Do you get pain in your shoulders during certain movements or rotations? Can you lift your arms overhead without hiking your shoulders up to your ears? Do your arms fall asleep or feel pain when you sleep on your side? Do your shoulders feel that they are consistently weak and never able to gain strength or stability despite your best efforts to train them? If you answered yes to any of these questions, there is a very good chance that you are suffering from a fascial dysfunction condition somewhere in your shoulder girdle. Sometimes we know an exact moment or two from the past when an injury began - 'that old rotator cuff injury' - 'ever since my car accident' - 'and then there was the time fell funny and re-injured it.' Sometimes the pain and limitation starts small and intermittetently and builds consistency and intensity over time from small repitive strains - 'it started 6 months after I started playing pickleball' - 'Ever since I had to start working longer hours at my desk' - 'at work I spend a lot of time doing this specific movement with this arm and it gets really sore'. Or, sometimes, we can't quite figure out when or why our shoulder started hurting and are facing the uncertainty of 'mystery pain', which usually results from compensation from imbalances in the fascial tension or muscle strength somewhere else in the body. Regardless of what the cause of the pain is, there are simple anatomical principles that apply to all shoulder experiences and if we learn to recognize what is causing the fascial dysfunction in the first place, we can learn to fix the issue as well as the habits which are causing it! In this class we will discuss the many causes of shoulder pain, learning to assess what approach is best in repairing various shoulder injuries and pains, recognizing and reversing compensatory patterns, realigning and repatterning, and ensuring that we prevent future injuries from returning or developing. Join me for class and start the process of reclaiming the comfort and mobility your shoulders were designed for!

We can’t really talk about one of these areas of the body without talking about all four because the joints of the lower body not only share long continuous lines of functional fascia connecting them as a solid chain, but they also share some very precise relationships in shape, alignment, and function. A knee injury is rarely caused by a knee. A hip injury is very rarely caused by a hip. A misalignment in the foot, an imbalance in the leg, or a particular habit in posture or weight bearing position could all lead to the complex chain of events that result in lower body joint pain. It is crucial for the healthy function of the body that we understand the functional and positional alignment of our feet, knees, and hips as a system rather than a series of parts if we hope to heal pain or injury in any of them. In this class, we will explore this relationship and learn how to rebalance, realign, and reintegrate our many lower joints into the cohesive whole that they were naturally designed to be!

Join me this week for an upper body exploration that will take us through a deep understanding of the nature of the ribcage's needs - a balance between mobility and stability. Decompress your upper back and ribcage, improve your shoulder mobility, and reduce pain in your back, ribs, shoulders, and neck. Through an anatomical lens, we will learn to understand fascial and functional connections that will allow us to view our upper spine, ribcage, and shoulder girdle as a system, rather than a series of individual parts. It is through the unity and balance of these structures together that we learn to affect healing in all of them. Through a combination of therapy ball work, fascial rolling, and gentle-but-targeted stretching, we will loosen our shoulders, ribs, and upper back and leave class feeling great!

This this class we will complete our 3-week exploration on the causes of back pain and how to get rid of it! First we looked at the health and balance of our spine in class 1, followed by a deep exploration of how our pelvis and hips tie into this issue, and finally we are ready to address the 3rd important element that every healthy back needs - a strong and functional core! In this class we take a look at Core Fundamentals as we seek to understand how adequate support from various core muscles can stabilize, support, and protect our back in a way that promotes healing and the reduction of pain in our back. Learn simple, effective, and accessible techniques that will help you gain strength, remove inches from around your waist without agrivating other injuries, and heal your back pain in the process!

Last week we began an exploration of Yoga for Back Pain by taking a look directly at our spine and addressing it's needs for hydration and movement, decompression, as well as stretching fascial care to help balance it's tension on all sides. However, back pain is a complex topic, and as we discussed last week, involves complex communication between the tension levels and movement of the upper and lower back in relation to each other, as well as with your core and hips. In this week's class we will be taking a deep dive into the lower back / hip connection as we continue our exploration for the causes of back pain. With many direct and indirect fascial connections travelling from our hips up into our lower back and core structures, imbalances below can often lead to pain above. Join me for class this week and take the next step towards healing your back pain!

