Rolfing For A Wonky Body

Dear Yogis 

I have a therapy to recommend to you: Rolfing. I first heard it recommended by David Williams - he who is credited with introducing Ashtanga to America in the 70s. Dr Ida Rolf Invented the therapy, a ten-step system to manipulate soft tissue and correct structural imbalances... and I have so many!

My friend and Eden Fitness Ashtanga teacher Alain Zakeossian is a certified ‘Rolfer’, and so my learning curve came from his expertise. My right shoulder rolls forward, possibly due to many years of violin playing and my left is bigger, possibly due to bowing. My torso turns slightly to the right which is why I look odd in shoulder stand! My arms were held like semi-circles beside my torso, like an puny body builder! My insteps are unequal and right leg turns out from the hip. That’s the short list!

I found this interesting, about breathing: if the torso is hyper extended, like a ballet dancer with a pronounced lifted chest, you’ll never take a full exhalation. The opposite is the case with people who are hunched forward with a squashed chest; they’ll never achieve a full inhalation.

The treatment itself is really such a new experience. A few times on the treatment table I felt so deeply relaxed it was like being awake and asleep at the same time. It’s more of a learning experience than any massage or visit to the physio. It’s empowering. Take a look at Alain’s website: rolfinginlondon.com.  Ida Rolf said: "This is the gospel of Rolfing: When the body gets working appropriately, the force of gravity can flow through. Then, spontaneously, the body heals itself."

Home Studio

Next Thursday I’m reintroducing the 6.00 Ashtanga-based classes. I’ll add it to the timetable till the end of November and see what the demand is. There’s a few spaces left in the usual classes next week and all but one of the new Thursday class to fill up. See attached for class availability.

Training

Yoga Evolved in Lambeth has a whole day of yoga in a nightclub tomorrow, from 10.30-19.00 for £30. It’s a Yoga and Fitness Festival. The day includes: QiGong, an Inversion Workshop, Power Yoga, and Gin Yin.

Yoga in the News

Reuters has:  Warrior pose: Sierra Leone's soldiers heal trauma with yoga. “Yoga is not about the past, but about living in the present moment,” Musa said. “You have to leave everything on the mat. Ebola, the war, all those things have passed, and through yoga we are learning to let them go.”

I can’t tell you how many people sent me this from the BBC: Yoga teachers 'risking serious hip problems'. Mr Matthews, a specialist hip and knee physiotherapist and member of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists, says he sees four to five yoga teachers a month.

The Telegraph has: Yoga has become dangerously competitive – the very thing it shouldn’t be. I like the way this starts: ‘I had been going to yoga classes for over 10 years before I did my first headstand. It took me a further five until I am where I am today; completely at home balancing with my feet directly above my head.’