Bodywork + Rolling
Complementary Practices to Yoga
Bodywork is my attempt at a name for the stabilizing movements…
I needed to build resilience.
After age 40, I found that I was losing strength more quickly. I started getting injuries that didn’t require medical intervention, but that would put me off my practice or my everyday activities for days or more. After the umpteenth injury, I gave up and gave in. I surrendered my yoga purity + started doing whatever I could think of. I had to build stability in the areas I was hurting - low back, hamstrings, neck and shoulders. I never thought I’d share this work with anyone. Wouldn’t that mean I had left yoga teaching + started a different fitness routine? I’d learned from years of teaching that…
if something worked for me, it was bound to work for someone else.
So I tentatively began teaching these exercises. The injuries are greatly diminished, I stand taller, I’m leaner and meaner (in a good way), and I’m keeping it tight (in a good way). My yoga practice is easier, lighter - I can do more, even as I age.
My curious nature + interest in all layers of the body
led me to a Yoga Tune Up training. There I learned therapy ball rolling for the fascia, the layers of connective tissue wrapped around + in between the muscles + beneath the skin. Rolling on a foam roller or therapy balls warms up the fascial layer, hydrates it + induces a surprising degree of mobility on an immediate basis.
My classes now include bodywork + therapy ball rolling to enhance the yoga practice, build resilience and target various tissues.