Are all the expressions of Warrior 2 above Integrated Poses?

Clearly, you have received helpful tips to date. Yet, can you think of examples where you were guided to apply tips and beliefs to your practice which did not make it easier? Although suspicious, you did what they recommended. Only to find that your knees or back remained tense in your daily life. Or maybe, as I heard new teachers say, they developed sciatica from training and teaching.

As a yoga teacher or fitness trainer, when you give tips to students, it can be very helpful, or it can create trouble. Why?

1. They do not necessarily apply what they were told, the way it was meant (mainly due to their personal habits).
2. Or, it helps them with one aspect of their challenge, but it doesn’t change their overall approach to movement. As a result, they are still creating trouble for themselves in other ways. And still looking for tips to solve these challenges.

Teachers have a whole repertoire of tips & beliefs meant to help with yoga poses and fitness trainers do too. And they are always looking for more. Some are helpful, and some are actually dangerous. Here are a couple examples:

1. Do not let your knees go past your toes. In some poses, it is sound advice to save your knees while in other poses it actually kills your knee joints.
2. Lengthen your back. When you hear it as “allow your back to lengthen”, it is fine. When you arch your back, thinking you are lengthening it, you are actually stressing your spine and your whole body. And since you do it out of habit, you may not even be aware you are doing it.

So, tips and beliefs around movements can create more trouble than they are worth even though they come from well-meaning teachers who heard it from their own well-meaning teachers.

The truth is that, although fitness is meant to help you be fit, it has evolved into a mixed bag. It helps you in some ways. You see some good results, so you stick with it. Yet, you can also damage your body in the process if you do not have a bigger picture. If you do not have an approach to use your body as the integrated whole that it is. And most of the time, you do not realize this. You do not necessarily connect the dots when an injury happens, especially if it is off the mat.

Listening to your body is definitely a first good step to prevent hurting yourself. However, until you know if you are catering to the preferences of your body habits or listening to the guidance of your whole-body intelligence, you may be reinforcing daily habits that are not serving you. To avoid doing this, it is helpful to discover how to activate your Whole-Body Intelligence. It is your inner teacher and it is always 100% correct. Only there is a difference between listening to your body and listening to your Whole-Body Intelligence Guidance once activated.

Interested in learning this skill? Email me and we can ask each other questions and assess together where you are at right now and if this work is a good fit for you. Remember that it is never what you do that you regret, but what you did not do when you had the chance! 

Cécile Raynor has been teaching the Alexander Technique for about 30 years out of which came her Body Intelligence Activation Process™ (B.I.A. Process) to assist anyone use their mind/body the wise way to prevent or clear, chronic tension or pain, of body and mind.

She also works with yogis of all levels interested in using their body more efficiently on and off the mat in a way not taught in regular training courses. A Thai Yoga Massage Therapist and a Reiki Practitioner, Cécile is a faculty at the Akasha Yoga Teacher Training Course and the author of THE WISE WAY TO YOGA which is available on Amazon or from Cécile if you are local to Boston!

In May, I launched The Wise Yoga Tribe through a FB group by the same name. If you are interested in discovering the different aspects of Wise Yoga and up-leveling your practice, please join the group by clicking the following link: Wise Yoga Tribe with Cécile. Make sure to answer the 3 membership questions to help me help you as I know who you are and what you are looking for.

What is it and who is it for exactly?

Beyond “Power Yoga” & “Gentle Yoga, there is a new approach which I call “Wise Yoga”! It can be applied to any style of yoga to relieve and prevent chronic tension, pain, or injury as well as deepen a practice.

This community exists for yoga lovers of all levels, and especially those with concerns and questions for themselves or others, as to chronic tension or pain not being resolved by the practice of yoga.

Would you like to explore or be part of the discussion on how to practice and teach yoga the wise way? Would you be interested in exploring the wise way to yoga as directed by your whole-body intelligence once activated?

