June 1, 2018

A TALE OF TRAUMA AND THE PSOAS

         A friend living in the southern US opened her front door, and literally froze.  There was a dangerous snake on her porch.  Doing its best to protect her, her nervous system froze her body. Dr. Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory explains the way evolution dictates how the nervous system and body respond to danger signals in the environment.  His theory has transformed the way we view trauma and chronic illness and has raised the status and relevance of the vagus nerve to be a popular topic in mainstream magazines.  Dr. Porges discovered that the vagus nerve, which innervates most of our organs, has different branches, and that the autonomic nervous system reacts to danger in a hierarchy of three possible responses.  The first line of defence in the face of a perceived threat is activation of the most recently evolved social engagement system.  We try to negotiate […]
August 21, 2017

WHY IS THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTO HOLDING HER ABDOMEN?

Karla, the photo model in my new book Pathways to a Centered Body, is using her hands as a tactile cue to sense her psoas muscle during asana. Although buried and difficult to access, she can use her mind to dive deep and visualize the psoas location, size and pathway. She has already used EXPERIENTIAL ANATOMY practices to develop a direct kinesthetic sense of this important muscle so she can integrate somatic awareness of it into her yoga asana and everyday movements. WHAT IS EXPERIENTIAL ANATOMY? Let’s face it, learning anatomy can be boring! All those bony landmarks and muscle attachments……. However, it can become a rich, multidimensional and personal event when you DIRECTLY experience physical structures. Experiential anatomy begins with an intellectual, two-dimensional understanding of anatomical structures and then leads to a felt sense of parts and systems of the body. It is a way of learning that involves […]