Winter 2017 Friday round up

Winter 2017 Friday round up - week 9

Published: Fri, 03/03/17

Hey ,

Welcome to this week's Friday round up.

A few house-keeping items to begin with:

~ some of you have asked me to resend the registration links - they are included below.

~ some of you asked for description for the Core RE-store class. Here it is:

Core RE-store class is the bridge between corrective movement and a flow yoga class. We focus our attention on all things torso - alignment, breathing, muscle isolation and engagement - to shape our trunk into a strong and dynamically responsive "corso."

It's not all crunches and planks, either.

What sets this class apart is attention to lengthening as well as strengthening the vital muscles of the core, so that you can stabilize the bones in the upper body, rotate the torso with proper spinal curvature, and maintain stable pelvic position while sitting, standing, walking and exercising.

Now over to the follow up:

In this weeks Pain Care class we talked about the central sensitization of the nervous system that comes with persistent pain.

Basically what happens is this: persistent pain throws the whole nervous system off whack (including even changing the way that the brain itself works), which leads to more pain, and creates a vicious circle of more pain, more sensitization, and more changes to the brain. Hard loop to get out of.

Pain Care Yoga gives us the tools (breathing, mindfulness, mindful movement) to help reduce nervous system sensitization.

I've put together a PDF guide that can hopefully help you understand the nature of persistent pain, and also to challenge very common, yet erroneous beliefs about chronic pain.

In class we also used MIRROR technique of dealing with persistent pain.

The basic protocol is this:

~read the PDF guide to understand the role the brain plays in chronic pain

~picture the part of the brain that is responsible for creating pain in your particular situation (this needs not to be specific - just picture brain activation however you can!)

~every time (this is very important - EVERY TIME!) you experience pain, visualize turning this activation down by any method that works best for you: dimming it, painting over it, wiping it off.

I know this probably sounds like I completely lost my marbles.

And maybe I have. I don't know for sure.

This protocol, however, comes from one of the most successful chronic pain management clinics in North America: their motto is "don't manage; heal intractable pain." I kinda trust their track record.

Movement Yoga:

Apart from the BALL-YIN class, which seems to have a life of its very own, we've been focusing of freeing the hips and building hip stability over the last couple of weeks.

Here is a mobility - stability challenge that is applicable and useful to most of us, no matter where we are on movement spectrum:

Start in a standard Legs - Up - The - Wall position.
Identify a neutral pelvis (see the printout): you might have to move your hips a few inches away from the wall if the posterior line of your body (feet, calves, hamstrings, back, back neck) is tight/short.
Let your rib cage settle to a neutral as well: you may need to support your head in order for this to happen.
Separate your feet by hip distance; place your hands on the front of the pelvis (hip bones) for awareness.
Challenge 1: slide your R foot toward the left and vice versa without moving your pelvis - i.e. pelvic stability vs hip mobility.
Challenge 2: as in challenge 1, but now attempt to cross one ankle over the other.
Challenge 3: in addition to the first two slide your crossed ankle down the shin of your straight leg - can you do this without shifting your pelvis? How far can you go before your pelvis begins to slip-slide?