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Old 10-17-21, 11:10 AM  
KarenJo
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I have that book. Looks like I bought it last April. I should put it in my pile of books to be read soon.

Within the last ten years I have switched from one medical center to a different one when I moved. The first was doing a study on falls in those over 55 so I got asked every time I was there about falls within the last year. The second has just made it a practice to ask about falls in every primary physician visit. I'm 67 (and a half as of yesterday). I have found that doing yoga on my own currently and having done studio Pilates sessions for a couple of decades in the past does help develop the kind of awareness, strength and balance I need to catch myself and prevent a fall. More work on that is always a good thing. Thanks for the reminder.
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Old 10-17-21, 07:42 PM  
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Yikes! That's definitely motivating me to do more yoga.
I know, doesn't it?

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I have that book. Looks like I bought it last April. I should put it in my pile of books to be read soon.
KarenJo, the book is excellent, although the training really brought it alive for me. You can get more by viewing Baxter's YouTube videos and also following the YfHA blog.

RE falls, Baxter said that there hasn't yet been a study as to whether falls are decreased among yoga practitioners; I'd love to know! I agree that being able to "catch yourself" in a fall is a key skill.

ETA:
I forgot that Baxter also gave 3 things that are the main risk factors for falls: 1) muscle weakness, 2) being on 4+ prescription medications, and 3) poor balance. I was found to have osteopenia in my right hip this past April, but since I don't have any of those other risk factors, I'm not too worried about it.
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Old 10-17-21, 08:08 PM  
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I'll probably wind up sharing my thoughts about this training kind of piecemeal. I have access to recordings from the program for a few weeks; I'd like to go back and review some of the material if I get a chance.

The Yoga for Healthy Aging book focuses on these main aspects of healthy aging: strength, flexibility, balance, and agility. During the first weekend, we learned about all of these topics and did focused practices for each area. This weekend, we learned additionally about cardio health, immune support, and stress management, and we did practices in this additional areas as well. On both weekends, we also did some work on yoga philosophy and how it might relate to aging. We discussed ways equanimity can have a positive impact on aging, including accepting what comes, dropping the resistance, having a willingness not to manipulate outcomes, and keeping an open mind; we also talked about how having equanimity can help us to deal with the inevitable losses that occur with aging.

One of Baxter's tips for a strength practice was something he called "Slow Motion Outer Space," or slowing things down, just like the principle of a concentric/eccentric contraction. He also recommended an isometric contraction when holding the pose. For balance, his recommendations included doing poses/practices that are new to you (especially with adding props), adding in more variety, and having a non-judgmental/mindful attitude. For flexibility, he recommended dynamic movements and flows as well as stretching in different fascia plans (e.g., moving arms/legs apart from each other). For heart health, Baxter recommended including challenging standing poses, bearing weight on the arms, practicing dynamic flows, and doing both inverted (including partial) and restorative poses. We talked separately about brain health, but Baxter repeatedly emphasized that anything you do for your body is good for your brain!

Here is a final thing for today that really spoke to me. Baxter said that for healthy aging, Western medicine recommends the following: 1) managing chronic stress, 2) getting enough/good sleep, 3) engaging in learning, 4) staying connected with community, and 5) exercising. He emphasized that yoga provides ALL of these benefits plus adds 2 more skills, meditation and equanimity.
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Old 10-18-21, 02:42 PM  
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Thanks for the reports, Beth! Like Leonana, this thread makes me want to get back into yoga, too.

I hadn't been doing much yoga (well, except for a few stretches here and there) because my balance is so terrible in my right (broken ankle) leg, as well right-ankle/foot flexibility, which makes so many poses difficult if not impossible. However, today I did a workout on the YT Fit and Silver channel that included yoga and I was actually able to do Warrior II without too much wobbling. That was really encouraging to me, so I decided to start trying more yoga and to use props if necessary for those "impossible" poses.

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Old 02-04-24, 06:12 PM  
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Reviving this thread to report on another workshop!
It was an experiential anatomy workshop called Align - Entwine - Redefine.
https://www.facebook.com/events/9693.../?ref=newsfeed

It was taught by Michael Amy, an Iyengar instructor, certified yoga therapist, and physical therapist with expertise in adaptive yoga, anatomy, and more:
https://www.michaelamyyogapt.com/

I've taken 2 prior workshops/classes with Michael. The first was Sept 2019, a "yoga on the ropes" class in which we did all kinds of fun acro-ish things on ropes hanging off the studio wall. More recently (April 2023), I went to an adaptive yoga fundraiser class that was basic but really enjoyable.

I've decided I'm a fan girl of Michael. By voice, he sounds a lot like Paul Grilley, and in teaching style, he is like a cross between Rodney Yee and James Knight! He has that precision of an Iyengar teacher with some movement patterns that are very similar to James's work.

To start the class, Michael spent about 20-30 minutes reviewing anatomy, and then the rest of the class was practice. There were a few quotes he shared at the beginning that I liked "focus on the shape of the experience, not the shape of the pose" and "your posture is your story." The brief anatomy review focused on the front and back body spirals and the position of the organs in the body.

