Recap: 2012 Fall Adventure Yoga Retreat

It was another fabulous fall retreat at Camp Amnicon. 

Here's a few highlights in pictures...

Quiet, peaceful space waiting to hold us on our adventure. 

The lodge

the outdoor chapel,

and the quiet waters welcomed us.

We practiced living our adventure with blindfolded yoga

and dry-land paddle practice,

followed by a river-to-lake paddling adventure.

Post paddle recovery with restorative yoga.

And this year, a brand new yoga retreat addition: 

Wine Adventure with Savvy Nomad.

(Thanks Dave! that was super fun!)

And our final adventurous yoga practice: Partner Yoga! 

The energy in the room was beautiful!

Most of our group is pictured here, belting out "This Little Light of Mine" as a final mantra.

Look for more pictures at www.facebook.com/DoRestorativeYoga.

Fall Adventure Retreat this Weekend!

Click image to see larger.

October 19-21, 2012 ~ Fall Adventure Retreat @ Camp Amnicon, WI

Fall Adventure Retreat. This is an opportunity to be in community and reflect on your life, settle into your body with yoga, expand your mind with yogic philosophy and explore your life with the practice of adventure. Activities: Restorative, Therapeutic & Hatha Yoga, Meditation, Lecture & Reflection, Guided River Canoe Trip, Fall Color Hiking, Wine Adventure, Campfires, Sauna, Rest & Community.
Location: Camp Amnicon / 8450 East Camp Amnicon Road / South Range, WI 54874. Please register with Yoga North as space is limited.

Delicate Backs Week 4

This Tuesday was our final session for Delicate Backs. I have not been to the chiropractor in almost two months. This is a long stretch for me. But I really wanted to see if the somatics work was effective. And after attending for 4 weeks and doing the homework at least 5 times a week I would say yes, it works. My ribs are not popped out, my SI joint is not stabbing me and I've only had one headache this month.

I am now signed up for the next 4-week series: Somatics for Hips & Legs. I've been having an issue with my L knee for many months. I'm curious to see if the somatic work will take care of it. I hope so because I don't like feeling like there is a knife in my knee when I go biking. And I need to bike to help build strength and stability in my legs and pelvis to help stabilize my SI joint.

Everything's connected.

Delicate Backs Week 3
Delicate Backs Week 2
Delicate Backs Week 1


 

Book Review: Om Love

This was a hard book to like and also a hard book to put down. The characters were too real for me to feel comfortable and yet I wanted to know what happened to them. The writing style was choppy, raw, and stream of consciousness. At first I couldn't stand it. As an editor I wanted periods and capitals. And then my mind went with the flow and I didn't mind. I was compelled to finish. I can't say that I recommend it, but I wouldn't say don't read it either. Oh, it's a maddening book to describe or categorize. You'll have to see for yourself.

Delicate Backs Week 3

Molly worked us into semi-reclined, seated, and kneeling postures. We started off with the standard arch and flatten on our backs but worked on this from a deep awareness of the cervical and lumbar spine. The goal was to free our necks, which would in turn free our backs even more.

After a few rounds of arch and flatten and 6-points practice, Molly brought us up to a semi-reclined position: on our backs, resting on our elbows, knees bent. We worked arch and flatten from here, exaggerating it to arch and curl if our necks would allow such movement. Next up, easy seated arch and curl with a slight twist and special head arc. It's too complicated to describe but the over all effect of the class was to bring more ease and more freedom of movement to our spines and necks.

We worked this same pattern from cat-cow and finally brought ourselves to standing to see how our bodies felt. I felt tall, straight and at ease. It was lovely.

Delicate Backs Week 2
Delicate Backs Week 1

Delicate Backs Week 2

Last week we learned Arch & Flatten and the 6-Points Practice. I tried to do a little bit of both of these at least once a day and sometimes I would do it twice a day, in the morning and before bed. I definitely noticed that my back felt less tense. My R ribs were still acting up (and have been since last Feb) but I felt like something was going right with this new somatics practice.

Last night we added on to our practice, learning to isolate movement in the hips and shoulders. We moved in four directions: up, down, forward and backward. OK sounds simple but have you ever tried to move one hip? Not so easy. Plus, each shoulder is so different. One might move just fine and the other might be frozen.

After isolating these movements while laying on our backs (and practicing them on both the R&L) we were instructed to lay on our sides and repeat the same series of movements. Then we had to really get complicated. We had to move our hips and shoulders at the same time in a rolling fashion, in a complementary pattern. Like this: Laying on your left side move R shoulder forward, R hip back; R shoulder down, R hip up; R shoulder back, R hip forward; R shoulder up, R hip down. Repeat x3-5 then reverse and repeat x3-5 and take the second side. This is called "walking" - although we did not get up. These are the same movements our body makes while we are walking but we generally don't notice.

After class my R ribs were super flared up. Definitely got some stuff moving there. It hurt to breathe. Thankfully, Molly (my teacher) had some time after class to work with me one-on-one. She had me do a couple of very simple movements, engaging and releasing my quadratus lumborum muscle on the R side. Interestingly (to me) Molly told me this muscle has an insertion point in the front, underside of the armpit and runs all the way down to the pelvis girdle. I tend to have trouble with my R neck, shoulder, ribs and SI joint. Wonder if this muscle is a culprit?

This morning I woke up with no rib pain and I could breathe without discomfort too. Yay!

New Somatics Practice

I signed up for "Delicate Backs" - a new class at Yoga North. It's a 4 week Somatic intensive and we met last night for the first time. We learned the 6-Points Practice from the work of Thomas Hanna. We started out with Arch and Flatten, moved to Arch and Curl, and refined with the 6-Points Practice.

Here's what our homework guide says about the 6-Point Practice: "To do this, get a sense of the right shoulder, right hip, tail bone, left hip, left shoulder, and back of the head. Gently alternate pressing and lifting each of these points in succession while focusing on what is working and what is releasing to move them up and lower them down."

This is a super slow, super intense practice. Not intense as in "worked out big time" but rather, intense as in "mind-body connection." Basically, we just laid on our backs on the floor with our knees bent and practiced moving each point individually and in conjunction with each other. It's hard to describe and better to experience. But my feeling is that this will be really helpful in easing chronic muscle tightness and also in creating stability where there is weakness.

I'm challenging myself to a little bit of this work every day - not just going in for the 4 meetings.