Do you or your yoga students struggle with tight hamstrings, sore knees, back pain, or hips that won’t open? Is your stress making you sick? Do you feel anxious and find it difficult to relax and be calm? Is there an effective way to deal with these conditions through yoga? There sure is.

The focus of this class is yoga practice for well-being and pain relief using modern yoga.

The ancient yogis believed that a regular yoga practice could help with all aspects of one’s being. Since our lifestyles today are quite different from that of the ancient yogis, we will benefit by culling the traditional yoga practices that will most benefit our needs in the twenty-first century. The information I present is suitable for those new to yoga and for those who have been practicing for many years, both students and teachers. This material is for those who want to be able to achieve even better results from their yoga practice and for those who are struggling with certain poses and conditions. It is suitable for all body types.

In the May workshop hosted by the YTA, we will discuss the powerful benefits of asana (stretching), pranayama (breathing), and meditation, especially as they apply to neuromuscular conditions and the general health of the body, mind, and spirit. These tools of the ancient yogis are making resurgence in our modern world as science is confirming their many benefits.

In the final analysis, most pain is foundational, resulting from imbalances in the musculoskeletal system. We are in pain because we are misaligned, or “crooked.” We have poor posture as a result. Even if you think you have good posture, you probably don’t, as misalignments are often not obvious to the untrained eye. This class will teach you how to identify the most common misalignments and to develop a quick and simple approach to better posture and muscle balance which will help with many painful conditions in the body.

By incorporating this information into your practice and teaching, you will be able to more precisely choose the poses best suited for your current body conditions and those of your students. Yoga should not be about performing poses but rather selecting the poses that will most benefit current body conditions. Not all yoga postures are suitable for all individuals. Depending on postural imbalances, one might need to avoid certain poses until the body is back in balance. The information I am presenting will help identify these imbalances, explain how current poses might be causing or contributing to pain, and show you how to develop a yoga practice that can achieve the right balance for yourself or your students. The result will be less pain and more vitality.

Western medicine has few interventions for the musculoskeletal pain and stress often caused by our modern lifestyles. Typically, doctors prescribe painkillers, muscle relaxers, and anti-anxiety drugs. These can often bring some relief, but they are only treating the symptoms rather than the root problem.

Selecting the correct asanas (poses) for your particular musculoskeletal condition requires some knowledge of anatomy and muscle imbalances. Knowing how to deal with the stress and anxiety in our daily lives requires some knowledge of the mind and body. These yoga solutions will help you alleviate the root causes of your conditions.

I have trained thousands of people in my workshops, including MDs, physical therapists, chiropractors, massage therapists, and lay people. They have all learned how easy it is to reduce or eliminate pain. They all have learned how to achieve a greater sense of well-being when following my protocols.

This class will take you on a journey so you can discover:

• the roots of yoga, and how traditional yoga differs from what we practice today 
• the miraculous mechanics of your musculoskeletal system
• the cause of most aches and pains
• how to reduce pain and achieve better results from your practice
• how to select the correct asanas for your and your students’ conditions 
• why people get hurt practicing yoga and how to avoid injury
• how to stretch
• specific yoga flows for pain relief
• guidelines for achieving superior results
• the many benefits of pranayama and meditation  
• how to quickly reduce or eliminate stress and anxiety
• how to integrate yoga into everyday life