If so, I invite you to join this purpose-driven community to practice more efficiently as a practitioner, to deeply impact more students as a teacher, and, in the process, to contribute as a tribe to the wise evolution of modern yoga. Ready to Join Wise Yoga Tribe

Cécile Raynor has been teaching the Alexander Technique for about 30 years out of which came her Body Intelligence Activation Process™ (B.I.A. Process) to assist anyone use their mind/body the wise way to prevent or clear, chronic tension or pain, of body and mind.

She also works with yogis of all levels interested in using their body more efficiently on and off the mat in a way not taught in regular training courses. A Thai Yoga Massage Therapist and a Reiki Practitioner, Cécile is a faculty at the Akasha Yoga Teacher Training Course and the author of THE WISE WAY TO YOGA which is available on Amazon or from Cécile if you are local to Boston!

Recently, I read “Practicing good posture can reduce the risk of fracture”.

However, many people have an incomplete idea about what “Good Posture” really means.

The facts are:

• It is not something you really practice.
• It is not something you have to think about or position yourself into.
• And it is not something you can stabilize with regular muscle strengthening exercises alone.

So, what is Natural Good Posture?
And how can it help prevent, delay, or reduce the side-effects of Osteoporosis?

Natural good posture is an expression of a body functioning as the integrated whole that it is designed to be – as we can observe in healthy children and tribal people. They do not need to think about good posture, they just embody it most of the time. And if they slouch during a specific activity, they spring right back into natural good posture when they stand up and start moving – partly because they usually do not sit in the same way for hours on end.

The beauty of “Natural Good Posture” is that:
* You do not need to think about it to be upright
* You do not need to use your muscles to position your skeletal structure just so
* It strengthens both your bones and your postural muscles organically

Like most adults, you may have integrated a habit to slouch into your daily movements. As a result, you believe that to reclaim it when you think about it, you must position your shoulders and chest a certain way. The thing is, how long does it stay in place? The minute you forget about it, your posture probably collapses right back down within minutes if not seconds. Does this sound familiar?

The truth is that most people are so self-conscious about their posture, they spend loads of money on posture-related gadgets. Unfortunately, even the best of the gadgets – those who help people become aware when they are slouching – won’t deliver results without undesirable side-effects when they actually deliver results. Why?

The nudge from the posture gadget triggers a “straightening up” reaction that is not helpful to strengthen your postural muscles at all. What it does is build up excess tension in your back movement muscles which are not designed to support your skeletal structure. This is why they get tired very quickly.

So, to come back to people who are concerned about osteoporosis, developing natural good posture is the best remedy to prevent or reduce the effects associated with this challenge. When enjoying natural good posture, the postural muscles work in cooperation with the skeletal structure and the body function as the integrated whole that it is designed to be. Posture supporting muscles along the spine and the bones of your skeletal structure strengthen organically from carrying your own weight in harmony with gravity.

As commonly acknowledged, an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure. To that effect, you may want to assess where you stand when it comes to “Integrated Functioning”. I actually created a Free Self-Evaluation to do just that in the privacy of your own home. Don’t hesitate to ask for it.

If you prefer me to help you assess in a more personal way, schedule an appointment by clicking the following link: Free Consult with Cécile

Cécile Raynor has been teaching the Alexander Technique for about 30 years out of which came her Body Intelligence Activation Process™ (B.I.A. Process) to assist anyone use their mind/body the wise way to prevent or clear, chronic tension or pain, of body and mind.

She also works with yogis of all levels interested in using their body more efficiently on and off the mat in a way not taught in regular training courses. A Thai Yoga Massage Therapist and a Reiki Practitioner, Cécile is a faculty at the Akasha Yoga Teacher Training Course and the author of THE WISE WAY TO YOGA which is available on Amazon or from Cécile if you are local to Boston!

I read a post from a yoga teacher who was listing all the ways in which yoga teachers can unknowingly hurt their students. And she was wondering what happened to the principle of Ahimsa, a deliberate choice to avoid creating pain (to ourselves or others).

Of course, no yoga teacher chooses 
to hurt themselves or their students on purpose.

