YoginiMelissaC

Fantastic podcast that every Yoga Teacher should listen to! 💯

Thank you so much and for a great conversation about what’s really important in teaching yoga. 🙏



These topics (and so much more) are the exact same ones we will talk about in depth at my Yin Yoga Teacher Training & Weekend Intensives.

These conversations can benefit both yoga teachers and students alike.

I hope to see you there! 🤗

yin, Yin Yoga, Yin Yoga Teacher Training, St. George, Utah, St. Louis, Missouri, O’Fallon Illinois, 200 hour, 300 hour, continuing education, Yoga Alliance, yoga anatomy

I love what I do 💗 and love sharing my passion for yin with others

This is going to be amazing! Go to Yoga Via‘s website for more information and to sign up 🤩

Want to learn more about yin yoga?
Want to learn how to teach yin yoga to others?
Want to understand more about your body and anatomy and how to make ALL asana feel better in YOUR body?

Join Melissa Oct 11-13 for a weekend filled with great YIN-formation!

OPEN TO ALL! students and teachers

$299 early bird pricing through Sept 27; $349 after

Fri 5:45 - 9:45pm
Sat 10:30 - 6:30pm
Sun noon - 4pm

15 YA CEU credits for Yoga Alliance registered yoga teachers

Sign up online today!

*this weekend is included in Yoga Via’s 300H teacher training

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Melissa has been teaching yoga since 2008 and leading Yin Trainings across the US since 2014. She has studied with the founders of Yin Yoga, Paul Grilley, Sarah Powers and Bernie Clark. As well as in-depth studies with Jules Mitchell (the queen of yoga anatomy and biomechanics). She is also Yoga Via’s studio manager and co-lead 200 & 300 hour teacher trainer. Go to Melissa’s IG page, website, or Yoga Alliance page for more information and testimonials.

So happy to be returning to for another fantastic yin and functional asana weekend!

This weekend is already half sold out, so contact the studio today and secure your spot! 💫

May 4 & 5
15 hours CEU with Yoga Alliance

As always, this weekend is open to everyone!

Back again! Join me this February for another great yin weekend!

Whether you’re a yoga teacher wanting to learn a new style, or a yoga student wanting to understand your body in asana better, this weekend is for you!

Find all of the details on my website and sign up directly through the studio

Feb 16-18
$299 with early bird discount

15 hours YA CEUs

See you again soon 💙🧡💙

“The Iliotibial Band (IT Band) is commonly blamed for ‘being tight’.

However, this structure is supposed to be tight.

If fact, it’s so tight that it takes nearly 2,000 pounds of force to stretch it 1 centimeter.

READ THAT AGAIN.

Don’t get me wrong, if rolling out your IT Band feels good keep doing it!

It’s helpful to know that the pain relief is not a result of ‘releasing’ your IT Band or lengthening it at all. 

It’s more likely to be explained by messing with your nervous system.

This phenomena is called Gate Control Theory.

This theory acknowledges that pain can be sent up to the brain from different neurological pathways in our body. For example, we can perceive a “My leg feels stiff” sensation, and we believe it is our tight IT Band. 

When we do foam rolling we are providing an additional stimulus to the “my leg feels stiff” feeling we are already experiencing. 

As a result, we “close the gate” that send the “my leg feels stiff” pain signal up to our brain.

Instead we have a new signal of “ouch this foam roller hurts”. 

However, once we get off of the foam roller, the “ouch this foam roller hurts” sensation goes away while the “gate” that allows the “My leg feels stiff” temporarily remains closed which does not allow our brain to have the previous perception of pain. (e.g., we feel better). 

But over time, we go back to the “my leg feels stiff” feeling and start the cycle again. 

This is one explanation of why people end up rolling out their IT Band forever which ends up not providing a long-term solution. 

Understanding science-based concepts like this are the difference between ‘good’ and ‘GREAT’ Instructors.”

Thank you for another science 🎤 fact about the body and movement!

This is one of the BEST discussions I’ve listened to or read on the topic of alignment and safety in asana.

I encourage everyone to give it a listen; it is well worth the 30 minutes!

Thank you .teacher.resource for such great content❣️

Check it out! 🙌👍

(Link in my stories - and I’ll save to my cool stuff #2 highlight circle)

Come join me for my last yin weekend of 2023!

Early Bird discount ends September 15! Just $299 for 15 hours CE credits.

If you’ve attended before, but want some more! 🙌 DM me to receive a substantial discount for attending again! 👍😉

The Functional Approach to Yoga is NOT a style of yoga.

