In traditional Hatha yoga, asanas (postures) are often practiced with the intent to reach a “full expression” of any given pose. This approach, however, often precludes developing a more intuitive relationship with the body, thus bypassing important internal messages for self-correction that lead to more nourishing and generative choices for everyday lifestyle.
Gentle Somatic Yoga was created to address this issue to create an approach to practice that fosters greater interoception and embodiment. A combination of traditional yoga postures, Hanna Somatic Education, breathing techniques, and healing visualizations, Gentle Somatic Yoga provides a deep and profound experience(s) of your own anatomy.
In this 5-part course, James Knight will introduce the key principles of Somatic Yoga designed to create a more integrated experience of body and mind.
This course Includes:
- Two half-hour lectures in which James will guide you through an understanding of the principles behind Gentle Somatic Yoga.
- Two half-hour practices that will take you on a deep dive into experiencing the benefits of this approach. The first half-hour practice will focus on the upper body, the second on the lower body.
- A third, hour-long practice that integrates the upper and lower body and takes your experience of Gentle Somatic Yoga to the next level.
Learn how to discover areas of Sensory Motor Amnesia to strengthen and integrate the brain-to-muscle connection. The more you can control your muscles, the more choices you have in your body, and the freer we are as whole and complete human beings.
Keys to Overcoming Chronic Tension and Pain
Sensory Motor Amnesia happens when the brain has lost the ability to relax tight, contracted muscles, and it is thought to lie at the root cause of chronic muscular tension and pain. When the brain forgets how to relax muscles, the muscles stay contracted and we feel muscular pain even when we think we are “relaxing”.
Learn how to retrain the brain to notice (sensory) how you move – or don’t move. Through self-awareness you are able to feel and connect with chronically tight or frozen muscles and teach them how to relax.
The customizable therapeutic Somatic Movement Flows® that James developed can help relieve chronic back, neck, shoulder, hip, knee, and foot pain. These flows significantly increase flexibility, support recovery from injury, and also prevent injuries arising from repetitive movements of everyday life.
The aim of Gentle Somatic Yoga is to educate people and empower students with practical tools so they can take charge of their own healing process and give them valuable self-care tools for enhanced performance and well-being.
What You Will Learn
Through a balanced combination of lecture and demonstrated practice, you will learn and discover:
- Learn how to increase your bodily awareness for internal felt perception (interoception). This leads to self-correction, self-healing, and ultimately enhancing your quality of life by returning back to our natural state which is the embodiment of peace and well-being.
- Learn how to discern the important difference between stretching-versus-pandiculation and also fitness-versus-wellness.
- Learn a series of Somatic Yoga Movement Flows to help erase chronic pain, stiffness, and other effects of stress throughout the body. These flows can be easily learned and implemented into a daily home yoga practice.
If you are a yoga teacher or bodyworker you can immediately integrate these customized Somatic Movement Flows into your classes and/or healing practices. This is especially valuable to specialty populations such as senior adults, corporate wellness, beginning yoga students, and athletes who want to improve their performance.
This Course also Includes:
- Yoga practice videos: Enjoy two half-hour yoga practice videos that James designed to demonstrate gentle, somatic yoga – one for the upper body, and one for the lower body. A third, hour-long practice integrates the upper and lower body and takes your experience of Gentle Somatic Yoga to the next level.
- Recordings of All Webinar Sessions: It’s generally acknowledged that many people only retain 10-20 percent of what they learn in a workshop. You will get access to the recordings of all webinar sessions – both MP3 (downloadable) and MP4 (streaming online), enabling you to go back and listen to the workshop as many times as you like.
- Transcripts of All Sessions: Ever wanted to refer to a certain part of a course? Even the best note takers miss a point every so often. With the transcripts of the webinar sessions, you can go back and refer to particularly important passages or clarify sections you were in doubt about.
This course qualifies for 3 CEs with Yoga Alliance.
