On this day, we have the unique opportunity to learn the dynamic components of a full yoga practice which encompasses all the limbs of the 8 fold path of yoga. Please come and join us experience the expansion of life forces that govern us all. Through practices and insights on meditation techniques, pranayama, preliminary postures, asana practice and the most amazing gourmet raw food prepared by the one and only, Doc Raw with over 35 years of living raw vegan experience and more! And lets not forget, some very interesting and in depth philosophy discussions around the practice of Ayurveda from my dear friend Lipe Viana, who has been studying Ayurveda for the past 10 years. Its going to be one amazing day, so don’t miss it!

WHEN: Saturday, April 10th

TIME: 9am – 5pm

LOCATION: The studio space: 343-1B Railway (@ Gore St.) Vancouver

COST: $150.00 (NOTE: if using pay pal below, it is $155.00)

DETAILS OF THE DAY

9am – 12:30pm: preliminary poses, meditation techniques, pranayama practice, asana flo

12:30pm – 2:30pm: gourmet raw vegan lunch w/ discussion on Ayurveda

3:00pm – 5:00pm: yoga alignment and asana workshop

——————————————————————–

HOW TO REGISTER:

1. send in a cheque made payable to Tracy Groshak (send to: 1381 Maple St. Vanc. V6J 3S1) or drop off at class.

OR

2. use the button below and pay via credit card. (3% service fee added to the total using this method)

A beautiful way to bring in the new season of change.

A must experience for yoga and meditation teachers.

DATE: March 13, 20 & 27

TIME:  9am – 12noon

LOCATION: kitsilano area,  please email for exact address to:  omhelpers.blogspot.com

COST:  $120.00

INFO:  For more details please contact: Lipe @ vianalipe@yahoo.com

]]> http://tracygroshak.com/workshops/the-3-pillars-to/feed/ 0 http://tracygroshak.com/workshops/the-program/ http://tracygroshak.com/workshops/the-program/#comments Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:30:56 +0000 admin http://tracygroshak.com/?p=184

On this day, we have the unique opportunity to learn the dynamic components of a full yoga practice which encompasses all the limbs of the 8 fold path of yoga. Please come and join us experience the expansion of life forces that govern us all.  Through practices and insights on meditation techniques, pranayama, preliminary postures, asana practice and the most amazing gourmet raw food prepared by the one and only, Doc Raw with over 35 years of living raw vegan experience and more! And lets not forget, some very interesting and in depth philosophy discussions around Bhakti Yoga from my dear friend Lipe Viana, who has been studying Bhakti yoga for the past 10 years. Its going to be one amazing day, so don’t miss it!

WHEN: Saturday, February 27th

TIME: 9am – 5pm

LOCATION: The studio space: 343-1B Railway (@ Gore St.) Vancouver

COST: $150.00 (NOTE: if using pay pal below, it is $155.00)

special notes: for parking and driving to the location go to: http://travelsmart2010.ca/

DETAILS OF THE DAY

9am – 12:30pm: preliminary poses, meditation techniques, pranayama practice, asana flo

12:30pm – 2:30pm: gourmet raw vegan lunch w/ philosophy discussion on Bhakti yoga

3:00pm – 5:00pm: yoga alignment and asana workshop

——————————————————————–

HOW TO REGISTER:

1. send in a cheque made payable to Tracy Groshak (send to: 1381 Maple St. Vanc. V6J 3S1)

OR

2. use the button below and pay via credit card. (3% service fee added to the total using this method)

@ Tracy’s Yoga Studio

NEW Progressives, 5 week series

6:30 – 8:30pm

Level 1 – starting March 8th – Mondays

Level 2 – starting March 11th – Thursdays

“Sincere, keen students & teachers welcome”

for more info call: 209-3987 or email tracy@tracygroshak.com

Cost: $165.00

Note: space is very limited

Flow Yoga Studio @ 888 Burrard St. (downtown)

Tuesday

2:30 pm – 3:45 pm

Tuesday

4:00 pm – 5:15 pm

Thursday

2:30 pm – 3:45 pm

NOTE:

Due to the nature of Flow Yoga being a multi-disciplinary studio and the fact that the classes are very short in time. Understand that i am only able to offer a tiny glimpse of what I teach and I am limited in sharing my every expanding background and studies in Vijnana yoga, anatomy, physio, biomechanics, movement therapy and breathe. So if you are wanting more insight, depth of study and practice, sign up for the “Progressive Series” above and or also consider doing a private assessment that is specifically designed for YOU!

