September 15, 2009
On November 7, I’ll be part of the team who will lead a workshop for yoga instructors on working with Parkinson’s patients. I am so looking forward to sharing. I know that as I will gaze around the room at the collected teaching experience, I will be thrilled, humbled, honored. I don’t propose to have the answers. If I did, the medical staff and I wouldn’t be there – there’d be no Parkinson’s. What I do hope to share is my experience with other instructors so they can help people living with PD truly benefit from yoga practice. It is not a matter of simply introducing a chair to the mat, or adjusting a student more often. Certain positions – and adjustments – can trigger tremors and spasms, overheating can happen rapidly. It is a matter of understanding the disease and its effects. Yoga is no cure. It is, however, […]
August 30, 2009
August 12, 2009
It is said that the asana limb of yoga began when ancient yogis emerged from their meditation caves creaky and stiff from long stints of sitting still. They discovered that some movement enabled them to recenter and return to their blissful states. These newly flexible yogis titled a handful of poses after legendary gods. They derived others from their observations of the natural world, naming some after legendary dogs. These faithful canines likely woke from their cave naps just as my dog today rises from her cushy bed, reaching first into upward-facing dog directly into downward-facing dog. Up dog opens the front body, a real tail-wagger to anyone with PD who’s feeling that forward curl in their posture. Down dog, a favorite among practitioners today, stretches and strengthens the back and shoulders, lengthens the hamstrings and calves. It’s an all-around good dog, as is its half counterpart. As I emerge […]