Awakening Riders Pelvic Movement

“A detailed operating manual for healing pain and awakening embodied joy” through body-oriented Somatic Learning practices that incorporate mindfulness, breathing, and more (Rick Hanson, author of Buddha’s Brain) Awakening Somatic Intelligence offers a guide to Somatic Learning, an innovative body-oriented approach that incorporates mindfulness, visualization, breathing exercises, postures, and stretches. Developed by author, psychotherapist, and award-winning songwriter and poet Risa Kaparo, PhD, Somatic Learning is based on leading-edge research demonstrating the power of the mind to activate physiological, mental, and emotional healing. Kaparo has successfully used her approach with patients suffering from chronic pain, high blood pressure, and mood disorders including depression and anxiety. Recounting her own struggle with chronic pain, Kaparo begins with a moving description of her journey from crippling pain to renewed health and aliveness. Kaparo introduces the concepts and characteristics of Somatic Learning, a method that grew out of her personal healing experience. Incorporating the latest brain research in mindfulness and neuroplasticity, the book presents breathing exercises; postures and stretches for morning and bedtime; instructions for integrating mindfulness practice into one's daily life; and ways of deepening the practice through touch and caring interaction with others. Enhanced with over 100 detailed instructional photos and illustrations, the book includes inspiring case stories and the author's own expressive poetry that illuminate the healing power of this practice.

All yoga teachers use cues as they teach their classes. But sometimes those cues can be vague, misleading, or even anatomically incorrect. That makes Understanding the Pelvis: A Functional Approach to Yoga a vital resource for yoga instructors and practitioners. “Yoga teachers need to cue, and yogis need to have a clear focus as they practice,” says author Eric Franklin, who has been sharing imagery techniques in his teaching for more than 30 years. “Many cues sound anatomical but are actually personal opinions that have become commonplace to the point that people think they are general truths. Imagery and cues are supposed to improve our practice, but sometimes they actually have the opposite effect.” In the first part of the book, Franklin and coauthor Alison Wesley dispel the misconceptions surrounding the biomechanics of the pelvis, using an evidence-based scientific perspective to teach how the pelvic bones move. In the second part, readers will apply that knowledge through the practice of 26 asanas (exercises) that are designed to improve pelvic function and yoga technique. The asanas are accompanied by 66 full-color illustrations that clearly show proper technique and bring the exercises to life. Franklin uses his famed Franklin Method, which combines movement, imagery, and touch, to help practitioners learn—or relearn, if necessary—correct techniques to maximize pelvic function. Understanding the Pelvis offers a concise, clear, and authoritative treatise on the functioning of the pelvis in yoga. Through this book, instructors and practitioners will be able to do the following: Improve their own yoga practice and, in the case of instructors, the practice of those they teach Understand how proper pelvic movement can improve performance See how the pelvic muscles and joints work together and how the pelvis interacts with surrounding muscle groups Comprehend the function and movement of the pelvis and pelvic floor The book delves into the art of cueing and mental imagery, two tools that are critical to both instructors and practitioners. “A teacher can make an enormous difference in the progress of students if he or she understands how cueing works best,” Franklin says. “To provide anatomical cues, it’s not enough to understand the location and names of structures; you also need to understand their function.” Through this book, teachers will be able to provide more anatomically accurate cues, and they will learn to use mental imagery effectively to inform movement. “Imagery activates brain areas that overlap with the areas activated during the physical execution of the movement,” Franklin says. “Imagery has a training effect on the brain, just as movement does on the body.” It is the marriage of correct anatomical functioning and the practice of mental imagery that makes the Franklin Method so powerful. Understanding the Pelvis: A Functional Approach to Yoga will help instructors and practitioners—including athletes, dancers, and other artists—safely and effectively use the pelvis in yoga. The ability to correctly use anatomical cues and guide yogis through their movements will provide instructors with a new level of confidence and expertise in their workshops and classes, and it will give practitioners the knowledge they need to avoid injury and fully enjoy the benefits of yoga.

Human beings are now evolving into a new species, popularized as the light body that starts to grow when our vibration is high enough to activate DNA that exists in our genes. The growing force increases the vibration of all objects over time. When the old body design no longer thrives in the increased vibratory field a species wide metamorphosis triggers. That is where we are today. In early 2006, Mary unexpectedly experienced a kundalini awakening after years of doing meditation. After this, she devoted three years full-time to the kundalini transformation and took daily notes. The core of Our Light Body is Mary's journal for the first year of kundalini transformation with notes, poetry, insights, visions and dreams. The book has chapters with the author's insights about the personality, the higher-self, steps of spiritual awakening, dark nights of the soul, DNA activation, kundalini, human metamorphosis and evolution.

