Workshop is at Triangle Yoga, 2009 Saturday 12:30-3:30pm and 4:30pm-6:30pm Sunday 12:30-3:30pm $185 Early Bird fee if paid by TBA, after which the fee is $220. Call 919-933-9642 to register. Deposits and fees cannot be refunded, but may be transferred to other workshops or classes. |
This course is intended for people who teach, or have practiced yoga
for several years. Please plan to wear warm, comfortable clothes.
DESCRIPTION: THE JOINTS
To analyze why a student can or cannot do yoga postures, a teacher must learn to look past the
surface of the bodyand see it as a moving skeleton. More specifically, a teacher needs practice in analyzing
the body as twelve moving segments. All yoga poses are simply combinations of these twelve segments.
This training emphasizes touching, moving and analyzing ourselves and our classmates.
This is the only way we can master these ideas. Day by day, hour after hour, by repeatedly
applying these basic principles, the bewildering variety of yoga poses becomes a transparent,
almost simple combination of basic movements.
Once a teacher masters the Twelve Segment Analysis, the use of props and variations becomes obvious.
These principles apply to all yoga poses of all styles.
SYLLABUS
Twelve Segment Analysis
Four Movements of the Wrist
Two Movements of the Elbow
Four Movements of the Forearm
Six Movements of the Humerus
Six Movements of the Scapula
Six Movements of the Cervical
Six Movements of the Thorax
Six Movements of the Lumbar
Six Movements of the Pelvis
Six Movements of the Femur
Four Movements of the Knee
Four Movements of the Ankle
Tension and Compression
Axis and Extremity
Proportion and Orientation
Counter Balance
Yin Yoga is not "yet another" brand name of Yoga postures, it is part of a larger conception of Yoga
that can be called Taoist Yoga. The fundamental tenet of Taoism is that all things can be described by their
mutually complementary Yin and Yang aspects. Yin and Yang can be used to describe all things we are capable
of experiencing whether they are clouds, stars, forests, our thoughts or our bodies.
Basic examples of Taoist analysis would be: There is always a front and a back to a coffee cup but we
can never experience both at the same time. The exposed part of the cup is Yang, the concealed part is Yin
but both are necessary to form the cup. Or consider the fact that inhaling and exhaling are opposite movements.
Inhaling is Yang, exhaling is Yin but together they are the "Tao of Breathing".
A Taoist analysis of Yoga practice emphasizes the critical difference between Yin and Yang tissues of the body.
Muscles and blood are Yang, connective tissues and joints are Yin. Yin and Yang tissues do not respond to
training in the same way and a student’s practice becomes more effective when the difference is understood.
Most forms of Yoga practiced today are Yang, they emphasize muscular movement and contraction.
By contrast Yin Yoga targets the connective tissue of the hips, pelvis and lower spine. Yin postures are
held three to five to ten minutes at a time. This type of practice complements the more muscular styles of
Yoga and is a great aid for learning to sit in meditation.
The book I have written and the workshops I present emphasize the
Yin approach to Yoga postures. Not because Yin Yoga is better but only because there
are many good forms of Yang Yoga available and the Yin approach is under-represented.
ABOUT PAUL
Paul Grilley has been teaching Yoga since 1980 and his special interest is the teaching of Anatomy.
He practices Yoga postures in the style of Paulie Zink and patterns his philosophy on the writings and researches
of Dr. Hiroshi Motoyama —a Yogi and scientist from Tokyo, Japan. This philosophy integrates the Taoist Meridian and
Acupuncture theories of China with the Yogic and Tantric theories of India. Paul lives in Ashland, Oregon with his wife Suzee.