For the practice part, Michael basically led us through interesting twists on on familiar movements and poses, with the goal of feeling the spirals in the body and opening both the front and the back line. The first thing he had us do was lie on our backs with just one tennis ball under the sacrum for several minutes; this was so we could feel the sacrum moving into the body. Throughout the class, he frequently reminded us to think about the line running from the center of the back of our skull down to the sacrum (and he also repeatedly reminded us to "relax the jaw"!).

Here are a few of the movement patterns we did. I'll try to explain as best I can!
  • Lie on the back, right knee bent, foot flat on the floor. Push into (but don't lift) the right foot so that your right hip starts to lift and your body, including your right knee, starts to twist towards the left. Repeat several times and then switch to the second side.
  • Lie on your back and raise your arms to the ceiling; hold opposite elbows. Place both feet flat on the floor hip width. Let the knees drop to the right as the elbows move left; turn head/eye gaze same direction as knees. Move from side to side.
  • Lie on back with arms in cactus. Cross right leg over left. Drop both legs to right as the left arm reaches away on a diagonal. Repeat several times and then switch to second side.
  • Come to a prone (face-down) position. Place the tip of a sandbag (I think you could also use a rolled blanket) to the right of the belly button, along the crease of the hip/where the psoas muscle would be. Slide the right knee into a frog leg, staying below the hip. Stay for several minutes. Take the prop away and feel the effects; repeat on the other side.
  • Lie prone, hands stacked under forhead, right hand on top. Keeping hands attached to the forhead, lift the head/upper torso off the ground as you twist right, raising the left leg at the same time. Go back and forth from side to side (Michael called this "swimming").

There was also a very methodical hand to big toe series. We did standing stuff too, as simple as lifting the inner arches in mountain pose and also using a chair for versions of revolved triangle and shoulder stand.

At the end, Michael asked us to jot down suggestions for future workshop topics, and I made him a list. I would love to practice with him again.

Also, the yoga studio where he teaches is beautiful. I'd only been inside once before, for a workshop many years ago (with a different instructor), although it shares a yard with the zen center, which I've been to, and I attended an outdoor yoga/photography workshop in the garden during covid, which was very cool - the gardens there are so peaceful.

This is the studio (although there aren't many photos of the space):
https://openskyyoga.com/

The photos here show some of the shared outdoor space with the Zen Center (plus a number of dogs, LOL):
https://www.google.com/search?q=roch...NsWElEa1pWeElp

ETA:
Coming back on 2/5/24 to add a few more things that I remembered. These were done without the mat and are a bit harder to describe, but I'll try my best!
  • Place a rectangular folded blakent on the floor (no mat/carpet) so that your body from shoulders to pelvis is on the blanket. Bend right knee, foot flat on the floor. Let left leg come into 1/2 butterfly, and tuck the top of the left foot behind the right foot. Reach down with the right hand and grab the top of the right foot. Similar to the first exercise above, press into the right foot as the right hip lifts, the body turns towards the left, and your gaze goes to your left elbow (left hand behind head).
  • Start seated directly on the floor (no mat/blanket), legs in a 90/90 position. Rock from 90/90 with one leg in front to 90/90 with other leg in front. After a few back and forth, come to the first side, twist to that side so that the hands come down to the floor, and come into downward dog - you'll wind up facing the opposite way that you started in 90/90. Repeat second side.
  • Start directly on the floor (no mat/blanket) in plank pose. Move one knee towards opposite arm. Start to place that leg down (as if you were going into pigeon), but as you do so, quickly swing the other leg in front so that you are seated on your bottom, and let the momentum cause you to spin on your bottom all the way around to the other side and back to plank!
I believe Michael called these last two "play time," LOL (the first he called cleaning the floor!). I was able to do them both, but for the last one, I really had to push off my hands to get enough spin to go to the other side.
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Old 02-04-24, 10:15 PM  
Paine
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Beth, wow that sounds like a fun class! Thank you for telling us about it. You are lucky that Michael's class was in your city.
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Old 02-04-24, 10:26 PM  
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Beth, wow that sounds like a fun class! Thank you for telling us about it. You are lucky that Michael's class was in your city.
It was fun! And yes he teaches locally at that same studio. It's in the city of Rochester and only about 15 minutes away from where I am in the suburbs, but it's kind of hard to find parking there - I'd probably go there more often if that wasn't the case! But I'd still love to do another workshop with Michael in the future.
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Old 02-05-24, 01:39 AM  
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The Zen Garden looks beautiful. I’d love to be there!
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Old 02-05-24, 11:06 AM  
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Beth, your workshop sounds wonderful and I bet you felt great afterward.

Thanks for reviving the thread!
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Old 02-05-24, 11:14 AM  
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The Zen Garden looks beautiful. I’d love to be there!
Sherry, it's a really peaceful location. I did an all-day intro to Zen workshop which was really nice (although we were indoors some of the time).

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Beth, your workshop sounds wonderful and I bet you felt great afterward.
Yes, I felt very open! I actually have just a bit of glute soreness today.

I remembered a few additional things we did; when I get a chance, I will go back and edit.
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