I attended a workshop with Christine Howitt on Saturday. Christine teaches yoga in Manchester at the Buddhist Centre and runs monthly workshops. If you get the opportunity try and attend a class or workshop as I found her style quietly engaging and supportive.
The focus of the workshop was relating the nervous system to the spine. Christine talked about how we react to stress; the evolutionary response our bodies have to stress often not being useful in modern life. This resonated with me as I have learnt to recognise my own stress signature; being able to feel signs of stress rising in my body sensations has enabled me to react less quickly and provide me with space to respond. Of course, there are still plenty of times where my mind hijacks my emotions and I react rather than respond! This is what we know as flight or fight and would have been useful to our ancestors when trying to escape from lions and tigers but not so useful when we can’t release the stress hormones produced because we don’t need to fight or run away. We also don’t value rest and recuperation as much as our ancestors and therefore we don’t come down from these stressful states but remain in our stressed state albeit at a low level. Christine spoke about listening to our bodies and adapting our yoga practice accordingly. We can honour our bodies through energetic asanas or restorative relaxation. Yoga can provide us with a balance to support the management of the daily stress of our frantic world.
We spent the session getting in touch with the spine through s number of exercises. We looked at our posture and standing well. This was achieved through pressing our fingers back on our hip crease and adjusting our posture. This stance felt much firmer through the legs and more connected through my feet into the ground. I also enjoyed some insight into using my organs to support me in postures and not just the muscles. This helped us to flow well through a sun salutation and to perform backbends with no strain on the lumbar. We learnt how to use a rolled up facecloth in a magical way to release the spine. Watch for adaptations of these techniques coming into our classes soon!
aggsyoga 
Posted on November 12, 2011
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