Yoga helps lots of people with their aches and pain.
How can people get hurt practicing yoga, even when they are being mindful?
How can mindful teachers promote injuries in students?

Maybe we may start by wondering about why are EXCESS TENSION and POOR POSTURE in daily life such common problems? Even with yoga practitioners and teachers!

The fact is that you can only be mindful of what you are aware of. And how people unknowingly misuse their hinges on and off the mat is not commonly in their range of awareness.

One of the reasons for this is a LACK OF CLARITY as to how to use joints appropriately on and off the mat.

UNKNOWINGLY CREATING FAKE JOINTS causes much tension build-up in your muscles and a common habit to lock your real joints both on and off the mat.

And these habits become a vicious cycle!

When you use your NECK AS A HINGE to initiate a head motion, you unknowingly create tension in your neck because your neck is not a joint.

When you use your BACK AS A HINGE to move your torso, you unknowingly create tension in your back because your back is not the joint to move your torso from.

THE TRICK IS
you may not always be doing 
what you think you are doing!

As a result, you go from unknowingly stressing your muscles and joints to stretching them – till you run the risk of killing their natural tone.

Your “fake joints” (usually muscles) eventually complain that you’re giving them a job that’s not theirs to do. All the while, you wonder why your neck or back hold such a level of tension when you work so hard at stretching your tension?

That’s one vicious cycle that keeps your body uptight in daily life, even when you’re not even stressed out! Being stressed out will naturally enhance this tension cycle.

FLEXIBILITY STARTS WITH AWARENESS OF YOUR REAL JOINTS 
being used appropriately and without excess tension. This promotes you functioning as the integrated whole that you are whatever you are doing. 

FOR NOW, START TO OBSERVE YOURSELF. Next time you go about stretching a muscle, check if your overall body is in a state of expansion, contraction, or compression?

How can you lengthen muscles when your body is in a shortened state?

How can your energy flow through you if your joints are locked while in a pose?

Do you want to change how you use your body and practice yoga more efficiently?
Do you want to promote inner expansion so your muscles and joints can truly release?
Do you want to experience natural good posture (even when you are not thinking about it). 

I am happy to assist you in any way I can. It is my life purpose to inspire and guide you to DANCE THE JOY OF WHOLENESS.

Besides, there is nothing like a fresh perspective to UP-LEVEL YOUR PRACTICE.

You’ve got nothing to lose 
in exploring this approach 
but habits that no longer serve you!

If you are ready to be free of chronic tension or pain lingering despite your yoga practice, or you want to take constructive action to prevent this common challenge, schedule a Free Consult with me and I will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Namaste!:)

Cécile Raynor has been teaching the Alexander Technique for about 30 years out of which came her Body Intelligence Activation Process™ (B.I.A. Process) to assist anyone use their body the wise way to prevent or clear, chronic tension or pain, of body or mind.

She also works with yogis interested in using their body more efficiently on and off the mat in a way not taught in regular training courses. A Thai Yoga Massage Therapist and a Reiki Practitioner, Cécile is a faculty at the Akasha Yoga Teacher Training Course and the author of THE WISE WAY TO YOGA which is available on Amazon or from Cecile if you are local to Boston!

Is your main concern to feel good when you are on the mat?
(Whatever that means for you personally).

Do you believe that if your practice feels good on the mat, it promotes your well-being off the mat? How sure are you that this is always the truth? Or that it is the WHOLE TRUTH?

Have you ever thought that maybe, going far in a pose just because you’re able to, could potentially promote injury? Or do you think that the more the better whether you are strengthening or stretching (as long as it feels good in the moment)?

For instance, when you extend your head as far back as you can in COBRA or PIGEON, do you realize that you are actually compressing the back of your neck, and possibly your midback?

I know it is a common way to do this pose, some teachers do it this way as well and it is considered Instagram worthy. Yet IS THIS REALLY SERVING YOUR BODY AS A WHOLE?

And where does all that compressed tension go? Are you bringing it back home?

Could it be why daily tension seems to linger endlessly despite your committed practice?

