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Podcast: Neck Pain Inoculation

This is a gentle yet very effective practice for challenging our biases. Neck pain is one of the most common types of chronic pain and like all pain, is a product of bi-psycho-social factors. For today, we will focus of the psychological and cultural contributors to neck pain.

Back to the Shoulder

This practice will help you to build up your strength in your shoulder and it’s helpers and also confidence. The movements have been combined to maximize your awareness of these relationships so that your body may spontaneously discover more comfortable and efficient patterns of movement. It’s time to take the bubble wrap off of the shoulder. To heal you will need to reintroduce movements that feel powerful and build strength and resilience.

Seeing the Back

This is a special practice for students with ongoing back pain. We will explore the back through somatic movement, Yin poses and interoceptive practices. Learn how to use your “eyes” and breath to “see” your whole back.

Thoracic Expression

The upper back is an area that can be a big source of tension and even pain. We also have a fair amount of cultural baggage around the appropriate way to hold our upper back. Even in the Yoga world, we tend to favor a stiff and straight upper back above other shapes. But the upper back is capable of so much more, and I believe we suffer when we get locked in to a specific posture or expression.

In this practice, we explore the capacity of the upper back to generate movements, sensations and even emotions. We will use a somatic lesson adapted from Feldenkrais Method® supported by familiar Yin Poses. Your upper back and neck will really benefit from this practice.

Hip to Shoulder

This practice is not a very traditional Yin. If you love to be exposed to something different in your practice you will love this. If you enjoy learning things about yourself in movement and stillness, you will love this. We will make use of little bits and pieces of an Awareness Through Movement lesson called Hip to Shoulder as well as poses that illuminate this relationship particularly well. This is a practice that I use often with my students who come to me with contralateral hip/shoulder pain. I find that it makes some mental/spiritual connections that can be very profound and healing.