Lightness and Flexibility: Playing with Hand balances
This workshop will explore the 2 essential components of hand balances, pinchas, handstands and headstands, with modifications or upgrades suggested to suit each student's ability and sense of adventure.
We will focus on the 'wings' of the body (latissimus dorsi, triceps, bandhas) which, when engaged properly, are the key to making the hand balances fly, bringing lightness and grace to the practice.
We will also concentrate on the 4 corners of the body, the hips and shoulders which are an essential gateway to many hand balances, creating space in those joints and strengthening the muscles around them. Students will work at their own individual pace with an opportunity to both look at the basics of the poses and practise a variety of usual and unusual poses in a playful and safe manner.
This workshop will focus on deepening and freeing up backbends, both from a skeletal and muscular perspective. We'll work on maximizing movement through the component parts of a backbend ( shoulders, upper and middle back, front groin) while also establishing, strengthening and coordinating the muscular actions that support and powerfully enhance the opening of the spine. Students will gain a better understanding of how their individual spines move and of how to practise through the 'snags' that restrict flexibility and ease of movement. This workshop is very dynamic and therefore not suitable for complete beginners.
Eileen's yoga practice comes from both a traditional and an experimental background. On the traditional side, she's been practising Mysore style Ashtanga daily for several years and completed the Advanced A (or 3rd) series with certified teachers John Scott and Hamish Hendry over 2 years ago. In parallel and on the experimental side, she's been studying with the Tripsichore Yoga Dance Theatre company since 1999 and has toured and performed internationally as a member of the company since 2002. She's one of the yogis featured in the Tripsichore Yoga DVD released in 2006.The Tripsichore practice consists of asanas sequences with a strong emphasis on hand balances, handstands and handstands variations. Eileen founded and ran Sukha Yoga Studio in London from 2002 until 2006,when she left the UK to further her own yoga studies both in Mysore and with inspirational teacher Rolf Naujokat.