I am a yoga teacher who lives and works in New York City. I love it here, and I love my sweet private yoga studio where I see individual students. Here and there during the week, I’ll schedule some quiet time alone to practice yoga, study anatomy, write, and get work done. I’m in my studio as I write this. It is south-facing on the 12th floor of an old building—the uppermost floor—and it looks out at other old buildings’ facades with their cool, colorful architectural details and the weathered wood water towers on the roofs…
Read MoreThings are usually easier when you have a little support. That’s why we’re happy to share details about TWO wonderful new online support groups for anyone with scoliosis and/or a fusion!
Read MoreInitially, I would have described this amazingly transformative bodywork experience as “a whole lotta nothing”. The movements are simple and easy, and I could not have imagined they would have such a powerful effect on this scoliosis-riddled body (the dictionary meaning of riddled… adjective: filled with, and often thoroughly weakened by, something undesirable)…
Read MoreFollowing our 21-Day TWiSTED Transformation in November 2020, Martha Carter and TOPS associates Kathryn Kusyszyn and Sandra Razieli answered some of our participants questions about their scoliosis.
Read MoreThis is a memoir written by the author in her sixties, looking back on life, mainly her difficult childhood. She is clear that her memories are imbued with emotional energy, and how she views her past changes during the course of the book. Linda draws a portrait with words of her experience growing up Polish and Catholic in a small America town. Scoliosis plays a minor part in the story.
Read MoreIntroducing "Back Stories", our TOPS Guest Blog Series. In our second guest blog, Deborah Wolk, a Yoga for Scoliosis specialist based in New York City, details the incredible experience shared by all in attendance at her Yoga, Scoliosis and the Organic Body retreat for TOPS on Salt Spring Island, BC, this past July, 2018.
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INTRODUCTION
We live in a time when the earth is stressed: fires blaze along the West Coast, resources are dwindling, and the ocean and its inhabitants are diseased by plastic. The state of our planet raises questions. How does our own condition reflect this?
Read MoreWhat happens in a Yoga for Scoliosis class
When I discovered Elise Browning Miller and her method, Yoga for Scoliosis, I finally felt confident to explore Yoga further. First of all, Elise had scoliosis! So, unlike other Yoga teachers I had worked with, her teaching provided insights that could only come from having personal experience with this condition.
Starting yoga and a key discovery: Elise Browning Miller’s Yoga for Scoliosis
When my back finally started to feel stronger and more mobile, I found myself dreaming about dancing. In that moment between sleep and awake, I would have visions of myself in an extreme arabesque with my an open chest, arched back, and a long, high leg. Sometimes it was à Ia seconde - with my leg lifted to the side. I was never wearing a tutu. I was always either in street clothes or naked. I could feel my spine - free and powerful.
My journey - and discoveries - in Supportive Care
The results of my intense massage routine and gym training slowly gave me confidence to try new things in the search for more mobility and pain relief. I thought that by having my Harrington rods removed, everything would be better, immediately. But, as it turned out, I encountered a whole new set of challenges...
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