What we did in class and why:
What is Pain Care Yoga:
Pain Care Yoga is a combination of mindful breathing and movement techniques, combined with neurodynamic exercises and nervous system regulation practices, all backed up by the newest findings in the fields of pain management and movement. {I research and update what/ how I teach almost daily.}
Chronic and recurring pain, as well as chronic stress, and unresolved trauma, freeze our nervous system in a hyper-vigilant and pain producing state of fight and flight responce.
The goal of Pain Care Yoga (or PCY for short) is to help shift the nervous system from those frozen and pain producing states toward self-regulation and relaxation.
Pain produces body-wide tension and fear of movement.
We begin to move around our tension, gripping, tight and weak muscles - moving more like tin people, than human folk. PCY reduces fear of movement through off-the-mat pain education and on-the-mat mindful movement. Multiple recent studies have shown that the best pain reduction results are achieved through a combination of pain education and movement protocols. This would be the reason behind my writing.
What is the goal of Core Restore class:
Core Restore idea is simple: whether optimal health or better performance is the goal, better movement patterning always equals better output and fewer injuries.
The problem is that most of us lack calibration, knowledge, and body awareness to be able to recognize and correct movement errors on our own.
Core Restore Curriculum answers questions like:
Why tight muscle is a weak muscle and what you can do to get rid of tightness.
Where compensation / poor movement patterns come from, and why they are so difficult to correct.
How to move forward with your core strength training safely, especially if you have chronic or recurring pain.
Why “abs of steel” are a bad idea for your back.
Why sleepy bums are bad news, and how to locate and engage the gluts.
Why the hip flexors are so stubbornly tight and what you can do to change that.
Why finding correct pelvic and rib cage alignment is the key.
Body sensing and rolling:
Fascia, body's connective tissue network, serves as peripheral nervous system super highway. Much of what you feel physically is relayed by the well functioning nerve endings laced through the fascia.
We've used ball work to bring our attention to sensations in different areas of the body, as well as to decompress, untangle and hydrate congested tissues.
As I have mentioned in the class, ball rolling works on the same mechanism as a TENS machine - rolling stimulates very specific peripheral nerve fibers to reduce pain.
And, of course, it feels so darn nice!
Breath Work:
Persistent and recurring pain changes the way we breathe.
We hold our breath when we move or getting ready to move. More often than not, we hold our exhale. With time, this pattern of holding or uneven breathing becomes ingrained - we simply no longer aware of how we breathe.
Erratic patterns of breathing contribute to body wide tension, and also continuously push our nervous system into the fight - flight mode, thus creating a negative feedback loop. Upper body breathing can also contribute to feelings of anxiety, which also perpetuate pain.
Breath awareness as well as simple breathing exercises help us rediscover our breath and use it to mindfully influence our physical body and the mind in a positive way.
