A few years ago, my yoga teaching went through a big shift. Research was emerging about stretching and biomechanics that challenged the way I thought about the benefits of yoga. There were many assumptions about the body and yoga and movement that I had to re-examine. For a time I felt like a fraud, like I shouldn’t even be teaching yoga, if so many of my core understandings were being challenged! It was difficult, but ultimately I am glad that I went through it. I feel like I have emerged with more humility, and an understanding of how little I know, how little is known about the incredible diversity of embodiment, how much there is left to discover. And at this point, I am committed to being a forever student of human movement, and I am actively seeking out different influences, paradigms and teachers to add to my understanding, my movement practice, and my teaching.
A year ago I took my first Axis Syllabus class in Toronto, and I have been seeking out this kind of movement exploration ever since. From January through May I regularly drove to Toronto for Axis Syllabus labs, and in June I flew down to Boston for a 5-day workshop with the initiator/founder of the Axis Syllabus. Since returning from my 4 month sabbatical, I’ve been studying privately with Axis Syllabus practitioners in Toronto. I’ve created the upcoming Movement Explorations workshops happening in January and February as a way to share some of what I’ve been learning about this past year with the community at Queen Street Yoga.
Just to be clear: I am not an Axis Syllabus teacher, and I won’t be teaching Axis Syllabus in the workshop. I will be sharing some of the new ways of moving that I have been discovering, and sharing how my understanding of movement has changed. It won’t look like yoga, it won’t involve yoga mats, and it will involve a bit of sliding on the floor in socks. 🙂
Just to leave you with a little taste of a different kind of movement, check out this interesting video by Frey Faust, the initiator of the Axis Syllabus. In this video he talks about “Converting Crashing into Falling”.
Hope to see you at the workshop!
Warmly,
Emma
More about Emma’s upcoming workshops:
Movement Explorations with Emma Dines
Crawling & Falling: Saturday, Jan 28 / 3:00-5:00pm / $20+hst.
Jumping & Rolling: Saturday, Feb 25 / 3:00-5:00pm / $20+hst.
Just like eating a range of foods can help you maintain nutritional health, moving in a variety of ways can help you build and maintain movement health.
This workshop series will explore moving with more comfort and creativity. We will experiment with ways we can walk, jog, roll, crawl, fall, jump, twirl, and get up and down from the floor with greater ease. The focus of this exploration will be on diversifying our movement vocabulary and finding ways to make these movement patterns feel more doable and enjoyable.
No previous yoga or movement experience necessary. Register here.
The Branches 