Do you find yourself caught in this ADDICTIVE CYCLE that produces both benefits and drawbacks? And you are left not knowing how to get out of it without letting go of your yoga practice (which you naturally do not want to do)?

If that resonates with your experience, 
I want you to know that THIS IS NOT REALLY YOUR FAULT. 
And it can be confusing because a safe practice does feel good as well!:)

You’ve been taught to handle your body this way by your teachers themselves taught by their teachers since the 19th century. Only, the Hatha yoga revival of that time period came with challenges that are not yet really resolved.

The truth is, it is time to face and solve these challenges if you truly want to experience well-being off the mat. It is the job of every teacher and every practitioner to stand up for a safer approach to yoga regardless of body shape, fitness level or yoga style. 

Yoga feeling-good sensations can be part of the picture, but not the whole picture if you want to safely enjoy yoga for a lifetime. They are a very SUBJECTIVE ASSESSMENT of how you are doing with your practice.

When you understand that your MIND AND SKELETAL STRUCTURE have more to do with your STRENGTH AND FLEXIBILITY than your muscles, you can challenge yourself and also increasingly reach the best expression of every pose without the need to strain one bit. You stop telling your body how to handle your every move. You remember that your innate body intelligence already knows.

To learn to practice yoga with such EFFICIENCY, handle movements or improve your posture without muscle straining, choose to be exposed to The Wise Way to Yoga by attending my next Free Masterclass or be inquisitive and private message me. All you’ve got to lose is some unnecessary tension. 

Cecile Raynor has been teaching the Alexander Technique for over 30 years out of which came her Body Intelligence Activation Process™ (B.I.A. Process). It has supported yogis of all levels to enhance their practice towards best performance with optimal safety. She is also studying Energy Medicine to add another dimension to her work.

Faculty at Akasha Yoga Teacher Training, Cécile has run a 12 months Mastermind for Yoga Teachers with a Vision, and a 90 Day Live Online Program for trainees, new teachers and committed yoga practitioners interested in using their body more efficiently on and off the mat in a way not taught in regular training courses. Author of THE WISE WAY TO YOGA which is available on Amazon, Cécile launched a community for yogis which you are welcome to join by clicking WISE YOGA TRIBE

During a yoga class, as we were in a challenging pose, the teacher made the following comment, “your body wants the path of least resistance; in yoga, you want the path of most resistance.” Is this really true?

Not all yoga teachers would agree with this statement. Yet many people do associate yoga with a strenuous practice of some kind. In fact, there is a trend for resistance training that encourages this approach. And yes, it appears logical and practicing this way can yield results as well.

Is it really necessary to go against the guidance of your whole-body intelligence to build up strength? Is there a price to pay if you don’t have an effective tool to assess when to stop (beyond your own subjective notion of what is enough or not)?

The truth is that without an objective tool to assess when enough is enough beyond whether it hurts or not, it becomes too easy to overdo and create excess tension while you are building strength. So, yes, you are getting stronger, but you are also getting stiffer in the process like the yogis compressing the back of their neck to expand the front.

What are the signs you may be overdoing unknowingly?

1. You need to stretch your muscles constantly, whether on or off the mat
2. You experience sensitivity or pain in your joints periodically
3. You struggle with frozen shoulders or poor posture
4. You behave in an unflexible manner more often than not

If you experience one or more of these challenges, you may be getting more than you bargain for while working on strengthening using resistance to an extreme.

In truth, you can challenge yourself and work with resistance in a way that does not have undesirable side effects. How?

1. Approach all forms of exercise as a whole-body experience in the same way you approach walking, running, going up the stairs or riding a bike. In these activities, you don’t tell each body part how to do their job. You trust they know what they are doing.
2. Discover how your skeleton and muscles can work as team partners to develop flexible strength. Your muscles don’t need to steal the show as if your body strength was their exclusive responsibility.
3. Realize that challenging yourself as a whole is more efficient and effective than focusing on isolated body parts alone. For instance, doing a squat while still fully balanced above your feet benefits your whole body instead of just your quads.

