TIMING IS EVERYTHING: THE SEQUENCING WITHIN THE POSE
Teaching the Body Healthy Action through Asana

The essence of asana lies not just in the form of the pose, but in the way in which the body is trained in the proper 'firing order' or sequence in which muscles are engaged to enter into asana as a healthy and supportive way of moving and being.

So much unnecessary injury and strain arises both within yoga and in daily life from a disordered or imbalanced use of our muscles, and these unhelpful patterns of use have become second nature to us.

As a practice for everyone, yoga retrains the body and nervous system through asana and the sequencing and transitions between asanas, leading to a peaceful mind in a peaceful body. We will be exploring this and all aspects of yoga connected to it this weekend.

MASTER CLASS

FIRING ORDER: Sequencing for Health & Freedom from Pain
Thursday, February 27, 2014, 10:00am — 1:00pm

While it has been traditional to emphasize both alignment and action in yoga poses, as well as the importance of how you go into and come out of a pose, what has not received enough attention is the actual "firing order" of the muscles themselves. What the body is meant to learn - or relearn - through yoga is the right sequencing of muscles needed to support itself safely in demanding maneuvers.

Repetitive injury and strain to the body comes from consistently recruiting or overusing the larger "movement" muscles before recruiting the deeper "stabilizers" that protect joints and nerves. This is often the root of pain experienced in yoga practice, and instructions and sequencing are often not accurate or clear enough to prevent it.

This full practice will set up the principles of the "firing order" of muscles for all classes of poses and vinyasa that will be carried through the weekend, with some innovative takes on traditional poses that will help students get "unstuck" and develop the strength and alignment that will help them achieve the traditional alignments safely and productively!

WEEKEND WORKSHOP

TIMING IS EVERYTHING
A Yoga Tune-Up that Explores the Firing Order of Your Muscles
Friday, February 28, 2014, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm

This active practice will explore poses, actions within the poses and the connections and transitions between poses that teach your body something good: how to "recruit" the right muscles in the right order, in a way that reduces repetitive strain, pain and injury while increasing the positive benefits of your practice.

The practice will include a range of poses that is accessible as well as engaging, with plenty of fine-tuning along the way that emphasizes the main points of timing in your practice.

THE WRISTS, NECK AND SHOULDER HEALTH
From the Wrists to the Shoulders and Neck
Friday, February 28, 2014, 2:30pm - 5:00pm

In this practice we"ll look to upper body health, from hand placement and the finer points of arm rotations when the arms are weight-bearing (think Downward Dog and onward), to the subtleties of the actions of the neck and head.

Special attention will be paid to ways in which to strengthen the neck for greater range of motion and freedom from pain in the most common poses - and particularly to work with the "Forward-Head" syndrome as well as other neck problems, such as a flat cervical spine.

The practice will include some backbending as well as some work with inversions.

THE YOGA CONNECTION: THE CENTER UNFURLS
Saturday, March 1, 2014, 9:00am - 12noon

Since the popularization of asana practice in the West, some argue that the physical aspects of the practice have overtaken the deeper purpose of yoga - the inner work that can be done by steadying the mind through meditative practice. Yet there is a deep connection between the work of asana and meditation.

This practice session will go back to the roots of the connection between physical practice and the meditative essence of yoga as expressed by the earliest yogis, emphasizing the opening of the "center" or "central path" through asana and breath, particularly with the aid of the bandhas.

The session will be geared toward backbending, with the theme of opening this central energetic path of prana, and making the effort and focus in asana the gateway to a meditational experience of yoga. There will be appropriate cool-downs, and the theme will be continued with the theme of pranayama and the vayus in the afternoon session.

PRANAYAMA, THE ‘FIRING ORDER’ OF THE BREATH, AND THE VAYUS
Saturday, March 1, 2014, 2:00pm - 4:30pm

The breath has its own "firing order," particularly when it is engaged in the inward-turning practice of pranayama. After some warm-ups and light hip-openers, with attention to deepening the experience of mulabandha in hip-openers, we will spend time on the breath, beginning with the simple basics of the three "realms" of the breath, from the diaphragm upwards.

Then we will go deeper by exploring the experience of the "Vayus" - the "forces" of the breath which, as first described in the Upanishads, provide a progressive pathway into meditation. The session will include guided breathing and meditation practices which focus on the experience of the Vayus as the gateway from pranayama into meditation.