Philosophy

Biomechanics utilizing The Muscle Balance and Function
Development® (MBF®)System is designed to serve as a comprehensive complement to the practitioner’s existing approach to healthcare. It requires professionals to look beyond the symptoms and seek the cause of any physical disorder, and challenges them to
provide long-term solutions. Patients discover that they are primarily responsible for their own well being, and are provided the means to restore their bodies to a higher level of function and health.

Approach

The human body responds, develops, and is maintained according to basic biomechanical principles. However, due to the lack of purposeful physical activity, today’s lifestyles promote postural weaknesses that can cause the premature breakdown of our musculoskeletal systems, making them susceptible to injury, reducing performance and prolonging recovery. The MBF® System is a unique method of restoring function to the human body. It is a principle based system that is grounded in the fundamentals of physics and biomechanics.

The program’s evaluation process reveals the muscular imbalances that cause postural misalignment, compensated motion, reduced performance, and injury. Postural realignment is then accomplished by applying a progression of sequential exercises that have been systematically oriented toward each client’s unique needs. These exercises target the intrinsic postural muscle groups and retrain the neuromuscular system, reminding each muscle of the function it was designed to perform. The exercises require minimal equipment and can be performed almost anywhere.

PhilosophyBiomechanics utilizing The Muscle Balance and Function
Development® (MBF®)System is designed to serve as a comprehensive complement to the practitioner’s existing approach to healthcare. It requires professionals to look beyond the symptoms and seek the cause of any physical disorder, and challenges them to
provide long-term solutions. Patients discover that they are primarily responsible for their own well being, and are provided the means to restore their bodies to a higher level of function and health.ApproachThe human body responds, develops, and is maintained according to basic biomechanical principles. However, due to the lack of purposeful physical activity, today’s lifestyles promote postural weaknesses that can cause the premature breakdown of our musculoskeletal systems, making them susceptible to injury, reducing performance and prolonging recovery. The MBF® System is a unique method of restoring function to the human body. It is a principle based system that is grounded in the fundamentals of physics and biomechanics.The program’s evaluation process reveals the muscular imbalances that cause postural misalignment, compensated motion, reduced performance, and injury. Postural realignment is then accomplished by applying a progression of sequential exercises that have been systematically oriented toward each client’s unique needs. These exercises target the intrinsic postural muscle groups and retrain the neuromuscular system, reminding each muscle of the function it was designed to perform. The exercises require minimal equipment and can be performed almost anywhere.

*Pricing: These are individual sessions with fees starting at: $140.00 for your first visit. Follow-up  visits will be $100.00 each.

*Cancellation Policy: 24 hrs notice required for any apts that need to be cancelled without being charged. Otherwise full payment required for missed apts.

Now that i got your attention, please read below for some great general alignment Q’s to use all the time, on or off the mat.

(to be honest couldn’t find the right photo for this article, so this one will have to do for now, ha-ha!).

In a perfect world, all our activities would be such that it would produce perfect alignment, balance & harmony in the mind, body and soul.  Since this is not the case in short, it us up to each and every one of us to consider “what we are doing”, “how we are doing it” and “where is it taking us?” In addition, it is also necessary to consider “how we got where we are today in the first place.” At some point in time, it is a good idea to ask our selves these questions with sincerity and honesty. Please remember and keep in mind, that this is not something that needs to be answered right away and or may ever completely understood, however, it is the waking of the curious “self” we are trying to probe here. So what better way to begin the process of self-exploration and understanding then through our physical structures that we all can identify with.

So to begin a more simplified understanding of how to create optimal alignment we must look at a few important points;

1) Lining up with the gravitational line OR Central Axis in the body and

2) Joint congruency.

“Lining up with the gravitational line,” means aligning the long axis of bones with the lines of gravitational pull. This way the bones provide maximum support and the muscles don’t have to work so hard. We get a sense of ease and floating.