Founder of the Institute for Staged Recovery in New York City and creator of "Authentic Process Therapy," Picucci is an addictions counselor who bases his methods primarily on personal experience. In this updated edition of his self-published Complete Recovery, Picucci describes a "Stage Two" recovery program for evolving beyond freedom from addictions to "holism," which encompasses joy, bliss, love, empowerment, creativity, respect for all life, and peace. Picucci makes an interesting distinction between recovery from addictions and childhood traumas" and "recovery of fulfillment, wisdom, serenity, and emotional, spiritual and sexual wholeness. Using a structure of 12 stations, which can be visited and revisited in any order as often as needed, he guides readers through six fundamental and six emergent modules of this process for healing the "spiritual-sexual split" and the "cultural pain... of oppressed minorities," and ultimately achieving the "shame-free presentation of self." Picucci says he offers "nothing less than a re-birthing process" through a combination of one-on-one psychotherapy, support groups and spirituality. His own life experiences as a gay man, once married, now HIV positive, surviving AIDS, cancer, a heart attack, triple-bypass surgery and drug and alcohol addictions give him a uniquely credible perspective on healing and wholeness. In his cogent, well-organized handbook, Picucci functions a bit like the gay shamans who had a special place in North American Indian tribes. His compassionate acceptance of diversity will inspire many readers to care to take the next step and seek the help they need.

A radical presentation of the most rigorous form of contemporary yoga as meditation in motion In The Art of Vinyasa, two of the most well-respected teachers of the Ashtanga style of yoga, Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor, explore this rigorous practice not as a gymnastic feat, but as a meditative form. They reveal that doing the practice—and particularly the vinyasa, or the breath-synchronized movements—in such a deep and focused way allows practitioners to experience a profound awakening of the body and mind. It also develops an adaptable, flexible practice that can last a lifetime. Freeman and Taylor give an in-depth explanation of form, alignment, and anatomy, and how they work together in the practice. They also present a holistic approach to asana practice that includes an awareness of the subtle breath and seamlessly merges yoga philosophy with practical technique. Unlike other books on Ashtanga, The Art of Vinyasa does not follow the linear pattern of the sequences of postures that are the hallmark of Ashtanga yoga. Instead, it interlinks the eight limbs: yama and niyama (ethical practices), asana (postures), pranayama (breathing), pratyahara (nongrasping of the senses), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation), samadhi (harmony, insight)—and shows how to establish an internally rooted yoga practice.

Lack of appreciation and knowledge of the malalignment syndrome often leads to a failure to notice the possible aetiological or predisposing factors contributing to many musculoskeletal problems. Recognition of the syndrome by physicians, chiropractors, osteopaths, podiatrists, physiotherapists, kinesiologists, sports trainers and others dealing with patients and athletes (including equine) can help them implement appropriate treatment and training to correct the malalignment and actually prevent the initial occurrence of symptoms. Now in its second edition, The Malalignment Syndrome has established itself as a trusty one-stop reference providing a detailed description of this syndrome and how it can be identified and treated. It concentrates on the trunk, pelvis, spine, sacroiliac joint and legs, incorporating anatomy, biomechanics, stability issues, possible causes, examination and diagnostic techniques as well as a comprehensive treatment approach. Emphasis is also placed on the participation of the patient/athlete in the day-to day treatment process to achieve long-term results. Evidence-based practical advice and guidance Multidisciplinary in approach Highly illustrated with photographs, diagrams and anatomical models Recognizes the importance of prevention as well as treatment Summary and case boxes Over 100 new illustrations Additional examination techniques to facilitate diagnosis Extensively rewritten for easier reading Contributions by David Lane (Chapter 6: Horses, Saddles and Riders), Sarah Stevens and Karina Steinberg (Chapter 8: Treatment: The Manual Therapy Modes) Focuses on diagnosis/treatment of malalignment-related pelvic, leg and back pain

When our bodies start to feel stiff, sore, or tired, we often say that we're "getting old." But is that really the problem? In this groundbreaking work, Thomas Hanna shows that much of the physical decline associated with aging is not inevitable but avoidable. Building on the work of Moshe Feldenkrais, Hanna's practical program for the mind and body proves once and for all that problems you've always thought of as the symptoms of age--stiffness, bad back, chronic pain, fatigue, and, at times, even high blood pressure--need never occur if you maintain conscious control of your nerves and muscles. He shows how the body can turn a habitual action into an involuntary, destructive pattern called sensory-motor amnesia, and demonstrates a simple but effective method for conquering these habits with sensory-motor awareness. With only a five-minute routine once a day, you can maintain the pleasures of a limber, healthy body indefinitely and escape the confines of age or injury. Practical and easy to use, Somatics is the essential guide to reversing the physical effects of aging--or staving them off before they even begin.