issues) - which will incidentally shift your understanding of all yoga practice…
I then got on to the important subject of mental health, anxiety, stress and the breath. And the even more significant subject of how we interpret the sensations and efforts/tensions that the body is displaying. I then got on to pranayama and posture as a practical way of exploring what the body is trying to tell us…