”Joint congruency” means the joint is seated such that the pressure from movement is evenly distributed over the joined surfaces. This gives us the largest range of motion and keeps the joint from wearing unevenly, often causing arthritis and other degenerative joint problems.

Here are seven simple alignment principles or key points that are typically found in all postures on and off the matt. They are applied differently for different people, but we can all use them as guidelines to start the process. You will need to experience them physically to some degree in order to understand them.

We’ll begin in a neutral standing position to explore the principles. Each one builds on the previous, so keep them all-active to understand their relationship and to create the full synergistic affect.

The first principle is “Feet Active and Balanced or Rooted.” Typically our feet are weak and malformed from being confined to shoes.  Also, most people tend to turn the toes out and roll their weight to the outer edge of the foot.  This is due to tight external rotators and weak inner thighs. To balance and activate the feet, stand with the outer edges of your feet parallel to the long edges of your mat.  Your heels will be slightly wider than your big toes.  Lift and spread all ten toes, widen the foot bones apart.  Press down with the base of the big toe, base of the pinky toes and inner and outer edges of the heels. These are the four corners of the feet.  Now imagine your legs are big drinking straws and draw energy up from the earth through the soles of your feet as you press down through the four corners.  This is how engaged you want your feet to be in all poses, whether they are in the air or on the earth. Strong feet and ankles ground us and protect our knees.

The second principle is “Micro-bend the knees.” One tendency is to press the knees back into hyper extension.  This over-stretches the ligaments behind the knees, and from there starts a whole slew of problems with the bones above and below the knee joints. To balance away from this tendency, bend the knees very slightly so the weight is felt more evenly on the balanced feet. Embrace the knees by hugging in with muscle.  Now hug the shins in to the mid line. Explore the feeling of sturdiness in the feet and lower legs.

The third principle is “Thigh Bones back and Apart.” Joint congruency in the hips is very important. Our tendency is to draw the top of our thighbones forward.  This has a lot to do with tight external rotators along with a number of other issues.  When we move the top of the thighbones back and apart, we seat the femur heads deeply into the hip sockets and widen the back of the pelvis creating space in the low back.  To experience this, find the first two principles: feet active and balanced and micro-bend the knees.  From there, lean forward slightly and stick your butt out behind you.  The groins soften into the body.  Firm the thigh muscles to keep the top of the thighbones back.  Now to move the thighbones apart, imagine your heels are glued to the mat, and try to pull them away from each other.  Feel that spiral of energy travel up the legs, widening the sits bones and upper thighbones.

The forth principle is: “Lengthen the tailbone.” The tailbone is the tiny tip of the sacrum, the triangular bone at the base of the spine. When we tuck forward, we tone and lift the low abdomen, which awakens our core and protects our low back.  To experience this, apply the first three principles making sure your thigh muscles are consistently firm and the outward resistance of the heels is moving the thighbones apart. Now without letting the hips move forward at all, tuck the tailbone down between the wide sits bones.  This will begin the lift or pull up of the low belly and take the shoulders right over the hips.  Again, engage the thigh muscles to move the thighbones back, and then tuck the tailbone. You should begin to feel the integration of the hips and legs to the torso.

Our fifth principle is “Low ribs in or Keep the front ribs quiet & Side ribs long.” Many of us have the tendency to jut the low ribs forward causing an over contraction of the mid back and compression in the low back. When we use upper abdominals to take the low ribs in, we can begin to lengthen the side ribs away from the hips, which extend the spine and will keep energy moving up towards the heart.  If the mid back tends toward rounding, skip the ‘low ribs in’ part and focus on ‘side ribs long’. Stand with feet active and balanced, micro-bend the knees, move the thighbones back and apart and tuck the tailbone. Now lift the arms overhead.  Notice, how there’s a good chance the low front ribs tend to jut out?  Draw them into the body and instead stretch up with the side ribs getting as long as you can in the side body. Another option would be to bring the arms out in front of you as opposed to taking them above your head to start off with.  Lengthen the tailbone to anchor the hips then inhale to stretch the side ribs away from the rooting hips, legs and feet. Try to find this action of the side ribs stretching away from grounded hips with each inhale no matter what pose you are in.

