The myth of the heart opening pose
‘Open your heart – become more compassionate with heart opening poses!’ Instructions on these lines are common in yoga classes and in both online and print magazines. Here are some examples from respected online yoga magazines: ‘Heart opening poses help you bec
‘crawling back to baby’
“Here we are – a group of middle-class, middle-aged women, CRAWLING around the room!” said a student in class recently. It’s true that we often practise crawling and other developmental movement patterns in my classes. The reason we practise the patterns is bot
August 17, 2015
How to find support from the core for a healthy spine
‘Build core strength’, ‘tone your abs’, or as my son would say ‘get a God Bod’! These exhortations are usually aimed at strengthening the superficial abdominal muscles – the ‘six pack’. A common way to achieve these objectiv
August 18, 2014
How to have beautiful, healthy feet – banish bunions and other abominations!
‘Amanda you’re obsessed with feet’, one of my students said to me the other day. It’s true I am fascinated by feet – every day I spend time feeling how weight travels into and through my own feet. I do this as I go about my daily activities – not ju
Footwork – how to align the feet
A really special part of my week since January has been online Embodied Anatomy study with Amy Matthews. “I love the feet!” she said as we began the first of three classes on the bones and ligaments of the foot. “I do too“, I wanted to shout out at my ipad, &#
How to do Trikonasana – the fluid way
Back in 1991, I had my first experience of Body-Mind Centering® on the beautiful Greek island of Skyros. ‘Sense millions of cells in your body….. expanding and condensing in a breathing rhythm all of their own’, said our teacher, Jens Johannsen. Then we basked in the
Touch is a touchy subject
The English Language has many metaphors for behaviour and feeling using skin and touch. ‘Thick-skinned’ folk lack sensitivity or ‘tact’. Tact – from the Latin ‘tactus’ meaning touch – is to delicately touch another. If someone ‘get
timeless.. weightless…spacious
‘Soft Spine, Bony Spine, Fluid Movement and Structural Integrity’ – is the title of a workshop I’m running in Suffolk this weekend. In preparation, I explored some of these themes with my classes during the week. We began with a look at a picture of the vertebral col
Learning from Beautiful Bonnie
A couple of weeks ago I had my first opportunity to learn from Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen* – on a workshop entitled ‘Exploring the Embodiment of our Organs from a Developmental Perspective.’ During those three wonderful days in Liverpool, I caught up with many special and mu
Bright Lights and Energy Centres
A few years ago I’d become exhausted through working very intensively. I was due to make a presentation on the Endocrine System and its relationship with the chakras and I wondered how I would find the energy to prepare yet another piece of work. I began experimenting in my own yoga p
June 02, 2011
Ajna Chakra, Anahata Chakra, Body-Mind Centering®, Chakras, developmental movement patterns, Endocrine Glands, handstand, harrogate yoga, headstand, Linda Hartley, Manipura Chakra, meditation, mental health, Muladhara Chakra, registered somatic movement educator, registered somatic movement therapist, Sahasrara Chakra, somatics, Svadishthana Chakra, upward bow, upward facing dog, Vishuddha Chakra, Wisdom of the Body Moving
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