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Yoga Inside Out - The Healing Way focuses on yoga body mechanics and optimal alignment as the keys to unlocking the healing power of yoga. The program consists of a lesson on yoga body mechanics and an 80-minute beginner-intermediate therapeutic practice.
Paula Tursi, Founder and Director of NYC-based Reflections Yoga, built this healing program with a special emphasis on discovering therapeutic benefits of yoga for improving the condition of the lower back, hips, and knees. The body mechanics lesson explores the anatomy of the pelvis and points out the causes of tension, tightness, and aches coming from incorrect carriage and imbalanced pelvic posture.
Tight hips, gluteal muscle gripping and misaligment of the spine are significant sources of lower back and knee pain. Opening the hips can create stability in the knee joints and help to properly align the lower back.
Paula teaches awareness of the four separate bones that form the pelvis, and prompts understanding of the differences between postures where two halves of the pelvis move as one unit or move independently. She teaches how to stabilize the spine while increasing the opening and mobility of the hips through maximizing the effectiveness of inner and outer hip rotation exercises.
Paula teaches simple techniques that transform familiar yoga exercises into deep therapeutic experience through additional awareness of the anatomy of movement. For instance, initiating movement from the pubic bone deepens poses such as Cat and Cow and allows you to capitalize on the widening or coming together of the sitting bones to stabilize and elongate the spine and increase the healing effect on the hip joints by boosting their mobility. Paula explains how moving from the hip joints, not from the knees, can increase hip mobility and guard against knee stress and injury.
The 80-minute practice features Paula’s instructional method of building a developmental progression of movements to awaken the body’s innate dynamics, expanding the range and depth of motion where it may have been left underdeveloped, and prompting one to move not just from the muscles and joints but also through drawing support from the inner body, organs, and breath. The session starts with breathing and focus exercises, and moves on to classic foundational yoga asanas, as well as more complex asanas to deepen and enhance muscle, joint, breath, and organ memory.
Throughout the practice, Paula and two assistants demonstrate different levels within the beginner - intermediate range, and provide variations showing different levels of fitness and flexibility.
The program is designed to bring awareness and health to the deeper systems of the body. It also takes the healing mystery out of the asana practice so it can be understood and used effectively by everyone. Those suffering from a particular structural malady, imbalance, or injury can use the information in this program to help remedy and cure the issue.