Category: Teaching Yoga

Yoga and Parkinson’s

Kat Robinson
For years, I had this wonderful woman in my yoga classes. She participated in everything, from my restorative classes to my powerful vinyasa classes. She always seemed so young for her age and, as an avid yogini, golfer, and jogger, she stayed very physically fit. Then a few years ago, she came to my Tuesday evening hatha class, in which she was a regular. I noticed that she was having some difficulty balancing...
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Brain scans – swimming up a muddy stream to measure pain.

Neil Pearson
A recent media report started with a statement paraphrased as follows: “Scientists report that they have developed a way to measure how much pain a person is having by scanning their brains”. The writers went on to say that, when doctors are faced with someone in pain, they have no way to judge its severity other than to ask questions. If you are like me, such statements are worse than nails...

Music from San Jose

Neil Pearson
For the past few days I have been teaching at a beautiful yoga centre in the hills just south of San Jose, California. Mount Madonna holds the same peaceful feeling as its sister centre on Salt Spring Island (where I often lead retreats), even though it is much bigger. The natural settings and calm attitudes of the individuals working and living in these centres seem to make it easier to...
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Finding Your Inner Strength With Yoga

Kat Robinson
In my classes we go from one extreme to the next. I offer very gentle, therapeutic, in-chairs classes, classes that are very athletic and will challenge you in every aspect, and everything in between. The one thing they all have in common is that I strive to get my students to find their “inner strength” from the deepest core muscles of the body. So what are the core...

Pain and Love – potentially troublesome experiences

Neil Pearson
I submitted a proposal yesterday for a workshop at the 2013 International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) conference. As you would expect, I am hoping to provide an interactive workshop about yoga and pain. The title of the presentation is “How much pain is okay in Yoga?” In the proposal description I wrote something like this, “…pain, like love – another potentially troublesome human experience – is often misunderstood.” I wrote...

Shediac, New Brunswick

Neil Pearson
Shediac, New Brunswick, is the Lobster Capital of the World. This small resort region on the east coast of Canada booms from a population of less than 10,000 in the winter to over 50,000 in the summer, when the days are long and warm, and the ocean beaches are packed with sun- and seafood-seekers. At the city’s western limit there is a giant crustacean guardian. The biggest lobster (no doubt)...
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Hope

Neil Pearson
It seems that hope may be one of the biggest reasons why we have not advanced pain science, education, research and policy in society, in higher education, and in research. It’s not my intention to point fingers here. Rather, it is to ask those reading to seriously consider the impact of ‘no strong message of hope’ in the area of pain management. When there is no hope for change, doesn’t hope become...
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University of British Columbia Teaching

Neil Pearson
It’s August 2nd and I am just off the plane into Vancouver, sitting at a coffee shop at the University of British Columbia. This morning I will teach three hours of pain science and physiotherapy pain management to the masters of physical therapy students. This is one of the most pleasant aspects of my work – teaching students. The reality for health professionals is that anything we do not learn in university...

Growing Pains: Managing a Studio

Kat Robinson
My studio has been going through some changes lately. Positive changes, but even positive changes are not without challenges. I have been teaching yoga 10 years now and have nurtured this child of mine called Active Kat Yoga. Unfortunately Active Kat Yoga has been very slow growing, in fact in some cases I have actually had to step back two steps in order for me to take one step forward. At...