With the introduction of so many new “modern styles” of yoga asana, it’s easy to understand how this could be confused for just another style. 😵‍💫

But it isn’t!

In fact, it’s an APPROACH to practice that can be applied to any style of asana! 🙌

And it’s one that offers much more safety than so-called “alignment based” asana. 👍💯🥳

How can I make such a bold statement? 🫣

The Functional Approach teaches:

▪️there is no such thing as a “perfect pose”

*a pose may look perfect based on arbitrary aesthetics, but that doesn’t mean it’s perfectly safe for that student to do.

What’s perfect for one student may be very detrimental for another.

▪️there is no such thing as “perfect alignment”

Even if we could agree on “universal perfect alignment” in asana… that doesn’t guarantee safety in that asana because all bodies are different.

*You only need to ask a few yogi friends if forcing their body into strict traditional alignment has hurt them in poses like Chaturanga or Pigeon. 🤕

▪️requiring bodies to make very specific shapes in very specific ways is ignoring the natural, skeletal variations that occur in all populations

*All bodies are different. All skeletons are different. Each body and skeleton has a different and safe available range of motion.

Forcing specific alignment based only on aesthetics with no consideration of skeletal variation or the functional objective of the pose is a fast track to injury and/or frustration for many students.

The Functional Approach to yoga respects each individual body and skeleton and teaches students about their own unique anatomy.

It emphasizes how a pose FEELS as opposed to just how it looks.

The Functional Approach to yoga gives the student an opportunity to truly listen to and understand their own body. When you can truly listen and understand your body, that becomes the safest way to practice. 😇

It also allows more people to enjoy the benefits of yoga! 🤗

Want to learn more?

Attend one of my upcoming trainings, and learn all about the functional approach!




📷: courtesy of Paul Grilley

BAD CAN BE GOOD😇

“Here’s something to consider!

Does doing exercises in awkward, inefficient postures and positions actually make you stronger, fitter, and more robust than doing them in “correct”alignment? 🧐

Also does doing exercises in awkward, inefficient positions REDUCE your chances of injury rather than increasing it?” 🤩

Life isn’t lived in perfect alignment.

Our practice and training shouldn’t always be either.

*and what is “correct and perfect” for one body can be harmful and inappropriate for another as we’re all different! ☠️🩻🦴

Thanks for this thought provoking question! 🙌🤓

I was just talking about this in my yin training!

The benefits of “practicing asana ugly!” 🤪

If we want the body to be strong, resilient and adaptable to ALL movement… we should practice and train in all movements; including “ugly” ones! 🎉💯👍

"Sanskrit is the language of Yoga" - this oft-quoted statement, with emphasis on ‘the’, ignores extensive Yogic exploration & literature that emerged over past 1500 years (if not more) through Yogis who did not fall in Sanskrit-speaking strata of Indic society.

Yes, Vedas, Upanishad, Sutras, Gita & Itihasa-Purana are in Sanskrit, but that’s not the end all of Indic spiritual literature.

India has never been a one language land. Even modern India is a nation of 22 “official” languages - over 120 spoken ones, & over 19500 dialects, most are hundreds of years old.

2500 years ago, Gautama Buddha chose to give sermons not in Sanskrit, but in language of locals called Magadhi Prakrit. His teachings too were written not in Sanskrit, but in Pali.

Later, with influence of Tibetan Buddhism, texts were written in Tibetan languages.

Over last 1500 years, Yogic Bhakti Movement saw a wave of vernacular literature that expressed ideas of Yogis that came from the rock bottom of society & reformed people using local languages because Sanskrit was NOT the language of the masses.

Ramcharitmanas, a 17th CE retelling of Ramayana in Awadhi language is often called ‘5th Veda’ in north India.

In the province I come from, Maharashtra, we have Dnyaneshwari, a 9000 -verse, 13th CE commentary on Bhagavad Gita, which is as sacred as the Gita but is not in Sanskrit.

Divya Prabandham, a 4000-verse compilation of 12 Alvar Saints written in Tamil is considered as important as the Vedas in South India.

How can one forget Thirumantiram, a 3000-verse mystical Tamil text on Shaiva Ta**ra by Yogi Thirumular from around 6th CE.

The texts of Sikh Gurus, & those of Sants like Mira, Kabir, Ramprasad Sen & Eknath too are not in Sanskrit.

A more appropriate phrase then would be, "Sanskrit is one of the languages of Yoga" & not THE language.

I am not undermining importance of Sanskrit in Yogic literature at all, but we do tend to miss out on the beautiful flowers of vernacular spiritual literature by avoiding a comprehensive view."

Thank you for this. 🤍