YOGA, SCOLIOSIS, AND THE NERVOUS SYSTEM:
SYMPATHETIC AND PARASYMPATHETIC - WITH DEBORAH WOLK
SALT SPRING ISLAND, BC
JULY 22-25, 2022
REGISTRATION is open until July 6. We still have a few spots left!
This workshop will be held on beautiful Salt Spring Island on the West Coast of Canada. MAP
ABOUT THE RETREAT
The scoliotic spine affects not only the bones and muscles, it also affects the nerves. The feedback from the right and left sides of the curves is not the same: one side is contracted and one side is overstretched. In the nervous system, this can create disorientation and a mix of inertia and tension in the scoliotic body, along with a building sense of anxiety, discomfort, and an inability to rest.
In this workshop, you will learn techniques to practice building your energy with active poses which access numb unused areas, release overused overstretched muscles, and allow your body to rest by finding release where muscles are over-contracted. Using prop setups and other stimuli which allow the nervous system to balance these extremes, the techniques in this workshop will help you to find a centre place where you can rest.
This retreat is for all levels, as well as students with spinal fusion. Teachers who work with students who have scoliosis are also encouraged to attend.
ABOUT THE DESTINATION
Salt Spring Island is known as the largest and most popular of the many gulf islands on the west coast of Canada. With its spectacular coastal and pastoral scenery, the island offers many outdoor activities, as well as the opportunity to explore dozens of artist studios and artisanal farms and markets. The workshop will be held at the wonderful Salt Spring Centre of Yoga. Salt Spring Island is a quick float plane ride from Vancouver International Airport. Or you can arrive via a stunning ferry ride from Vancouver or Victoria.
ABOUT DEBORAH WOLK
Having practiced yoga for her own scoliosis since 1994, Deborah has found that alignment-based yoga can control back pain and arrest the progression of the curvature and twist. In January 2015, Deborah founded Samamkaya Yoga Back Care and Scoliosis Collective in New York City – the only Yoga Center specializing in back care and scoliosis operating as a workers’ cooperative in the world! Deborah’s yoga teaching is inspired by her mentors, Elise Browning Miller, Bobbie Fultz, Genny Kapuler, Karin Stephan and Donald Moyer, and by therapeutic practices observed at medical classes at The Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI) in Pune, India. Her understanding of the nervous system is supported by ongoing study of Experiential Anatomy with Genny Kapuler and through her work with teacher Rachel Lynch-John in Body-Mind Centering techniques, a study she loves as much as Yoga itself. Deborah Wolk is certified by IAYT.