Resistance becomes an obstacle that tends to backfire when you focus on individual muscles, isolated body parts, or pushing to an extreme while losing track of whole-body harmony.

It creates excess tension that shows up sooner or later and promotes injury.

Resistance is a benefit serving all of you when you practice resistance as a whole-body experience (whatever body parts you hope to strengthen). It works from head to toes in a mind/body partnership.

The fact is that the whole is designed to take care of the parts 
which is not true the other way around...

Would love to know your thoughts and experience with this.
Let me know what you think?

Today is International Yoga Day and we are supposed to educate people on the benefits of yoga or share our experience. Mind led me to create Wise Yoga to help the many yoga teachers and practitioners who came to see me to help them be free of chronic tension or pain or to help them feel more balanced in a mind/body way.

Beyond “Power Yoga” & “Gentle Yoga, there is a new approach which I call “Wise Yoga”!

It can be applied to any style of yoga to relieve and prevent chronic tension, pain, or injury in a sustainable way as well as deepen a practice.

It also aligns the essence of initial yoga with modern yoga simply by the way practitioners use their bodies in line with their whole-body wisdom.

The WISE YOGA TRIBE was just launched. This community exists for yoga lovers of all levels, and especially those with concerns and questions for themselves or others, as to chronic tension or pain not being resolved by the practice of yoga.

Would you like to explore or be part of the discussion on how to practice and teach yoga the wise way?

Would you be interested in exploring the wise way to yoga as directed by your whole-body intelligence once activated? A very unique approach to working with your body more fully!

If so, I invite you to join this purpose-driven community to practice more efficiently as a practitioner, to deeply impact more students as a teacher, and, in the process, to contribute as a tribe to the wise evolution of modern yoga.

To join us, click I Want to Join Wise Yoga Tribe

If you have any questions about this, feel free to reach out to me by responding to this post!

Till then, enjoy International Yoga Day!

Cécile 🙂

I want to start by wishing you a wonderful, joyful, healthy and prosperous New Year. And I want to recommend to look inside for what you need before spending time, money and energy outside of yourself assuming others know more. They may but your intuition has to have the last say for you to get the most out of what information you are given.

I have been away from my social media routine for about a month and it gave me some perspective on what is worth doing and not-so-worth doing going into 2019. And I will share below my 5 thoughts based on my experience and 5 top resolutions in the hope it can be of service to you too.

1) Not all businesses automatically blossom with social media exposure and yet, solopreneurs feel they have to do it or else. It has not worked efficiently for me yet. However, I have expanded my business more substantially (with paying clients ) in the past few months going out, socializing, and having fun than when I was spending endless hours connecting to people online.

2) Sticking to our resolutions becomes a lot easier when it is part of a bigger picture rather than when it is a list of isolate ventures. Whether losing weight or growing a business, it becomes a meaningful venture when you are clear about why you want to do it and if that goal includes your personal needs and the needs of others (rather than focusing on one or the other). It is also more efficient when you start by knowing you are enough to start with. You don’t need to do anything else to be enough. Anything you do will only enhance your enoughness!:)

3) Many of us want to live in a more harmonious world, and yet, we do not really know how our body parts function as an integrated whole or how our inner parts function as a happy family. The truth is that the whole takes care of the parts but it is not true the other way round. And yet, modern fitness is still focusing on body parts. The thing is how can we create a better world if we are not ourselves functioning in an integrated way whether we are on or off the mat?

So, my 5 top resolutions
(not in any order of importance) are as follows:

1) Focus on having fun while growing my business
2) Less screen time, more personal connections out into my local world
3) Keep going to my hot yoga class as the integrated body that I am, using poses as a guide, not a goal. Disregarding what others around me are doing or what the teacher is saying if it does not agree with my whole body intelligence.
4) Make a point to have outdoor time daily in any weather and to keep prioritizing meditation and exercise first thing in the morning.
5) Remind myself daily that I am enough as is, and I am beautiful and successful despite the greyness of some days. Remind myself how beautiful we all are deep down, even when we witness negative words, gestures or behaviors.