Our sixth principle is called “Shoulder blades on the upper back.” This moves the head of the arm bones back and the heart up to support an optimally aligned shoulder girdle.  Our tendency is to allow the shoulder blades to “wing” off the upper back, which will also produce rounding or slumped shoulders. This pulls the tendons out of groove creating pressure on nerves and arteries traveling through the shoulder girdle.  It also weakens the rotator cuff and inviting injury.  When we move with the shoulder blades on the upper back, we move in optimal alignment, protecting the joint and creating a stronger foundation. This is a lot easier said then done!  To feel this, first find the five previous principles.  Keep the low ribs tucked in and breath into your chest in all directions, remembering that the ribcage is like an open umbrella.  Now, gently move the shoulders back and down. This will give you an idea of where the blades should technically sit, however it is a bit more involved then just this action. However its a great start in at least feeling where they should sit. Understand we all have some slight to moderate misalignment in our shoulders and blades and each one of us will more then likely need a slightly different remedy. This may be difficult at first, but eventually, it will feel good once there is a more balanced relationship between the front upper chest muscles and the upper blade muscles in general.

Our final principle is called “Skull Traction or Teeter-totter balance of the head.” This is the sensation of stretching the sides of the skull away from the base of the neck & resting the head on its axis with effortless ease. Sometimes we lift the chin without lengthening the neck first. This causes compression.  Other times we look down too much, over stretching the back of the neck and compressing down on the throat.  We also tend to carry the head forward stressing the muscles on top of the shoulders.  Skull traction brings the head and neck into optimal alignment.  To feel this, stand with feet alive and balanced, knees slightly bent, thighs firm, thighbones back and apart, anchor the tailbone.  Draw the low ribs in then move the shoulders back and breath. Press down through the feet and stretch the sides of the skull up.  Draw the top of the throat back then pull it up.  Can you feel yourself getting longer?  Again, these movements may feel forced or allusive at first but be patient and persistent.  Your internal strength and awareness will wake up in layers from the outside to the inside.

Understanding and applying the seven optimal alignment principles in our yoga postures and our daily lives can start the healing process of many ailments that plague us in life today. From low back pain, chronic fatigue, joint degeneration and many more common ailments. Moving in optimal alignment reduces compensatory actions that can drain our energy.

The key points mentioned above are a great general guide and map to alignment.

However, if many of you are truly curious and seeking personal insight to understanding your own unique crookedness, I highly recommend that you check out my “Biomechanics” page OR attend one of my very insightful and informative progressive series offered several times throughout the year.

This new class is held @ Tracy’s yoga studio

Here is an amazing opportunity to grow the many limbs of your yoga practice and delve deeper into the study of yoga philosophy.

This is by donation and is open to everyone that is interested.

Questions or need more info, please go to:  http://www.omhelpers.blogspot.com/

So often I have students approach me with comments like; “do you think my yoga practice is improving” or “I have been at this for months now and I am not seeing any changes” or “how long do you think its going to take me to achieve xyz postures.

To be honest, the list of questions and comments go on and on.  And please let me be the first to tell you, I did the same thing when I first started many years ago on my spiritual yoga journey, I am sure I drove many of my yoga teachers crazy with my relentless inquisition. Funny though, when I look back at a few wise teachers, they essentially said the same thing and it was not much.  Here are the oldies but goodies that still apply to all of us today. “Be patient”, “Be kind” to yourself and others and “It takes time.” I know, nothing magical as you might have been expecting, but what the heck I am a realist and I have gone through this many times just like you. If you are looking for a quick fix, or a magical pill, you’re not going to find it here.

Now lets take a person that has been living with chronic pain for many years and only after several weeks or months, they have suddenly increased their depth of breath, have less tension in their back and shoulders and are now feeling less stress at work. Lets understand something here; our bodies have millions of functions going on at once that we are for the most part completely oblivious to. And how amazing this machine is, that it still gets up in the morning, takes us to and fro where ever we wish to go and do all the wonderful things we get to do.

