People usually stick to what they are comfortable and good at. I mean if you have a few hours a week to workout you are going to do what you enjoy…right?
Yes of course it is FAR better than doing nothing at all, but what you like isn’t always what you need.
OR what is good best for your body J
Take for example an already super bendy girl doing yoga 4 times a week… shits gonna hit the fan!
Remember at the beginning of this year the NY TIMES article about how Yoga can wreck your body?
Just as we as humans has evolved over the years so too must yoga. Those instructors stuck in the strict constraints of the past may in fact be damaging their students.
Here at South Boston Yoga the instructors come from a wide variety of backgrounds. Our influences include bodywork, personal training, dance, and martial arts. These styles collide to create something wonderful. I assure you it is some of the best “yoga” you will get in the Boston area.
Since the majority of my clients practice yoga I don’t have to spend much time on mobility or flexibility in general. My focus for them is teaching SELF MYOFASCIAL RELEASE, STABILITY and STRENGTH through a safe and solid range of motion.
After all most Yogi’s have a PHENOMENAL amount of body awareness without EVER having lifted a weight!
Here are just a few things to think about:
Teach students that it is ok to have anterior tilt sometimes such as in the deadlift, as opposed to continually cueing a “tucking of the tail”
In addition, teaching rack and overhead carry variations develops strength and stability in the upper back and shoulders as well as the core
-Allow your downward dog to achieve thoracic extension as well as hamstring stretch, cueing chest back to thighs with bent knees as opposed to cueing heels down.
(Notice how this causes a rounding in the low back)
Teach that lunging with both knees bent creates more strength and stability, such as in the banded knee lunge below.
Versus constantly sitting into the stretch with the following Exulted Warrior Lunge.
Create single leg and hip stability along with glute strength by bending at the knee in single leg deadlifts.
As opposed to simply hinging at the hip with a straight base leg in Warrior III.
There is not a whole lot of supported lateral movement in yoga. Sure we forward fold to the left and right but the core is not involved there. In order to teach the upper back and core to the support the torso I teach with the assistance of a suspension trainer.
Lateral Lunges with an exaggerated vertical torso for erector and core involvement.
