New Yoga and Movement Classes at Healium!

This week we've been sharing the results of our yoga survey and all the exciting new developments happening at Healium. Today we have a first look at our newly expanded class schedule, which goes into effect Monday, 2 April.

And now - apart from the Group Private Classes - you can use your concession (4 classes for for $40, etc.) for any class on the schedule! Mix and match your classes, times and teachers - have fun and go crazy! Just be sure to book your classes through our Ezybook page.

Over the next week or so we'll be going into more detail on our new classes - stay tuned! For now, here's a quick summary of all our class offerings:

Chi Power. A blend of conditioning exercises, martial arts including tai chi, qi gong and karate, and moving meditation that strengthens your body, enhances your mobility and develops your internal energy for greater health and vitality. With Algernon Williams.

Elemental Yoga. Explore the energetic elements of Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Ether through yoga postures that release, invigorate and rejuvenate the whole person - you! With Elissa Jordan.

Feldenkrais - Awareness Through Movement. A mindful practice that creates new connections between body and brain, facilitating ways to move with greater freedom. With Oli Wiles.

Fertility Yoga. Explore yoga postures and breathwork that support fertility. Postures focus on the endocrine system, and you'll have time to discuss your unique situation and gain insight from other students into the process of supporting fertility naturally. All women welcome! With Jenifer Parker.

Gentle Yoga. Using props and a gentle sequence of yoga postures, this class is designed to release tension and develop deep relaxation. With Valerie Love and Jenifer Parker.

Group Private Class. A private yoga (other other movement) class designed specifically for the needs of your organization. (If you'd like one of these for your group, let us know and we'll work something out!) With Jenifer Parker.

Postnatal Yoga. Bring your babies and enjoy a fun yoga class where we work on realigning and strengthening the hips and pelvic floor, reducing the "mummy tummy" (including healing the diastasis recti) and relieving tension in the neck, shoulders and upper back! Mothers and babies up to one year old are welcome; breastfeeding and laughter encouraged! With Jenifer Parker.

Pregnancy Yoga. While all of our classes are prenatal appropriate, we now offer this special women's-only pregnancy yoga class to facilitate your body's comfort and balance during pregnancy, as well as prepare for labor and birth. With Jenifer Parker.

Power Yoga. A flowing sequence of postures and breathwork to develop physical and mental integrity and agility. With Jenifer Parker.

Power Yoga Basics. This class offers the benefits of power yoga but goes into greater depth on the alignment of postures, breathwork and philosophy. Great for everyone, perfect for beginners! With Jenifer Parker.

And finally our special free "off-the-grid" class, held the second Saturday of every month, starting 14 April:

Power Yoga Exploration. Deepen your practice! A 75-minute class for exploring how yoga works, having fun with your postures and relaxing. Held the second Saturday of every month; available free of charge to any student who has been coming to the studio for six months or more and is on a current concession or is a regular drop-in. With Jenifer Parker.

Healium Yoga News: Updated Class Schedule

Hello, and welcome back to yoga, to Healium, and to a new year. We're really excited to see everyone returning after the holidays - as well as lots of new faces - and eager to hear of your adventures.

We've been busy too. If you haven't already seen, we've expanded the studio, doubling the space and adding a bunch of beautiful new Manduka mats for your use. And our full yoga schedule has resumed with teachers Jennifer Parker (Power Yoga) and Elissa Jordan (It's Just Yoga). Here it is:

Remember, if you've bought a class concession, you can attend any class listed except for the Group Private classes (marked with an asterisk). If you'd like one of these for your organization, however, let us know and we'll work something out! As always, we recommend booking your classes through our Ezybook page.

Finally, if you're into Feldenkrais, the next session of Awareness Through Movement group classes starts up on Thursday, 9 February. These are led by Oli Wiles.

We'll see you soon!

Pimp Your Stretch

How Feldenkrais Can Make a Stretch More Effective

It's not just about a stretch, it's about how you do it. If you "pimp your stretch" with Feldenkrais you can transform a crude muscle extension into an opportunity to let go of tension.

Think this is cool? Check out the video below.

The worn-out approach

"It's a bit of a stretch" implies taking something too far, beyond what's reasonable. But is it reasonable to "feel" a good stretch? Often we look for some sort of resistance, as if finding tension reassures us that we are doing the stretch properly. But isn't tension what we're trying to get rid of?

When we push hard into a stretch, we often stretch out what's already flexible, but the tight parts get the message "work hard" and just tighten more. When stretching hard, the tight parts work to resist the stretch. It's like untangling a mess of string by pulling on the loose ends - more often then not, the knots just get tighter.

Tangled up in blue.

The smart solution

With a Feldenkrais approach, you'd first look at the tangle carefully. Then you'd slowly and gently try pulling and pushing little by little, bit by bit, changing angles, going to the middle, then working further out. By observing how the knots start to tighten and loosen, you'd slowly work out how to untangle the string.

This approach doesn't necessarily ensure quick or straightforward solutions. The aim is to pay full attention to the process and to let go of any expectation of an immediate outcome.

So when it comes to stretching, instead of feeling for the stretch or pain or resistance, we feel for a sense of ease. Comfort lets us know that we're not simply pulling the knots tighter, and it helps us to learn how to move without pain.

Here's an example of a simple stretch for the wrists, shoulders, and upper back, which you can do in your chair. You can "pimp" it by playing with aspects of the movement and looking for connections through your body.



Find out more about Oli Wiles and Feldenkrais at www.freetomove.co.nz.

Kicking the Habit? Look Both Ways - and Free Your Neck

Today Oli Wiles, Feldenkrais^® practitioner, questions the idea of kicking the habit and shows you some quick Feldenkrais tricks for releasing your neck.