Back pain is the #1 complaint that brings people to seek out holistic wellness practices such as yoga, massage, chiropractic, and physio therapy care, and is something most adults have had personal experience with at some (or many) points of their life. However, the term 'back pain' is a broad term covering many different regions, functions, musculatures, nerve supplies, etc. There is a lot that can go wrong, and figuring out what has happened and what to do about it can be a very overwhelming experience. In this class we will seek to understand the nature of our back pain as we get curious about it's causes, it's relationships and effects on other areas of our back and body, and most importantly, what to do about it. Through an anatomical lens, we will learn to view our spine as a 'neutral' or 'balance-seeking' structure, and will use an exploration of decompression, movement, stretching, and fascial care techniques to help us understand the role our back plays in maintaining our balance, and what we need to do to improve those parameters and remove back pain from our lives!

In this class we will take a deep dive into our ribcage and learn how key fascial connections between the ‘serratus anterior’ and ‘rhomboid’ muscles, when tight or adhered, can often become a source of pain for both our ribs and neck. Loosening and mobilizing these tissues around our ribs can not only create easier breathing and less shoulder and upper back pain, but it can also increase the range of motion and health of our neck and shoulders. Our neck and head have an incredible amount of compensation that they are subjected to since they are the highest part of our body in the field of gravity. As such, they have to adjust to every misalignment, adhesion, and injury that is below them. Without restructuring the ribcage, it can be almost impossible to get the neck to heal, but when the ribcage improves, the neck will automatically benefit from the space created which, in turn, allows it to recognize new opportunities for better alignment with less compensation. Through decompression, fascial rolling, mobilization, and long-hold stretches, we will learn to give our ribcage what it needs to restore the natural movements which should be available to it, and set the foundation for what our neck needs in order for it to be able to heal and feel better!

Of all of the incredible functions our body performs everyday, none are more important and necessary than breathing. We perform this action roughly 25,000 time a day to provide the needed oxygen that sustains our life. How well we breath affects absolutely every element of our life from the physical health of all our bones, tissues, organs , and their capacities to repair and grow, to our energy and vitality, stress resiliency, and mental/emotional health. Our breath is the foundational function that connects and coordinates our body, mind, and spirit. In this class we will work to improve our respiratory process by addressing it on numerous fronts. First, we need to consider 'how' to breath - debunking some common misconceptions about what truly is 'the best way' to breath, and instead recognizing that our breath is as versatile as our body and how we choose to use it can either help or hinder our health. There is only one 'wrong way' to breath, but there are many 'right ways' depending on what you are doing in the present. A healthy breath for resting or watching TV is very different than what a healthy breath for running a marathon, lifting heavy items, or freediving would be. By learning healthy processes of breathing, we can learn to mindfully adapt our breathing to meet the needs of our body. However, knowing how to breathe effectively is only half the picture. We also need to consider the fact that the action of breathing is controlled muscularly and through pressure, and thus requires flexibility, strength, and mobility in the canister that surrounds our lungs - our ribs, back and chest, as well as our core and abdominal organs. Through stretching, strengthening and fascial care techniques we can learn to create more space and efficiency, reducing respiratory resistance and creating a fuller, easier breath!

Do you get pain in your backside? Pinchy sensations in your outer hips or near your rear? Do your hips become painful after or towards the end of a long walk or run? Do your hips feel stiff or immobile when you get out of bed or after sitting for a while? If so, there are likely some deep fascial layers in your hips that are in need of more length, lubrication, and balance! In this class we will take a in depth look at hip movement and rotation, and will examine the many common (and some not so common) triggers for what I like to call - 'Pain in the Ass Syndrome.' Through fascia rolling, long-hold stretching, and an attitude of curious exploration, we will learn how to bring our hips back into balance and kiss our hip pain goodbye!

