Neurogenic yoga is best known as a powerful means of releasing long held tensions and traumas. For some this might imply that the benefits would be solely for those with large traumatic experiences to release. Neurogenic tremoring however can be helpful in a much broader context. Here are a couple of new ways to think about this life changing yoga practice.
Wellness Maintenance:
As humans we tend to forget that for all our accomplishments, we are still mammals. It is in our nature to move on all levels, from atoms, to systems, to organisms. When we don’t move, imbalance happens. We frequently hold ourselves in an immobile state physically, mentally and/or emotionally. Just as one would get up in the morning and stretch muscles and fascia after hours of being in one position, tremoring regularly allows the nervous system and body tissues to reset and become more functional. This is why neurogenic yoga is suggested to be done as a regular home practice once an initial period of study with a certified instructor has been completed.
Illness Prevention: This concept has been phrased in a number of ways by various wellness professionals, however Gabor Mate summed it up beautifully with the phrase “If we don’t listen when the body whispers, it will eventually begin to scream”. Meaning that if we do not respond when the body is asking for attention with mild symptom signals, we will eventually have to face consequences in the form of more serious physical and mental llness. Neurogenic yoga teaches us to listen to the whispers of the body, and to reset and rebalance before the body/mind has any reason to “scream”.
If you are interested in trying Neurogenic Yoga for the first time, or you are an experienced student feeling the need for a return to wholeness and goodness, check out Bobby’s Monday evening Neurogenic Yoga classes. An opportunity to shake it all off before sinking into a puddle of sweet restorative savasana bliss. What better way to set you up for a fabulous rest of the week!
Shakti Yoga teacher trainings and workshops are taught in various locations within Canada, and internationally. Host this workshop in your area and save the cost of travelling to learn. Contact Bobby@ShaktiYogaMethod.com to discuss specific details on hosting this or other workshops and trainings.
Who’s This Program For?
Healthcare professionals who would like to add the meditative practice of yin yoga to their services.
Anyone looking to deepen their knowledge of this beautiful style of yoga that puts emphasis on respecting body variation.
Teachers of yoga who want to deepen their understanding of Yin Yoga. A style that fills gaps left by the yang yoga predominance of the modern practice. The first modern style of yoga to recognize body variation needs. Counts for 40 Yoga Alliance CEUs.
About The Program
Yin yoga is a modern-day perspective on the ancient asana teachings of India, infused with the timeless wisdom of Taoist and meridian philosophy. This blend of modern and ancient teachings will change the way you practice and teach yoga forever.
Comprehensive Manual
Learn why yin yoga is a necessary balance to the widespread predominance of yang yoga.
Explore the role of fascia in physical asana and energetic theory.
Investigate the role of bone variation and pose modification to ensure your students are safe in your yoga classes.
Dive deep into the anatomy of pose expression.
Traverse the teaching of the Tao and the insights they hold for deepening the practice of yoga.
Using props and modifications to ensure comfort for all bodies while holding poses.
Modern Meridian Theory and yin yoga energetic body considerations.
Sequences for Yin Yoga classes & how to create your own
Practical teaching and assisting experience
Ongoing mentoring support
Language analysis for yin yoga cues to direct nervous system activation. Understand how language changes the experience of a pose.
Incorporating Yin Yoga into other types of yoga classes
Program Requirements
Pre-Requisites
No previous yoga experience is required to benefit from this program. Variations make this style of yoga accessible to everyone who would like to learn this practice for personal development. CEUs for Yoga Teacher Specialization hours require RYT 200 status. Contact Bobby@ShaktiYogaMethod.com for clarification.
Certification
Graduates will receive a certificate showing they have successfully completed the Shakti Yoga Method 40-hour Yin Yoga Teacher Training. Approved for 40 Yoga Alliance CEUs.
Certification Requirements include:
Attend 4 days of lecture.
Read the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, any translation.
Submit yin yoga class plan, peer observation forms, and schedule one peer class exchange to be scheduled at own convience via Zoom.
In somatic based therapies like Neurogenic Yoga™ it is understood that the mind and body share the role of holding and releasing stress. Indeed many students initially come to Neurogenic Yoga because talk therapy alone has failed to assist them in fully releasing and recovering from tension and trauma.
Many arrive at my Neurogenic Yoga™ classes seeking to let go of whatever is holding them back from returning to a previous level of physical and mental wellness. One of the first things that I share is that we are working toward something even more valuable than simply returning to a previous state of wellness. Neurogenic Yoga™ actually sculpts the nervous system to become stronger and more resilient than it has ever before been.