Habits are a hot topic in Feldenkrais, and I've been thinking about them a lot as I've been cycling around Wellington this week.

Downtown, several one-way streets have recently been converted into two-way streets. The change has been front-page news, mostly because it hasn't gone smoothly. Many people have found it hard to kick the habit of looking in only one direction to cross those streets. A few have been hit by buses.

Check out the Stuff article: Blood on Wellington's new bus lane.

Replacing compulsion with adaptability

And maybe look left too . . .

Obviously, the habit of looking in that original direction - be it right or left - still has its place, and we shouldn't be aiming to kick it altogether. Otherwise, we'll just get hit by a bus coming the other way. Also, it's too easy to replace one limiting habit with another that may leave us equally unprepared for the next change.

Not all habits need to be eliminated. Many simply need to become less rigid or compulsive and more adaptive. We need to build a new awareness on top of them.

Good or bad?

Labeling a habit as "good" or "bad" can also be unhelpful. Things aren't always that clear-cut. For example, running every morning could get you fit - or it could wreck your knees. Drinking coffee obviously doesn't benefit your adrenal system - but it may get you through an important meeting.

The labeling may just send us into denial or make us feel bad. That's because our habits are often bound up with our sense of self.

Choice through awareness

So how does all this link to Feldenkrais?

The Feldenkrais approach to changing movement habits that cause pain or limit performance is to first slow our movements down. That way, we can become aware of - and accept - how we currently move. We can then explore other options from that starting place.

We look to expand our movement choices rather than replace or correct. After all, aping the "correct" way to move or stand, or using mindless repetitive exercises to elicit change, can often overlay tension on top of other tension or result in another compulsive habit.

Look both ways - and free your neck

Assuming that you're sitting at the safety of your desk right now, away from any moving traffic, let's begin a small exploration. Check out the movements in the video below.

A few weeks ago, I suggested similar movements to a woman who'd come to me before yoga class with a crick in her neck. She had woken up like that two days before and had not been able to turn her head to the right at all since. After less than four minutes of doing the movements, she had restored around 70% of her turning ability in her neck and was on a much faster track to full recovery.

You don't need to have such an extreme restriction to feel some benefit. Try out the sequence to improve the quality of movement in your neck and upper back and to relieve tension.

Obviously, this sequence is not intended to replace medical advice. Only do movements that feel 100% comfortable and safe. Go slow and easy - and enjoy!



Find out more about Feldenkrais at www.freetomove.co.nz.

On the Way!

Hello, Readers! We have a really fun Feldenkrais blog from Oli coming your way. It even has a video. But, we've been beset by all manner of technical difficulties, including (but not limited to) broadband shenanigans, excess wasabi and the solar wind. Fortunately, no malevolent forces have been involved.

So hang tight and we'll resume our regular blogging early next week. Have a beautiful weekend!

Free to Move with Feldenkrais

The first time I met the near-famous Oli Wiles at last year's Global Mala (I later discovered that nearly everyone in Wellington already knows him), he told me that his practice, the Feldenkrais Method, is hard to put into words.

Some would say that it's also hard to pronounce. It's not, really: /ˈfel-dən-ˌkrīs/. But since our initial conversation Oli has described Feldenkrais quite eloquently on his website, and I thought I'd also share my experiences with this subtle and deeply affecting practice.

One of the qualities unique to the Feldenkrais Method is its openness. It doesn't prescribe ideal states for the human musculoskeletal system. It doesn't say that you have to move in this way and not that way. It doesn't say, for example, that your rounded shoulders are bad and that you need to balance your pecs with your traps, or your ability to extend and depress your shoulder blades. Instead, it recognizes where you are, how your body is moving now - without concerning itself with past circumstances, or the stories you may have invented around perceived limitations or injuries - and asks you to try something new. To listen and "tune in" to how your body feels. To consider your options.

In a group class, for example, Oli might have you lie down on your mat and then ask you to very slowly raise your right hip off the ground. You do that, and then let it down. And then you elevate the left hip and let it down. Very simple. Then you do those movements in varying combinations: with the soles of your feet on the ground, while also moving your head left and then right or elevating one or both shoulders. Again, very simple stuff taking very little coordination or skill, like rubbing your belly and tapping your head at the same time!

What happens through these gentle movements, however, is an integration of both sides of your body. I realized very clearly, after only a couple of Oli's Awareness Through Movement group classes, that my body positioning was actually quite asymmetrical. This is a common experience, apparently, and can be a first step towards taking some "corrective" measures.

Sometimes, however, the experience is hard to put into words. Oli stresses that you are in a feeling space here, trying to tune in, and you may not be able to consciously articulate - yet - what it is your body is learning. You will be keenly aware, however, that you're taking in new information and processing it, integrating it. It's like you're five years old again and learning how to ride a bike! You're engaged in a holistic process, a subtle art that takes time and patience to fully appreciate.

In a one-on-one, or Functional Integration, session, pretty much the same thing happens, only the movement patterns and choices are specific to your particular needs. What if you tried this? What if, in my case, I squatted not by tucking the pelvis and focusing on the hips but by allowing the knees to rise? By bringing my attention to my knees I could suddenly squat without the usual tension. I was literally free to move in a way that had not been available to me.

In my experience, the Feldenkrais Method is about cultivating inner awareness, listening to your body and identifying and owning the choices you make with it as you move through the world. It's about bringing consciousness and intention to your movement . . . which leads to grace.

As Jenifer put it - and she's an experienced yoga teacher - "I haven't felt my skeleton in this way . . . ever!" Here's a clip of Jenifer and Oli working together: