Displaying items by tag: fascia

Many of us frequently feel tight & stiff, & believe that it would be nearly impossible for us to be flexible, or achieve good posture. Yet enclosed with our skin, we are mostly composed of water & space. Muscles themselves are estimated to be 65-75% water, while our blood is 95% water. If all of this space could be removed from the cells in our entire body, the average human body would be a three inch ball of matter. Denseness, stiffness & inflexibility are illusions when you realise that there is not much to us!

Flexibility is usually determined by the resting length of a muscle. If a muscle feels tight, that's because the nervous system is keeping it contracted when it does not need to be. A great athlete appears to move without any effort because he has so fine tuned his body that only what is needed is engaged, there's no unnecessary contraction, so his body moves fluidly. Contraction occurs when we have adopted habits or alignments that use muscles in ways in which they were not intended. To eliminate these habits, we must wake up parts of the body that are not doing their jobs & turn off muscles that contribute to poor posture habits. In YogAlign we focus on becoming aligned by teaching our bodies to do "less".

The process of yoga is about removing obstacles like excess muscle tension, or excessive worry. YogAlign is about creating a "sustainable body", the most energy efficient body possible. The same way that we are seeking to live on our planet using efficient, natural sources of energy that don't waste or pollute, we must seek out ways to conserve energy in our bodies. Those who are out of alignment & have chronically bad posture waste the lion's share of their energy because poor posture uses muscles inefficiently. When we are misaligned, we waste our precious energy stores, sap our strength, compress our joints, compromise our organ function, and in the long run, develop a life of chronic aches & pains.

YogAlign focuses on:

1. understanding how the body is supported & controlled, and

2. teaching techniques to eliminate unnecessary tension & recover natural flexibility, tone & ease. Our bodies are permeated by systems of connective tissue that align our body through a balanced, tensile force. By practicing safe & easy breathing exercises & positions, we can learn to work with this connective tissue to regain our fluidity, moving more like the water & space that we truly are.

Michaelle Edwards - Creator of YogAlign

Now that the kids are back at school, take a few moments for yourself to ground & breathe.

Benefits of Balancing Asanas are many: 

Helps induce physical balance
Develops a balanced mind 
Enhances concentration 
Balances the nervous system 
Relieves anxiety & stress 
Brings your focus back to the breath & present moment
Opens up the front flexor line of fascia to help create alignment 
Activates your psoas muscles with the rest of your abdominal core muscles for a strong, stable core
Helps with natural spinal alignment 
Helps to release unnecessary tension you have invited in 

Yoga is not how high you can hold up your leg or deep you can get your squat. It is about connection with the breath & staying true to you own practice, what ever that is today.

Set yourself achievable goals that don’t overwhelm you ie two minutes twice daily, because you deserve it!

Authentic Yoga is always a spiritual discipline ... even when the focus is on the body." Georg Feuerstein 

Benefits Of A Functional, Therapeutic YogAlign Class:

• Empowering people, no matter what age & fitness level
• Develops strength, flexibility & balance
• Elongates our muscles, re-organises the matrix of the fascia
• Efficiency in energy utilisation
• Stabilises where we were too mobile & mobilise where we were too stable
• Brings you into the joy of the present moment
• Helps release physical, mental, emotional, spiritual & energetic blocks
• Re-programmes the brain to set a new tension in the body 
• An expression of self love to maintain your optimal wellness

Begin your self care practice by booking a class today - click on 'YogAlign' in menu then 'Booking' - join me for either a small class (maximum 4) or a private session. All yoga mats & props provided ... just play & walk away ;o)

Love Leonie x

Your office chair is killing you! 
As children, our discs are more watery in substance, but the discs thicken with age & poor posture, leading to less mobility & stiffness of the spine. The thickening is a result of how our fascia system works: where there is tension or compression, the body will produce an excess of collagen fibres, thickening the discs. As the disc thickens, the gel-like nucleus losses water & compresses, leading to spinal nerve impingement, pain & stiffness.
We can assist our disc physiology by practicing good alignment & doing therapeutic exercises that increase spinal extension. 
Avoiding caffeine, cigarettes, & alcohol can help disc hydration, since these substances act as diuretics. 
Practicing Yogalign that optimises engagement of the natural spinal curves can be like getting a good nights sleep, helping your discs & vertebrae to remain youthful & supple. 
Sitting well is an essential tool for surviving the modern lifestyle which often revolves around sitting in chairs. Learning to correct poor breathing habits & aligning the spine can fix much of what is hurting in your body. 
Modern life with increased use of technology can lead to round shoulders, kyphosis & dowagers hump & premature ageing! 
Contact me for an appointment if you would like to learn some simple tools to increase your awareness of how you are breathing & moving, so you can feel more at ease in your own body & have more energy everyday ... perfect time to get fit & supple for all those fun summertime activities ?

All the way from Kauai, Hawaii Michaelle Edwards will be holding a training at the Mangawhai Surf Club, with stunning ocean views.

Book now for your place in the workshop in New Zealand, with the creator of YogAlign Michaelle Edwards - registration and further information www.yogalign.com

Come join the creator of YogAlign & FitAlign, Michaelle Edwards for a 2 day workshop "Change Your Posture, Change Your Life" here in Tauranga, New Zealand.

Open to anyone interested in posture education including yoga practitioners & instructors, physical & massage therapists, movement & fitness instructors, chiropractors, acupuncturists, & wellness practitioners.

Michaelle Edward's will be over from Kauai, Hawaii for the 12 hour immersion workshop Sat 2 & Sun 3 Dec, 9am - 4pm (if you can only attend one day please email me for details, thanks Leonie).

Learn the unique YogAlign self-care program with breath based neuromuscular realignment techniques. Create balance, strength & agility using safe, comfortable & functional poses & exercises. Aligned posture, deep core strength, alleviation of chronic pain & anxiety, & an increase in beneficial hormone levels.

This course is suitable for all ages & fitness levels.

Venue: Ohauiti Settlers Hall, 459 Ohauiti Road, RD3, Ohauiti, Tauranga

Cost: NZ$275 (US$200) for the 2 day workshop

For Registration & Payment: www.yogalign.com - Workshops & Retreats