So lets look at a few other powerful subtly examples and the importance of it in achieving the grand. If you are a musician, you understand that it is the fine-tuning of the instrument that produces the most beautiful clarity of song. If you are an athlete, you understand that it is the more precise that is the most victorious. Think about it, in chemistry, water (under normal pressure) will not boil at 99.9 degrees Celsius, but raise it to 100 degrees and the water begins to boil. Water will not freeze at .05 degrees Celsius, but will turn to ice at 0 degrees Celsius.

It is very common for us, including myself to disregard the subtle changes in our quest for the grand. We are often reminded that “every journey begins with one step”, yet when it comes down to it we often want to just be at the end of our journey even though we truthfully just began. It is the subtle, not the grand that determines the nature of our environment. The more sensitive and appreciative we are of the subtle changes in our life on and off the mat, the greater joy, prosperity and health we will have in our lives. So as you go about your daily life, acknowledge the small changes that occur and always remind yourself to appreciate the subtle.

Insights are Divine messages sent by the Gods. They are meant to guide us on wherever we have to go and whatever is to be done. They are deep perceptions that do not pass through the biased mind, so the ego cannot touch them. Insights are those spontaneous understandings and comprehensions that lead to the next step that needs to be taken.

Insights come to our Internal Consciousness from the Eternal Consciousness. They arrive in the physical body through the crown, pass by the third eye and get delivered as a message in the heart. This is why insights do not need thought processes to make sense. They come decoded in a way that you get what you have to get and there is no need of thinking about it. They give us the opportunity to “listen to our heart instead of our mind”.

The issue is that many of us choose not to trust insights; instead, we turn the ego-istic mental schemas on to fall into the mind’s traps. Overtime the connection between the Eternal Consciousness and Internal Consciousness seems to fade away and become very weak.

The practice of Hatha Yoga (asanas and pranayama) helps us to shut our mind up and assists us with the reconnection with our Internal Consciousness. The discipline of Bhakti Yoga (devotional practice) will reconnect the Internal Consciousness with the Eternal Consciousness.

In reality, no reconnection is done since the original connection has always been there. What the constant practice of Yoga does is to clean the channels, so the connection can be perceived, and through its discipline and determination not let the link to be lost, so messages can be clearly delivered.

by Lipe Viana. Visit and Comment: omhelpers.blogspot.com

Everyone can have freedom from pain and limitation simply by understanding how the knee joint works and training the body to honor its design.

The knee is a hinge joint. It is meant to move the lower leg forward and back. Lift one foot and swing the lower leg forward and back. This is what the knee is designed to do. It is not designed to rotate or move side to side. It is the hip that is designed to rotate the leg, lift and straighten one leg and turn the toes out then in. That is your hip joint making that motion. But if our hips are too tight, because we sit all day and never stretch, the knee will be forced to rotate unnaturally. We may not feel it in our day to day but over time, it will wear out the knee joint. If the hips are open and handling the leg’s rotation, the knee is kept safe.

Now let’s look below the knee at the ankles and feet. The ankles and feet are designed to make the subtle side to side movements that keep us balanced and help us change direction quickly. The feet and ankles get weak because we wear shoes all the time and walk on artificially smooth surfaces. Weak feet and ankles cause the knee to compensate, moving against its natural design. Over time the knee weakens and degenerates. By keeping the feet and ankles strong and flexible, the knee is left to its natural function.

One more thing, a great number of us, especially athletes, have tight butt muscles, strong outer thighs and relatively weak inner thighs. This imbalance externally rotates the thighbones, turning the feet out like penguin feet. most of us have one or both feet turned out because of our tight outer hips and weak inner thighs. when we walk like this, the knee is not lined up with the direction of movement and the joint gets twisted and over time wears out.

Start to attune your yoga approach where by you are balancing the body by strengthening what is weak and elongating what is tight. If taught correctly, yoga can open your hips, wake up your feet, strengthen your ankles, build balanced muscular strength and retrain your body to move in proper alignment.

If you have a chronic injury, it might be a good idea to seek private yoga instruction from a teacher skilled in this area and or consider getting your body assessed through the use of body mechanics, which is based on biomechanics & physics. This tool addresses the individual, their specific condition & they leave with a personalized exercise routine designed to start correcting the problem.

see my pages on “biomechanics”