December Theme: Journey to the Core

This month, as we move into the cooler winter weather and darker longer nights, we will ignite an unshakeable connection to our core - like setting a fire in the hearth it will keep us toasty and connected to that radiant center as we move through the practice.

What is the core - what stabilizes us and holds us to our center?  We will learn to identify, activate, and coordinate powerful deep core muscles that go beyond the superficial/frontal “6-pack”. Build bouyancy, power, floating skills, agility, balance, and pelvic/lower back pain relief. Develop strength and coordination of the deep core, breath, and bandhas in the practice that unlock the doors to many postures, provides longevity and joint stability in your practice, and helps you deeply ground your nervous system. Awakening core intelligence will improve your practice but beyond the mat it will improve the stability of your lower back and hips, your digestion, your sex life, your energy, your deep connection to your own inner stability and boundaries and self power.

All my classes this month will be core work heavy - from a close look at the breath and bandhas and learning how to fully empty before we fill to settle the nervous system and re-calibrate the pressure in the thorax and pelvis, to planks to heel drops to locust lifts to block squats.  We will journey deep to the innermost core:  psoas, pelvic floor, and transverse abdominis, and journey outward to learn how to activate all around the circumference of the core from front to sides to back, from top to bottom.  We will explore the interplay between breath and bandha and how and when to coordinate core activation effectively to maximize agility, hang time, floating transitions, and the right actions of effort and ease. 

We will explore inversions and arm balances.  We will identify why the shoulder stabilizers, like Serratus Anterior, are key players in stabilizing the core in the world of yoga where we are so often on our hands or in quadriped positions, not just standing on our feet.

We will explore Udiyana Bandha Kriya and its benefits for toning and massaging digestive organs and releasing the psoas and lower back.

We will strengthen our GLUTES!

As we flow and move through standing postures we will keep coming back to core work and core strengthening moves until we palpably feel our attention hug into the core as we stretch out through the limbs.

Restorative work and Guided Breathing at the end of each sequence will focus on releasing physical as well as psycho-emotional stress, tension, and resistance that we carry around the low belly and pelvic floor so that we set down our guard and free up our energy to sink into deep rest.

HERE please enjoy access to our opening core exercises for a 14 minute journey to the core in between our sessions. All Sunday classes will begin with this powerful series.