How does Neurogenic Yoga™ do this? By combining yoga poses and breathwork with the body’s natural therapeutic shaking response. The human (and animal) nervous system has an instinctual shaking response that is genetically coded to help us discharge long-held tension and trauma. It is an unconscious muscle contraction that restores the body to wholeness after stressful or traumatic events.
This vibration and shaking automatically occurs when the nervous system identifies that the body has responded to a threat and now needs to release. Unfortunately, the negative social constructs that see shaking and tremoring as a show of vulnerability or weakness, mean that this innate release mechanism is conditioned out of us at a very early age. Neurogenic Yoga™ reawakens the body’s intrinsic release mechanism to optimize health and wellness.
As a birth doula it is not unusual to see a birthing mother begin a minor or full body tremor during or after the late stages of birth. The usual compassionate response of their caregiver is to immediately cover her in heated blankets to stop the shaking, even if she has not reported feeling cold. Unfortunately however the unspoken message conveyed by this kind act is that these tremors are not good; that she should try to stop them from happening. We might also see this misunderstanding of the therapeutic value of tremor in an attempt to stop a child from shaking after a scary dream or accident rather than allowing it to happen. A better approach would be to assure them that the tremors are ok; that this is how the body will bring them back to calm.
The fact that post trauma tremors can be observed in animals as well as humans gives us opportunity to learn much about what may be happening in neurogenic yoga from animal studies. One example is a study done by with baby chicks by a researcher often called “The Father of Stress”, Hans Seyle.
He gave baby chicks a swim test and then exposed them to a “trauma” (held them upside down). Following the swim test they were either allowed to tremor, or held by the researcher so that the natural tremor effect could not occur. The control chicks performed the same before and after the swim test having had no intervention. Chicks who were held after the trauma and not allowed to tremor performed poorly on their second swim test (some sank!). Most interesting however is that the chicks who were given trauma, and then allowed to tremor, actually performed BETTER after the trauma than they did on the initial swim test. They had more endurance and could easily swim longer.
What this study teaches us is that allowing the tremor response that we have spent a lifetime trying to stop is key to not only releasing the negative aspects of stress, but also leaves our nervous system better equipped to overcome and recover from future traumas!
In Neurogenic Yoga™ we work to trigger the natural tremoring response. Much like the baby chicks in the third group our goal is to go beyond simply performing as well as we did before our original stressor. Like those resilient chicks, we are working toward becoming better than we have ever been at recovering from future stress and trauma!
Find out how you can experience the restoration of goodness that Neurogenic Yoga™ brings at ShaktiYogaMethod.com. Shakti Neurogenic Yoga™ classes take place weekly at 7pm on Monday evenings at the Yoga Kula Co-op in St. John’s, Canada. If you do not reside in St. John’s, private and group sessions may also be booked virtually.
Understanding the sitting-psoas-stress circuit, and how to disrupt it.
Sitting has been dubbed the “New Smoking” in recent times due to its negative wellness impact.[1] There are a few obvious reasons for this. One being that if you are sitting you are obviously not moving your body, which is necessary for all our tissues, organs, and systems to function optimally. Secondly, unless one is carefully paying attention to the position of the pelvis when seated, the low back can experience undue pressure. This is not helped by the fact that sitting is often a workplace related “activity” that can be associated with job stressors.
The psoas muscle connects to every vertebrae of the lumbar spine and also attaches to the upper inner thigh bone
The potentially negative health impact of sitting however extends beyond skeletomuscular mechanics to nervous system function. This is due to a combination of the shortening of the psoas muscle, and the resulting muscle tension which occurs when sitting for long periods. Psoas tension impacts nervous system response. To understand this connection requires an awareness of human nervous system evolution, and the anatomy of the psoas muscle itself.
Humans are mammals. We have evolved to survive. For most of our time on earth survival mainly meant avoiding becoming a meal for larger animals. To this end, being happy and relaxed would be much less of a survival requirement than being alert to danger. As a result of this evolutary pressure we arrive in the modern day with a nervous system more responsive to possible signs of danger than beautiful things like relaxing scenery. Our nervous system moves back and forth between two states of activation. Sympathetic nervous system activation (SNS) which makes us alert to potential threats in our environment. The SNS triggers our body to prioritize functions that enhance our ability to fight or flee, sometimes resulting in unconscious safety postures such as flexing forward to protect vulnerable organs. Parasympathetic nervous system activation (PSNS) signals the body to relax, turn off protection responses, and focus resources on optimal cell, organ, and system function. Ideally, we spend more time in PSNS, only moving into SNS activation when the body truly requires this response.
