I’m taking a very informative yoga CPD course at the moment with Brea Johnson – Heart & Bones Yoga. Brea is an advocate for sustainable yoga practice and the course is a perfect complement to my own musings & experiences from ten years of teaching.
Today we have been looking at passive vs active stretching alongside the concept of flexibility. There is a great deal of emphasis placed on, and a tendency to strive for, flexibility in the yoga field. I have often heard people wistfully say that they would like to be more flexible and conversely, sight lack of flexibility as a deterrent from attending a yoga class. While the glamorous lure of flexibility was certainly an incentive for practice in my younger yoga days, more recently, I have found that its functional movement rather than abstract flexibility is now much more useful to work towards.
Now in my 40s i’m now heavily invested in a sustainable yoga practice. I include a lot more work with boundaries, stability and strength, continually linking isolated movements back to the body as a whole. Working more sustainably has been exceptionally rewarding. I still have the freedom of movement i did 10 years ago. I also have an increased sense of centre, confidence and connectedness in my movement as a result of honouring healthy boundaries in my practice. Taking away the need to ‘strive’ for an abstract level of flexibility in yoga can be incredibly empowering.
During this half term of intermediate yoga at Chapter Arts Centre and Gwaelod y garth Village Hall we will be working and moving around the pelvis. Working with a sense of ‘neutral’ we will build awareness of compensatory movement of the pelvis in relation to movement in the spine and limbs.
I have two places left for the Sunday intermediate yoga class at Chapter Arts Centre this September half term.
If you would like to join us email jo@johannapaxton.com to book.