Dorsal scapular neuropathy is characterized by pain, numbness, or weakness in the upper back and shoulder blade region. It commonly occurs from compression or irritation of the dorsal scapular nerve, which supplies sensation and muscle control to that area. Repetitive movements, poor posture, or direct trauma to the nerve often cause this condition, and as such, the condition commonly evolves over time, worsening if the pattern in the associated fascia surrounding the nerve pathway is not properly loosened and repaired. Symptoms typically include achiness, cramping, burning, or deep-seated painful tension in your upper back and shoulder blade that worsens with activity. If you have ever had these sensations or symptoms in this region of your upper back, there is a good chance your dorsal scapular nerve was involved. If you have experienced this unpleasant phenomenon more than once, or it happens regularly as the area ‘flairs-up’, then it’s time to do something about it before the situation worsens and becomes much more painful. If you are already at the point of constant symptoms and pain, fear not! With gentle and consistent care, you can downgrade the situation quickly and overtime still completely heal from this unpleasant ordeal! Dorsal scapular neuropathy usually responds favorably to a combination of fascial rolling or massage, therapeutic stretching, and gentle mobility exercises. Once the nerve impingement releases, efforts to safely restrengthen can begin. In this class, we focus on step one – releasing the nerve impingement on the dorsal scapular nerve and repairing the damaged fascia which is causing the issue. Join me on this anatomical exploration as we each learn to determine what is going on in this region of our back, and how we can help to keep it mobile and healthy!

From the tips of our fingers, up through our elbows, and into our shoulders, this class will take you on a journey of your upper limbs as we learn to balance the fascial pressures which coordinate all of the many joints contained within the structure of your arms. Learn how to keep your hands healthy and strong, improve your grip strength, prevent and repair arthritis and tendonitis, improve your posture, and learn how we can use our arms to release stress, reduce guarding, and let go of anger, resentment, and anxiety.

Do you get pain in the back or side of your hips? Does that pain get more agitated from long periods of sitting rather than moving? Do you ever feel that pain radiating down your outer leg? If so, you may have a chronic glute activation, adhesion, imbalance, impingement or all of the above! In this class we will discuss the 3 gluteal muscles (minimus, medius, and major), their fascial connections, the reasons they may be experiencing pain or limitation, and most importantly, how to repair them, get rid of the pain, and get your glutes moving in the balanced and powerful way for which they were intended! Our muscles can only be as strong as they can be relaxed, and it is incredibly important for our glutes to be able to both engage fully and relax fully in order for them to do their job correctly. For some people, chronic glute pain is caused from an inability to engage the correct tissues. For others, the same kind of pain can be caused by an inability to relax these tissues. Many people (including therapists) often assume the pain is coming from other areas such as the piriformis muscle deep in the back of the hip, and end up pursuing the incorrect therapy to no avail. In this class we will be able to experience the differences between all of these possibilities and determine what is going on in our own body, and how best to repair the situation and move forward in the direction of healing and personal growth!

Join me for a class celebrating the human spine through a therapeutic journey dedicated to decompression, balance, and liberation of our body's most important movement structure! Designed with an intricate balance between tension and compression structures, your spine has over 120 different muscles, around 220 ligaments, 100 joints, 26 bones, and 23 discs. When functioning well, these parts come together to enable an almost limitless potential for movement from a place of comfort and ease. However, when certain areas get tight, over compressed, our out of sync with the rest of the system, pain, degeneration, and injury often occur. In this class we will learn to use therapy balls and long-hold stretches to decompress our spine from the bottom all the way up to the top. We will seek to understand where the tensional tissues of the spine are out of balance and how this incorrect tension can lead to compression and damage. Most importantly, we will uncover what it is that you need to do to rebalance, decompress, and bring your spine to a place of freedom!

In this class we will take a deep exploration beginning in the IT Bands travelling up our outer thighs and into our hips, and then we will follow this fascial line up through the stabilizing tissues of our hips and into our lower back. When tight or out of balance, pressure or adhesion in these lines can often be a hidden trigger for deep hip pain, knee degeneration, and chronic lower back pain. By learning to balance the tension in these fascial structures, we will learn to balance our own center of gravity, realign our hips and knees, and liberate our lower back so it can start enjoying the stability and mobility with which it is designed to function. This class will help you learn to not only recognize where you are out of balance, but will also empower you to know what to do about it!

