Your backbone is connected to your leg bone…via your deepest hip flexor, the psoas muscle. Hip Flexor Freedom explores the intimate relationship between your psoas and other hip flexors and your low back. Tightness in the psoas can cause the pelvis to tilt forward and pull the lumbar vertebrae with it. The psoas also shares important attachment sites with the respiratory diaphragm and a deep abdominal muscle called the quadratus lumborum (QL). So tight hip flexors can also restrict breathing and limit the hips in other ranges of motion, including the complex motion of your gait. Uddiyana Bandha, a deep stretch of the respiratory diaphragm, will be taught to benefit the connection between hips, breath and mind. This workshop is great for beginners and advanced yogis, as well as those with no prior yoga experience who experience low back pain or feel constricted in their hips.

Shoulder Shakti teaches optimal shoulder mechanics via yoga, therapeutic exercises that strengthen and mobilize the shoulders in all ranges of motion, targeted core work that integrates the movements of the shoulders with the muscles of the torso, and incredibly effective deep tissue self-massage with rubber therapy balls that inform stuck areas of motion. Our shoulders are greatly taxed through the activities of our daily life, and this workshop is great for yogis, athletes, or people who simply want to free up energy and vitality from the neck to the fingertips. Students healing from shoulder injuries will benefit from the lessons of this practice. We remove load from the exercises so strength may safely be built up again--more efficiently than it was before.

Ball Bliss is two hours of delicious head-to-toe guided self-massage using Yoga Tune Up® therapy balls followed by a lengthy Yoga Nidra. Yoga Nidra is a progressive body relaxation that leads to a waking sleep, and its practice further enhances the inward exploration and physiological down-regulation created by the therapy balls. While the massage may proceed into areas of discomfort as the balls travel the course of your body, the relief from those tensions and the mental calm created by rolling with therapy balls is a wonderfully restoring experience. Students will leave with tools they can use at home to rid their body-mind of tension and stress on a daily basis.

Downward Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Savasana) is a seemingly simple pose that actually requires great strength, suppleness and coordination in major joints and muscle groups. This Yoga Tune Up® workshop playfully and skillfully deconstructs Down Dog to its component parts and then rebuilds it again using guided self-massage with therapy balls, corrective exercise and classical yoga to inform a new, more solid and expansive experience of the posture. Dolphin and Down Dog variations also are explored. This workshop is great for beginners who want to stand more solid in the pose and offers a fresh perspective for advanced yogis who want to create a stronger platform for arm balances and more.

Your core is more than your "abs"--it's all the musculature that sleeves and supports your spine, including the respiratory diaphragm and it's partner the pelvic floor, as well as the organs within. Core Integration includes specialized massage and deep abdominal exercises that will mobilize and strengthen you from the inside out. This Yoga Tune Up® workshop aids good posture, breath mechanics, digestion, adrenal functioning, and the neurological network in the gut, cultivating vibrancy throughout your nervous system. Yogis will sharpen the quality and their perception of a great many poses, including standing poses, forward folds, inversions and backbends. A challenge for all levels from newcomers to teachers.

Balance Tune Up enhances balance in all relationships to gravity - on your side, back, front, hands and knees, and standing - refining, bolstering and improving the physical and mental aspects of the balancing you do. Guided self-massage wakes up key areas that buttress your standing balance: including the feet, knees, IT Band, and gluteal muscles. Playful corrective exercises improve the strength and healthy awareness of the tiny movements and negotiation that occurs to keep us upright--even with two feet on the ground! Students who struggle with balance due to inner ear or other issues may use the support of a wall or chair.

Happy, Healthy Hips improves hip movement in all ranges of motion. Guided self-massage with therapy balls coaxes movement into under- and overused hip tissues, and yoga and unique corrective exercises invite these newly informed tissues to participate more optimally in the movement party. Inner thighs and gluteals will be strengthened, as they tend to be weaker in individuals, thereby inhibiting optimal hip movement. Attention will be given to the core strength needed to maintain hip stability in various ranges of motion. This workshop also addresses areas above and below that affect hip movement, from the low back to the toes. Yogis, runners, tennis players, and anyone who is interested in greater ease and mobility in their hips will benefit.

We all are taxed by tech neck, the forward positioning of the head and rounded upper spine caused when we look down at our computers and phones. When the head is held in this position for extended periods, as it often is, the body reacts with discomfort and pain until, after time, bone builds in the upper vertebrae of the back to help support the misplaced weight of the head. Devices aren't going anywhere, so we need to learn how to position our bodies when we hold them, and have exercises and self-massage tool in our toolboxes that place the head back in it's proper position over the ribcage at the top of the spine. Tech Neck addresses all of this and can be a workshop or a 2-class series.

Mobility for Athletes brings the mobility component of athletic training to athletes. Tennis players, golfers, cyclists, competitive runners and other athletic individuals learn techniques from yoga and other therapeutic movement modalities to mobilize their bodies and create healthy range of motion (ROM) in joints from the neck down to the feet, so they may improve performance, decrease recovery time and heal from or lessen the risk of injuries. Mobility often is perceived as a fancy synonym for stretching, but it is equally strength-related, reaching areas athletes often overlook. It also involves soft-tissue work (self-myofascial release), with Yoga Tune Up® therapy balls and other tools. Mobility training improves core strength and breathing capacity, which benefits overall athletic efficiency and recovery time. Workshops and classes generally focus on regions, such as shoulders/neck, spine, and hips.

Me Time--all moms need it, and most struggle to find it. This journey class series focuses on moms needs: core strengthening, spinal stability, healthy shoulder mechanics, heart opening poses, classical yoga and restorative poses. Mamas also will learn great massage sequences with therapy balls that they can squeeze in at home when feeling stressed or tense. In this series, mama, someone takes care of you! And you learn easy things you can do at home to incorporate physical and mental well-being into your daily life. Not to be underrated, you are with a community of other mothers sharing the journey with you. Me Time can be a workshop, a 4-part Journey Series or a continuing class, and it’s open to mamas of kids of ALL ages. (Evolved Dads have been known to join in, too!)