Cecile Raynor has been teaching the Alexander Technique for over 25 years out of which came her Body Intelligence Activation Process™ (B.I.A. Process) to assist yogis in enhancing their practice towards best performance with optimal safety. She is also a Thai Yoga Massage Therapist and a Reiki Practitioner. Faculty at Akasha Yoga Teacher Training, she runs a 12 months Mastermind for Yoga Teachers with a Vision, and a 90 Day Live Online Program for trainees, new teachers and committed yoga practitioners interested in using their body more efficiently on and off the mat in a way not taught in regular training courses. She is also the author of a June 2018 publication called THE WISE WAY TO YOGA which is available on Amazon or from Cecile if you are local to Boston!

Are you addicted to yoga?
Maybe not. But just in case, read on….

Yoga can be very addictive. And because it is recommended as a solution for good health, or because you have gotten some benefits from it already, it is easy to assume it is a GOOD ADDICTION.

Yet, are addictions ever a good thing when the foundation of all addictions is some loss of control over a specific behavior?

Why does this matter with your yoga practice?

When addicted to your practice, you don’t control your habit,                  YOUR HABIT CONTROLS YOU!

It affects your decisions and intention regarding your practice, It affects the quality of your movements…

YOUR HABIT PUSHES YOU TO OVERDO in an attempt to be comfortable with the uncomfortable.
Or it is simply ADDICTED TO WHAT FEELS GOOD AND FAMILIAR (whether it serves you or not).

All the while, you are unknowingly reinforcing limiting beliefs about yourself, all based on “I AM NOT GOOD ENOUGH”. Yap, that’s right even if you do not feel this on the conscious level!

I know a yin yoga practitioner who was addicted to her yin yoga practice because it always felt so good to stretch her body. Yet she had killed her muscle tone in the process and her body was aching all the time when off the mat. She could not step out of the cycle because she did not understand the root of her predicament.

When addicted, you dread the thought of skipping a class. YOU’RE AFRAID you’ll get out of sorts or worsen without your daily fix.
You may feel you’re not good enough if you can’t do a specific pose the way you want. So, you keep at it. You assume persistence is the only way to improve even if it is not so.

Or else, you feel you need to do more yoga to keep thin. To get a firmer and stronger body or be more flexible.

In the process, you become A CATASTROPHE READY TO HAPPEN

The tension you stretch keeps coming back day in and day out. And sooner or later, you get injured and you wonder why?

Do any of these scenarios resonate with you?

THE TRUTH IS: – You can challenge yourself and get awesome results without being addicted to your practice.- You can get fit without overdoing.

To be truly fit, your body must function well as the integrated whole that it is. When it does, you don’t experience excessive bodily tension or poor posture in your daily life. And,
– You feel that YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH BEFORE YOU GET TO THE MAT yet you don’t act overconfident acting from a need to show off (overconfidence is another form of not feeling good enough and it can still keep you disconnected from your whole body intelligence)
– Your yoga practice becomes a way to promote and MAINTAIN GOOD HEALTH rather than an ongoing attempt to fix your body.

If challenging yourself without fostering injury is what you REALLY want, if you want to enjoy yoga without the shadow side of addiction then join my next FREE MASTERCLASS!

“Learn 5 Strategies to Prevent Injury & Practice or Teach Yoga at your Best!”

Cecile Raynor has been teaching the Alexander Technique for over 25 years out of which came her Body Intelligence Activation Process™ (B.I.A. Process) to assist yogis in enhancing their practice towards best performance with optimal safety. She is also a Thai Yoga Massage Therapist and a Reiki Practitioner. Faculty at Akasha Yoga Teacher Training, she runs a 12 months Mastermind for Yoga Teachers with a Vision, and a 90 Day Live Online Program for trainees, new teachers and committed yoga practitioners interested in using their body more efficiently on and off the mat in a way not taught in regular training courses. She is also the author of a June 2018 publication called THE WISE WAY TO YOGA which is available on Amazon or from Cecile if you are local to Boston!