Join me for a class dedicated to the foundation of the human body - our ankles and feet! The foot is an intricate part of the body, consisting of 26 bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments, and 19 muscles. They provide our connection to the Earth, our sense of grounding, as well as the base of support which stabilizes and makes possible all movement of our body. With so many parts and so many movement potentials, its amazing how low the average mobility of the modern human foot is! The truth of the matter is that most of us simply don't move our feet and ankles enough. In a world of paved roads, leveled stairs, carpet, chairs, and cars, the modern human foot just doesn't need to move very much to make it through the day. Add in the comfort and confinement of shoes, and it's no wonder why so many of us suffer from pain, misalignment, and weakness in our feet and ankles! In this class we will explore posture, strengthening, fascial release, mobility, and joint stability in regards to our foundation. We will also explore the basics of biomechanics in walking - skills that will be sure to change the posture of your entire body as your awareness of your feet and ankles transforms!

Do you get tightness, pain, or cramping between your shoulder blades? Do your neck and shoulders feel stiff and sore? Do you work or spend your day in a primarily seated or hunched forward position? If so, then this class is for you! In this class we will take a look at the posture and mobility of our upper backs and shoulders, and learn to assess which areas have become 'long-locked', causing them to experience excess strain, fatigue, and weakness. We will also explore which tissues have become 'short-locked' and are now resisting your body's ability to find balance and ease of posture. We will learn techniques to correct both areas and help them find their way back to a place of integrated equilibrium, restoring healthy mobility and function while reducing pain and strain.

In this class we discuss Polyvagal Theory as we learn to understand what is happening in our nervous system when we are experiencing sadness, depression, a lack of motivation, grief, hopelessness, numbness, or dissociation. All of these emotional experiences happen within the part of our nervous system which controls our 'fawn, freeze, or play dead' instincts and has evolved to help us survive trauma or difficult experiences. Learn to understand the wisdom contained within this oldest evolutionary construct of your nervous system, and learn what causes us to get 'stuck' in these emotional experiences when this system become over-engaged or out of balance. Most importantly, we will learn an array of techniques that will help to 'upregulate' your nervous system, helping you to get unstuck, able to create closure, regain motivation, increase your energy, and get moving back into a healthy mental state of peace and ease.

In this class we discuss Polyvagal Theory, the nature and process of stress and anxiety, and the role of the vagus nerve in helping to regulate and balance your nervous system, as well as your mental and physical health. Learn to understand the wisdom of your stress response, gain skills to increase your stress resiliency, and discover how to not only recognize when your sympathetic (fight or flight) system has become unnecessarily engaged, but also what techniques can help you to downregulate and get rid of these unpleasant, unwanted, and unneeded feelings.

Breathing is one of our most essential and versatile functions in the human body. Much confusion exists over the 'right' or 'best' way to breathe, and modern breathing masters seem to all offer different and contradictory definition to what this even means. The truth is, there are hundreds of 'right' ways to breath, and only one 'wrong' way. In this class, learn the differences between belly breathing, thoracic breathing, 3 part breathing, slow breathing, fast breathing, and everything in between. Learn to determine what kind of breath pattern is most suited to which situations, and learn to recognize the only wrong way of breathing - 'paradoxical breathing.' Learn to create more space in your ribs and diaphragm for maximum oxygen flow, and learn how your core and pelvic floor can support your breathing process and bring added benefits to all of your internal organs. We take 25,000 breaths every day, and in this class we will take the time to learn the best choices for the 'how', 'when', and 'why' of choosing the breathing pattern to meet all of life's needs!

