Over the past few months I’ve been chatting with you about meditation, yoga, and getting in touch with our mental health after the crazy year that was 2020. I truly believe that we can all benefit from adding more yoga to our lives.
However, I know that for many the idea of yoga makes you cringe just a little bit. Maybe it’s the idea of it being too slow, or not a “workout”, or you don’t want to get in touch with your inner self! Trust me, I totally get it. Traditional yoga can be a bit intimidating and overwhelming, or simply not seem right for the life you currently live.
This is one of the many reasons for CounterFlow Yoga.
I’ve been doing yoga for a really long time, and teaching it since 2005. I’ve gone through many different schools for training (in fact, I’m currently working on my 500-hour teacher training through Blissology Yoga), and I’ve seen lots of different philosophies with yoga.
However, as I spent more time as a practitioner I realized that there were elements of yoga that didn’t meld well with my exercise science knowledge and background. I started to ponder and question things about the traditional flows and looked at how classes were put together with a bit more critical lens (okay, that may just be because I love class design!).
What I started to realize is that traditional yoga practices aren’t always appropriate for 21st century life.
I noticed that we’re often doing the same 20(ish) poses class after class; we’re encouraged to go to the end range of movement – often lacking proper form; many poses are forward folded; and little attention may be spent on developing the strength needed to stabilize the flexibility gains that are happening.
So one day, back in 2015 I started to develop flows that infused elements of yoga, Pilates, functional movement, tai chi, and dance into one class. I looked at ways to keep us constantly moving in a way that improved our posture, balance, strength, and flexibility. With time I found ways to be curious and creative with the movement adventures for me, and my participants.
And slowly CounterFlow Yoga was born.
The primary goal of each class is to counter the postures and mindsets we find as 21st century humans. To empower our bodies to move in amazing ways and for our brains to seek new and different ways of thinking. I want people to leave class not only feeling like they are standing taller and moving easier, but that they truly can go into their day with a new sense of wonder, curiosity, vulnerability, and creativity.
Today, there are 3 different versions of CounterFlow Yoga:
- CounterFlow Yoga Stretch
- CounterFlow Yoga Balance
- CounterFlow Yoga Power
By moving through the dynamic flows, each class gives you an opportunity to focus on different key elements of functional movement and empower your body to feel good on that day!
Each class is filled not only filled with moves from yoga, but with strong exercise science and sport psychology principles – including:
- 11 Functional Movement Patterns
- 3 Planes of motion
- Multiple body positions and levels of movement
- Concepts of mobility, stability, strength, and balance
- Growth mindset, positive pyschology, flow state & visualization techniques
If you’re like me and totally geek out on all this science, and want to go even further, I’ve put together a few book and research article must reads for you!
- Great Exercise Science & Movement Books
- Sport Psychology & Mindset Book List
- Great Research Articles Reference List
There is so much more to the science behind the class (check it out here).
I truly believe that the more we allow ourselves moments to let go and be free, the more we can appreciate the world we live in. I choose to share this through the art of human movement. I hope you feel empowered on this journey of CounterFlow Yoga with me and join me on GXunited.TV for a class (the exclusive home of CounterFlow Yoga).
