Friends! Welcome to P&R, my new spot online. To open it up, I'd like to announce with great joy that I have developed an alignment program for students of Bikram Yoga/26 & 2.
Let me tell you how it all came about.
When I started Bikram Yoga I found that I had something of a natural affinity for it. Admittedly, I was one of those annoying people who took to Yoga poses very easily. And Yoga worked wonders for me. I was, through steady practice, able to completely transform my body. It seemed like every week or so something about my poses shifted deeply, and I was able to do more, go further, and move more freely. This process continued consistently, and continues to this day. However, when I began teaching the Bikram method to my students, I was somewhat frustrated with my inability to translate my own personal experience to my students. For certain, they found great value in the practice and their bodies and minds shifted toward much healthier patterns, but for some reason I could not figure out how to guide them past certain physical limitations. While I was happy to see them engaged in a healthy ritual of self-care, I wanted to give them more. As a Yoga teacher it is my belief that as the body changes, energetic patterns within it change, and these changes open us up to a greater, more engaged experience of life. I was not satisfied to see my students tread water.
In the Fall of 2014, I took a 200 hour training course in Alignment Based Hatha Yoga at Maha Yoga in Philadelphia, a course that emphasized healthy alignment principles. Many of these principles have been well established in Iyengar and Ashtanga Yoga for decades and are taught in some form or another in studios of all types, all over the world. In the 1990s these principles were codified by the creators of the Anusara Yoga method and broken down into a simple, clear technique. This was this technique that I was taught at Maha.
Upon taking this training I discovered that, without knowing it, I had been applying these principles to my personal practice for years. I had unconsciously used healthy alignment technique to develop my poses, and saw great progress as a result. However, since this knowledge had not been included in my Bikram teacher training, I lacked the tools to communicate my personal experience to my students. With this new education I now had the understanding and language necessary to change all that.
In the last year or so I have started to apply these alignment techniques to my Bikram teaching. It has been a revelation. My students now have posture breakthroughs on a regular basis. I hear almost weekly that they are seeing changes in poses that have been stuck for months or even years of practice. I’m often asked, by students of all levels, why no one ever told them about all this alignment stuff sooner.
What I am teaching these days is nothing magical, it’s actually very simple. And it works wonders on the Bikram practice. It is now my hope and goal to spread knowledge of healthy alignment technique throughout the Bikram community. It does not take much to learn, and I believe that teachers and students alike can greatly benefit from understanding this simple method.
To this end, I have developed a healthy alignment posture clinic program for Bikram students. The program focuses on simple principles that put the body into good neutral standing posture, and how we can use them in yoga poses. The approach is body first, posture second. By addressing students’ unconscious misalignments and habitual tendencies, these clinics provide valuable tools for students of all levels who want clear, direct methods for enhancing and empowering their Bikram practice.
This is not an anti-traditional-Bikram approach, it is simply a new perspective on how we can use our physical and energetic bodies when we practice this Yoga. The goal is not to override the dialogue, but enhance it. The Bikram dialogue has many cues that point to healthy alignment principles, it was clearly written with knowledge of healthy body alignment. My hope is to illuminate the deeper meaning and intent of the dialogue so students and teachers alike may understand its purpose beyond simple shape instructions.
There is a great wealth of knowledge out in the world of Yoga, and it is being offered openly by teachers of great expertise. I've had the opportunity to work with some amazing teachers, to my great fortune. They've given me a great gift, and I can't wait to share it with you. To read more about the specifics of the program, check out the Yoga section.