In this class we will honor the human heart with a class dedicated to its health, happiness, and awareness. This incredible organ beats 100,000 times and pumps the equivalent of 2000 gallons of blood through your body every day. Travelling through more than 96,000 kms of blood vessels, our blood delivers our oxygen, hormones, and nourishment to everyone of our 70 trillion cells, removing waste and maintaining the flow which keeps us alive. Incredibly, it takes a each blood cell on average only 30 seconds to complete it's cycle from heart, to target cell, and back again, completing thousands of circulatory cycles per day. The heart, however, is more than simply an impressive pump enmeshed in a massive matrix of tubular, fluid filled vessels. It also happens to generates powerful electromagnetic fields that allow us to connect deeply with our environment and other beings, contains it's own mini brain and can inform the brain in our head and make it's own decisions independently, supports it's own microbiome, and has been considered the center of human love and compassion by all races and generations to walk the face of this earth. Join me for this class as we connect inward to our own heart, learn to care for it through breathwork, stretching, and mindfulness techniques, and empower ourselves to start living a heart-centered life!

Happy New Year! In today’s class we will be starting the year off right with a focus on supporting and improving our digestive processes while helping our organs and tissues to detox and cleanse. After a wonderful holiday season of feasting, connecting, and celebrating, January often leads many of us to feel bloated, bogged down, tired, and in need of reconnection to our health goals. Let’s start 2025 off right by helping our body to process all of the abundances of the season, to get things moving and digesting, and to detox out the substances and energies which no longer serve our purpose or path for 2025!

Join me on the final day of 2024 (or, since this is the video library, any time you'd like!) for a time of reflection, gratitude, and directed evolution as we learn ponder life through the lens of the yogic 'Yamas' and use their ancient philosophical wisdom to help direct us in setting fresh intentions for the will help manifest positive changes in future. Each new year offers us a great moment to pause and reflect on ourselves - physically, mentally, and spiritually, and to determine if there are any changes that need to be made. The only constant in the universe is change, and yoga teaches us to flow harmoniously with the changes we experience in life. Change is also constant on on the level of body and mind, not only over the course of a life time, but also on a year to year, and even second to second basis. Did you know that by this same time next year 90% of all of the cells alive in your body today will have died and been completely replaced by a 90% new body? Over the course of a year, our physical and mental habits add up and exponentially affect the outcomes of our health and wellness, for better or worse. Learning to direct and influence our flow of change by practicing reflection and gratitude help us to bring into focus that which is most important and worth cultivating in life. It enables us to set clear intentions which help us to stay on track in achieving our dreams and living our best lives! Join me this New Year's Eve as we explore gentle stretches, breathing, and meditation exercises that will help us hone our intentions and set a healthy direction for the year ahead!

Welcome to a new category I will be growing in 2025 for our Yoga on Demand Video Library: Contraindications in Yoga! This video is a specific educational support video for anyone who has had, or is going to have, a hip replacement surgery. Hip Replacement Surgeries are complex with many different styles of surgery and different types of synthetic hips available. The treatment of a replaced hip in yoga is not standard across the board, but actually depends entirely on the type of surgery and type of hip installed. This video will offer you the 5 most important questions or considerations you need to understand in caring for your specific new hip, and will break down what to do and what not to do for each type of surgery and synthetic hip beginning from directly after the surgery, all the way through the recovery process so that you are able to have the information you need to attend any yoga class, whether it be through our video library, a in-person class, or just a new workout routine in general. For my yoga teacher friends out there, this is everything you need to know to safely accept a student with a replaced hip into your class. It will allow you to not only keep them safe, but also to be able to help them find the most efficient path to rehabilitation and healing! Have questions or comments? Please be sure to leave them in the Yoga on Demand Community Hub, our private Group that comes free with your subscription!

This class will be dedicated to an exploration of the relationships which exist between our hips and lower back, learning to understand how certain fascial continuities travel from the base of our ribcage, down our lumbar spine, across our pelvis, and end up encompassing all sides of our hips. When we think about healing our hips and lower back, this class will show you why you can't really heal one without considering both! This class is sure to leave you feeling spacious, mobile, and ready to enjoy the holiday season!

