Your Spine, Your Yoga: The Course
Up-to-Date Knowledge and Practices to Increase Spinal Stability, Mobility, Endurance, and Well-Being
The spine is a multi-faceted, multi-functional construct uniquely designed to provide both stability and mobility through our torso to our limbs. While physical yoga practices have been used for decades to increase the range of motion of the spine, the spine’s primary function is, first and foremost, to provide stability through the core of our body. Building this stability is protective for the lower back and prepares the body to endure multiple forms and levels of stress.
Equally important in developing and maintaining spinal health is understanding how your uniqueness dictates the nature and depth of your practice. No one has your biology or biography, thus a standardized practice offered to every body is rarely the most effective way to work your spine. This course takes you beyond the basics and will guide you in developing a practice unique to your life, your body, and your spine.
Professor Stuart McGill has spent decades conducting scientific studies into spinal problems and solutions. He is world-renowned as a spine specialist, internationally sought after by elite athletes as well as by clinicians from a range of specialties. In this unique course, he shares his wisdom with Bernie Clark, a seasoned yoga teacher and author of the Your Body, Your Yoga series of books. Together they explore how yoga students, teachers, and movement enthusiasts in any field can adapt Professor McGill’s knowledge to their own yoga practice.
“The code is the science that governs how our body works. The art is to recognize the broad spectrum of features of people and then apply the code in a way that respects individual variability in order to optimize everyone’s health.” —Dr. Stuart McGill
In this eight-hour course, you will discover:
The code—the science of the spine
Professor McGill discusses several back-related themes through the lenses of biology, biomechanics, and pain mechanisms.
Professor McGill will also cover how your body depends on movement for optimal health, and he’ll share some clues you can look into for identifying your “tipping point” without crossing it.
Professor McGill also answers questions about the code from yoga students.
The art—making it real
Theory becomes practice! Professor McGill demonstrates how to apply key knowledge about the spine to daily life, work, sports, and exercise.
Professor McGill also answers students’ questions about the art.
Practices—taking it to the mat
Bernie Clark will apply the principles discussed in the code and the art in three guided yoga classes:
A one-hour yin yoga class focused on increasing spinal mobility
A one-hour active (yang) yoga class focused on building spinal strength and endurance
A one-hour yin/yang class to develop both mobility and stability for the spine
At the end of the practice segment are bonus tutorials with Professor McGill, where he helps several students uniquely adapt his teaching to their yoga practice.
For those wishing to dive deeper into the anatomical and biomechanical details of the spine, the text referred to during the course, and the main resource recommended, is Your Spine, Your Yoga.
“We’re all a little bit different. You can’t train a St. Bernard to win a race with a greyhound. Recognize that we’re all variants of this human ‘being’ with different diameters of bones, different shapes of hip sockets, and different lever ratios.” —Dr. Stuart McGill
photo credit: Andrea Killam
