Friday 25th January 2008 - Update from the FitYoga Conference

Well I am in the third and final day of the FitYoga and FitPilates Conference here in Los Angeles and let me tell you that it has been fantastic.

The standard of presenters and the variety of styles of Yoga has been quite eye-opening. After the 24 hours of riding the Spin Cycle last Friday in New York and being part of the incredible charity fundraising for teen obesity (they raised $250,000 for the HealthCorps initiative), my body was a little tentative of more exercise but let me tell you it was the best medicine.

Day one was loaded with excitement like a lot of conventions.

I had an opening session with Kristin McGee who took us through a session that introduced us to a better understanding of the Pelvic Floor. I have been to many conventions, courses, teacher training sessions and this topped them all. Her ability to convey verbally what was necessary inspired me to try to use this more often and without stealing her thunder she used the picture reference of a "baseball diamond" to better acquaint us with our pelvic floor. She is a great teacher and based in New York so if you visit there or live there, then I highly recommend you to find where she teaches (visit www.kristinmcgee.com for more info).

My next session was with Sara Ivanhoe and called Detox Yoga. I had not heard of Sara before the session started although she has a very strong reputation in the Yoga world. The session was slightly different from many Yoga sessions that I have personally attended. Most cncourage you to "look upwards and seek and give positive intent to the gods" whereas in this session, Sara explained we were trying to get the body to "give up any residual ill feelings" so looking downward was encouraged on most postures. It was a great session and I felt "lighter". Sara also has a voice that needs to be heard to be believed as it has a resonance that is very calming (visit www.saraivanhoe.com for more info).

I was really needing lunch by now and my body was starting to be totally relaxed. All the calm stretching we had done was really letting any stiff muscles be woken up and little did I know that it would be needed for the next session.

After lunch (I ate sparingly as I didnt want to have a full stomach for later sessions) my next workshop as Acro-Yoga.

The session description sounded like FUN by describing it as a combination of acrobatics and yoga. Now as a former member of the Military Gymnastic Display team this had my name written all over it. Wow is all I can say. Two and half hours later we all sat down to finish off the session and there were nothing but smiles and joy on everyone's faces.

The two instructors Jason Nemer and Jenny Sauer-Klein were brilliant. There very confident ability to make everyone feel that they could "invert or go upside down" allowed us all to be part of the experience and I for one am hooked. The pleasure of "play" is often taken out of lives by forced perceptions either of our own ability or the expectation that we think others have of us. The enviroment they created took the group to attempt (and complete) postures that at first seemed too far beyond our own limitations - and at times I could my inner voice telling me - YOU are upside down and loving this .... do you think I enjoyed this session ????? (visit www.acroyoga.org - please note the "org" not .com). They are not in Australia - yet although I did try to persuade them to visit but recommend it anyone in the US. They also do international retreats and this would be a blast I am sure.

Let me tell you how well I slept that night. Day Two I woke up recharged and ready to go and it was a day of High's and ..... just more high's.

The combination of acrobatics and yoga had been awesome and it had definitely appealed to the playful side of myself so when I read there was a session which had a combination of martial arts and yoga I was intrigued - and had to give that a go.

Bottom line Cameron Shayne is an exceptional instructor and very nice human being. When you watch him do what he does it becomes more like a dance flow than yoga with a martial arts twist - and of course YOU want to be able to do the same way. I however was not ..... quite as fluid as Cameron but nonetheless he showed me some ways to do the actions and while he praised me for my efforts there is a long way to go ..... and it is a journey that is pulling my interest. I now believe that I am thinking about movement as more than just a way to move (visit www.budokon.com for more info).

Breakfast was devoured and then it was more Acro-Yoga with what was a combination of "being a flyer" and "being a base". With one position you are guiding the other person through a range of movements while you lie on your back and they are suspended on top of your feet. This places both parties in a trust position and once you learn that it simple yet important principle - it allows both people to work together. Another buzzing session !

After lunch I had my next session with Kristin McGee. She is a great Yoga teacher who took us through the importance of having a strong core which followed on perfectly from her session the day before. Again the ability for an instructor to increase your range of motion through stretching is achieved by your own belief that if I try this I can do it - Hello .... isn't that what we all need to have in our lives, a better sense of self belief. She is also a very creative lady apart from her DVD's for adults on PowerYoga and Pilates with MTV she has also produced a children's workout called BendiGirl Yoga! (NOTE - its now the third day and my abs are aware that she worked us).

The day finished with a session with Jill Miller. Now I have personally known Jill for over a year now and done sessions with her in New York and also in Santa Monica. She is one of my favorite Yoga instructors because of so many reasons. Her ability to communicate intelligently with total understanding makes her what I call a "translator". There are many incredibly talented instructors in all forms of health awareness that can show you what to do perfectly. However, there are few who can verbalize to "the lay person" what is happening so they get it - she is one of these rare instructors.

Her session involved her taking us through the implications of shoulder issues and ways to deal with that. I have been a fitness and health professional for many years, trained and consulted to many, many thousands of clients and there are few who DON'T have shoulder issues. We all spend so much time doing things "forward" of our body centre-line that this exacerbates conditions for the shoulder.

She had us learning how to apply her knowledge and ability to adjust or manipulate the tender areas with two balls. I would highly recommend that you go to her website as she is passing on this knowledge with a DVD that will break it down brilliantly. Did it hurt - heck yeah. One day later does it feel better - ABSOLUTELY.

Trust me do yourself a favor and learn from one of the greats (visit www.jillmilleryoga.com for more info). Today was so big that after a shower I went down for dinner and was back in bed by 9.30 and for those that know me - that is incredible.

So what lies ahead for today - More Cameron Shayne and more Jill Miller then then the conference is over.

I will keep you updated after today - LIVE from LA Yoga Central - Namaste'
Tony