When sitting with upper body curved the psoas and hamstrings tighten, and space for lung expansion decreases
Our ancient nervous system activation is inextricably tied to the psoas muscle, the strongest hip flexor. Psoas contraction is a major part of bringing the body into a flexed protection posture if danger is detected in our environment. The body and mind are in constant communication with each other. Just as a thought can trigger our body to prepare for danger, our body can also signal protection information back to the brain. If the psoas is shortened due to long periods of sitting, the nervous system can become confused and may assume this muscle is shortened because a protection response is needed. This means the body can trigger a low-level fight or flight response simply because the psoas is slightly flexed and tense. The fact that sitting poorly also usually results in a slightly flexed upper body adds to this effect. Upper body flexion results in shallow breathing due to decreased space for lung expansion. This becomes a second signal to the brain that our environment may not be completely safe.
Sitting in careful upright alignment allows for deeper breaths and less psoas and hamstring shortening
We can reset the nervous system by sitting in ways that do not create psoas tension, and allows for deeper breaths.
The great news is that simply being aware of the connection between sitting, psoas, and stress provides us with an opportunity to use movement, posture, and breath awareness to calm the nervous system. A simple three stop process that you can do at work or home when sitting and feeling anxiety is described below.
Three Step Immediate Psoas Reset
Step 1: Upper Body Posture Reset
If the upper body is slumped forward there will not be enough space for effortless expansion of the lungs. The brain associates shallow breathing with a need for protection response. Opening the upper body opening will allow for deeper breaths. If you are sitting and feel tension the first thing to do is lift the chest. Roll the shoulders down the back, lifting the bottom ribs away from the naval.
Step 2: Breath Awareness
Now that the upper body is open, bring the palms to the lower ribs on each side. Visualize the breath pouring in through the nostrils and spreading the bottom of the lungs wide before slowing filling the rest of the lungs. You will feel the breath moving toward the collar bones and lifting the ribs. Keep the front of the body lifted as you drop the hands to the lap, and allow the breath to slowly release through a hanging open mouth. The jaw and face are completely relaxed. Allow the breath to effortlessly leave the body like a slowly deflating tire. Repeat for 3-5 breaths or more. Do this anytime you need to reset body, breath, and mind.
Step 3: Psoas Release
Psoas lengthening can be added to this practice by carefully rocking the top of the pelvis to forward as you breathe deeply into your lifted upper body. This will simultaneously realign the spine for larger breath space and uncurl the psoas. For some, placing the sit bones on a rolled towel as the pelvis rocks forward can help guide the movement. The goal is to have the pointy bones at the front of the hips hover above the pubic symphysis bone (See Image).
Three Step Psoas Maintence Practice
While the above 3-point practice will be helpful in a moment of tension, a more dedicated practice for psoas maintence will further enhance its effect. Sitting creates tight hamstrings which can impede the pelvic forward movement. Giving some attention to releasing the hamstrings should be done on a daily basis. Dangle pose (See image) will do this. Gentle restorative back bend positions will also allow the front body muscles to lengthen for easier breaths, and assist the psoas to release. One particularly effective pose is reclined hero. Lie with the back on a bolster (or rolled blanket), bring the soles of the feet together with bent legs falling open to the sides. Support the outer thighs with a rolled blanket. Set a timer for 5-10 minutes. This allows for a full psoas release that will reassure your nervous system that you are safe. It will also lengthen chest muscles to allow deeper breaths to happen unconsciously as you move through day. Finish with child’s pose because nothing calms the nervous system more than relaxing in the same position that you grew in.
A more intensive psoas maintence approach can be found in a Neurogenic Yoga class. Neurogenic yoga triggers a tremor response that allows both recent, and long-held tension, stress, and trauma to be released. Find more information, or to register for one of Bobby’s upcoming Neurogenic classes at this link to Shakti Yoga Method Neurogenic Yoga Classes.
Wishing you a wonderful day of deep breaths and nervous system calm.
[1] James Vlahos, Is Sitting a Lethal Activity? New York Times Magazine, April 12, 2011
Illness Prevention:
In somatic based therapies like Neurogenic Yoga™ it is understood that the mind and body share the role of holding and releasing stress. Indeed many students initially come to Neurogenic Yoga because talk therapy alone has failed to assist them in fully releasing and recovering from tension and trauma.
The fact that post trauma tremors can be observed in animals as well as humans gives us opportunity to learn much about what may be happening in neurogenic yoga from animal studies. One example is a study done by with baby chicks by a researcher often called “The Father of Stress”, Hans Seyle.
Three Step Psoas Maintence Practice