This year my annual workshop at Mount Madonna Center will focus on Living Happily with Your Lower Back: asana and therapeutics for teachers and students.
In large part because of our modern lifestyles, the lower back – the sacroiliac and lumbar spine specifically -- can be a place of challenge and discomfort for many people.
In this workshop, we will focus on the anatomy, kinesiology (movement principles) and asana that can help us understand how to move healthily in our daily lives and how to practice and teach from knowledge. We will gain both an intellectual understanding of the structure of the lower back, as well as the embodied intuitive understanding that we can only gain on the mat.
Morning sessions will be about Active practice; afternoon sessions will be lecture and some Restorative practice, but all class time will be focused on the theme of the lower back.
Judith will teach during the day. Visual presentations will be made on the anatomy of the lower back on two evenings by yoga teachers Mary Richards and Carol Balfe. This will include explanations with stunning visual aids of some of the structure of the lower back, as well as lower back pathologies that we commonly see in yoga classes, like sacroiliac dysfunction and scoliosis.
This course is for you:
~If you have been shy about studying anatomy, this course is for you.
~If you have felt bored at the very thought of studying anatomy, this course is for you.
~If you have felt excited about learning anatomy, but the only courses near you are just academic and lack a practical focus for yoga teachers, this course is for you.
~If you have studied anatomy, and just want a refresher with a yoga emphasis, this course is for you.
We will gather at Mount Madonna Center, just outside of Watsonville, CA, in a beautiful setting based around spiritual practice. (nearest airport: San Jose International Airport, San Jose, CA; also San Francisco International Airport, 1.5 hours away by car from MMC).
We will practice in a large airy and beautiful room perfect for yoga and learning.
I have been teaching at MMC since the 1980’s, and love going back there again and again.
Come join us to learn and be part of our “anatomy community” for this five-day workshop. Let someone else cook; let someone else clean up.
Let yourself settle into a supportive retreat setting with a “sangha” of yoga teachers and serious students from many different parts of the country, and focus on learning more about the art of teaching and practicing this yoga we all love so much.
Required Text: YogaBody: Anatomy, Kinesiology and Asana, specifically Chapters 3, 6, 7, and 8. Please read these before the workshop begins.
Highly Recommended: Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection
Schedule details:
Sunday Registration begins 4 pm
Sunday evening orientation/class 7 to 8: 15 pm
Class: 10:15 am to 12:15 pm Monday - Thursday
Class: 2 pm to 4:45 Monday-Thursday
Class: Friday 10:15 - 12:15
To register for this workshop with Judith:
Send a check in the amount of $799 to:
Judith Hanson Lasater
156 Madrone Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94127
Register soon.
Make sure you use the link below to register for housing and meals with Mount Madonna Center. All participants MUST sign up separately with MMC.