With cold and flu season mid swing, and with the sharp rise in immune related conditions springing up around the globe, it's time we all start paying a little closer attention to the system which keeps our inner environment clean and free from illness and disease - our Immune System. The immune system is a vast network involving many different types of cells, membranes, and processes all working together to keep us healthy and in a place of internal harmony. In this class we will learn about the differences between immuno-deficiency and auto-immunity, as well as what the role of inflammation is in immune related conditions. We will learn to see our immune system as an intelligent system which learns, remembers, and adapts based on its interpretations and understanding of our body and the external environment in which it lives. Most importantly, we will learn techniques to help modulate and balance our immune processes, detox our internal spaces, reduce our inflammation, repair our membranes, and give our immune system both the information and environment it needs to thrive and promote health and wellness in all areas of our lives!

Whiplash is an injury that happens when sudden impact or movement causes your neck to be forcibly bent forward and then backward, or vice versa, like we would see in the action of a whip. The associated forces involved in such an accident can damage the muscles, ligaments, and fascial membranes of the neck and upper back, and can often create injury to the nerves and bones in this region. If left untreated, the incorrect development of scar tissue and compensatory patterns often create long-term pain and misalignment patterns that leave us with frustration and limitation. Luckily, treatment of whiplash related injuries can be done relatively quickly after the onset of the injury (depending on the circumstances anywhere from immediately to a few weeks after injury), AND the damage can be reversed after decades of neglect and pain, or anywhere in between! This gentle class will teach you what you need to know to care for whiplash injuries at all stages, and even if you don't have a whiplash injury, will help to improve your upper back and neck mobility, postural alignment, and fascial health!

Join me for a relaxing class designed to improve the mobility of our shoulders, realign our neck, and reduce pain in the entire upper body. In this class we will learn how our upper back and shoulder alignment affect the health and alignment of our neck. We will explore techniques that help to improve our posture, reduce tightness and adhesions in our shoulders, and reduce any pain or misalignment in our neck. Explore the 'hidden culprits' that often fly under the radar of our awareness and quietly cause referral pain in other areas and learn how to release them through a safe process that will make both your neck and shoulders happier and healthier!

Hip pain is something which, once it sets in, can be a major limiting factor to our health, happiness, and mobility. Most often when client's tell me the history of their hip pain, it begins small and intermittent and slowly over time became worse until they could no longer ignore as it progresses to a chronic pain that was with them every step of the day, and even over night, preventing comfort and sleep. The reality is that our hips are incredibly tough and resilient structures. They are masters of compensation and the work horses of the body. However, long-term misalignment, compensation, or soft-tissue imbalances can have devasting effects that compound over time and can lead to catastrophic pain and disability if not cared for properly. This class is designed as the first, and most critical, step towards repairing hip pain and dysfunction. Jumping straight into long walks, squats, and gym routines to strengthen a painful hip can often lead to more pain than less. Yes, strengthening is an important part of the process, but first it is important to rebalance the fascial tension and joint alignment of the many associated hip structures in order to achieve success in the strengthening department. This class will take your hips through a basic care routine that will serve to improve existing pain, injury and misalignment, generate better tissue balance and joint mobility, and give your hips the maintenance routine that will keep them operating in a healthy way. Prevention is always the best medicine, so if your hips only hurt intermittently, now is the time to start! If you've missed that window of opportunity, don't worry! I'll help you start slow and show you how small improvements can compound over time to profound results!

When we think of yoga, it is often the joints and musculature that the mind associates first. However, did you know that yoga therapy is equally as effective at supporting your internal organs? In a world where digestive and metabolic processes are under incredible strain from stress, exhaustion, toxicity food and pharmaceutical chemicals, postural misalignment, surgical interventions, and more, its no wonder most of us struggle in the poop-department from time to time. The human gut is a vast and insanely complex system and there are many things that can wrong if you are not giving your gut the basic things it needs: nutritious food, proper alignment and internal pressure, an alkalyzed environment, a system free from inflammation, a prevailing neural current of ‘safe and calm’, and regular movement that supports the regulated mobilization of its contents. In this class we will touch on each of these topics and will learn some safe exercises and ‘simple-but-effective’ habits that can be easily integrated into your daily life, and, when repeated regularly, have been shown to create incredible benefits to gut health, immune health, and quality of life!