Winter 2017 Friday round-up

Winter 2017 Friday round-up - week 5

Published: Fri, 02/03/17

Hey ,

Welcome to week 5 Friday Round-up.

I do apologize for being behind times today - my morning was split between cat-mergency and yoga-mergency.

All is well now, and here our week 5 practice points:

pain care yoga MISSION POSSIBLE:

G-R-A-T-I-T-U-D-E

Many of this week's conversations were wrapped around gratitude; so much so, that I decided to make it into a practice.

Now, of course, I didn't stop there - I researched how gratitude changes dopamine and seratonin levels, I've learned about benefits of gratitude for cardio-vascular and digestive systems, how gratitude can modulate our moods for the better, and, of course, how it can change our experience of pain.

The most important thing that I've learned?

Knowing about what gratitude does actually doesn't matter. What matters is feeling grateful.

So I decided to make a practice out of it. Here are the rules:

Rule 1: find one small, medium, or large thing to be grateful for.

Rule 2: pause, and experience the feelings of gratitude in your body. How does that feel? That feeling is where all the magic happens.

Would you practice with me for just a week?

movement yoga MISSION POSSIBLE

I'm currently fascinated by all things PELVIS - mainly because I think it is so cool, and also because many upper-body troubles usually have some sort of relationship with things below the deck.

As above so below,

as below so above.

I'm also very curious how peripheral nervous system - its ability to glide and slide through the tissues, as well its capacity to contract and release - can be modulated through our yoga practice.

My interest here is of course very practical: I want to understand how kinks and limitations of the peripheral nervous system contribute to pain and also limit fluidity of our movement. Kinda a different aspect of above-below relationship.

So with these two ideas in mind, I want to introduce you to the concept of irradiation:

a neurological phenomenon in which tension radiates from the gripping muscles into other muscles.

For example: tension in the hands can radiate all the way up into the shoulder or neck; tension in the feet can radiate all the way up into the thighs, hips, low back and especially - ESPECIALLY - pelvic floor.

Hence movement yoga MISSION POSSIBLE:

Grab your yoga therapy ball and roll out your feet - here is how

Ball Plow:

Place the ball underneath your heel and compress it. Now very slowly roll it forward toward your toes while maintaining a fair bit of pressure. Repeat 3 – 5 times. Switch sides.

Compress – Release:

Find some of the tighter / tender areas., and place the ball underneath one. Practice compressing and releasing pressure here. If the area feels too sensitive, you can work around sensitivity instead of directly on that sore spot. Repeat up to 10 times, switch to a new spot. Find 3 – 4 spots to work with on one foot, then switch to the other.

Heel Treatment:

Place the ball under the heel and compress it well. Rub quickly side to side 10 times as if you are trying to get rid of a piece of gum stuck to your shoe.

Repeat on the other side.

Mid-Arch Shear:

Place the ball under your outer arch and compress, then slowly roll the ball across to the inner arch, while maintaining even pressure. Repeat 3 – 5 times, then move the ball to the outside of your arch and do the same process but reverse direction.

Repeat on the other side.

Cheers!

P.S. For those of you who attended yesterday's 6 PM class - check out Satori FB page after 4 PM today - that's yours and mine private joke for today:)

See you on the mat!

Julia + Satori Team