Keys to a Safe Practice

Yoga is a relatively safe form of physical activity, but there are predictable causes of injury, which teachers and students need to be aware of. Misalignment in yoga postures can result in repetitive strain injuries. Physical limitations like tight hamstrings can predispose students to low back strain and other injuries. Overdoing it and pushing too hard will increase the risk of injury as well. 

In this 2-part course, Dr. Loren Fishman and Ellen Saltonstall take a closer look at some of the more common types of yoga injuries and how to prevent them. You will learn to recognize the early warning signs of excess wear and tear in your own body, and also how to spot students for whom certain yoga postures will be particularly challenging, and how to help those students avoid injuries while practicing them. 

The course highlights the factors that may predispose a yoga practitioner for injury, including repetitive strain injuries. Which are the special considerations for keeping the back protected in back bends?  How can you gauge whether students are ready for specific yoga postures and how can you prepare them for postures that pose greater challenge on certain joints? When working with students over 50, which are the population groups that are particularly vulnerable to injuries, and how can you prevent these?

Learn how to recognize students for whom some yoga postures will be particularly challenging, and how to help those students avoid injuries while practicing them.

• Which joints of the body are more susceptible to repititive strain injury, and how can you protect them?
• Which is the best way to practice to make the fastest progress, while also preventing overuse or repetitive strain injuries?
• Which postures have the most misalignment issues, because of common strength and flexibility limitations in students, and how can you ensure correct alignment?
• Which chronic conditions may put students at greater risk for injury, and which asanas are still safe for students with these conditions? (including osteoporosis and arthritis)
• The benefits and safety of inversions, how to introduce these to students in a safe way, as well as inversions contraindicated for at-risk populations, such as people with osteoporosis;
• How to safely practice yoga postures that will stress the joints for some people, including Lotus pose, and Chaturanga Dandasana;
• How to introduce appropriate preparations and variations of challenging poses to keep yourself and your students progressing safely in your practice.

This Course Also Includes These Bonuses!

• Recordings of Both Sessions: Yours to keep. It’s generally acknowledged that many people only retain 10-20 percent of what they learn in a workshop. You will get the recordings of both sessions (both MP3 and MP4), enabling you to go back and listen to the workshop as many times as you like.
• Transcripts of Both Sessions: Ever wanted to refer to a certain part of a course? Even the best note takers miss a point every so often. With the transcripts of the sessions, you can go back and refer to particularly important passages or clarify sections you were in doubt about.

Loren Fishman, MD

After graduating from Christ Church, Oxford, spending the year 1973 with Mr. Iyengar in Pune, attending every class, public and private, and taking daily instruction, Loren M. Fishman, M.D., was told “You can teach my yoga.” Dr. Fishman then went to medical school, and at Rush, in a Tufts-Harvard Residency program, and as Chief Resident at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, did indeed teach patients, health professionals, and also learned more about yoga and medicine himself. He has been practicing yoga daily since the year he spent with Mr. Iyengar, has written and edited more than 65 academic articles, chapters and books in the philosophy of science, and Rehabilitation Medicine, his field. His work has been reviewed in articles by Jane Brody, Spine, and a number of international periodicals. He is past President of the New York Society of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, currently Associate Editor of Topics in Geriatric Rehabilitation, on the staff at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, Treasurer of the Manhattan Institute for Cancer Research, and has a private practice on Park Avenue in Manhattan.

Loren has published two books: Yoga for Osteoporosis with Ellen Saltonstall (for W.W. Norton) and Yoga and Multiple Sclerosiswith Eric Small. For more information about Loren, visit: www.sciatica.org
 

Ellen Saltonstall 

Ellen Saltonstall (E-RYT 500) is a yoga instructor and body therapist based in New York with extensive training in the Iyengar and Anusara methods. She has been a practitioner of yoga and meditation for over 40 years. She teaches Bodymind Ballwork, a method of self-massage using rubber balls which she developed, and she co-authored Yoga for Arthritis, 2008, and Yoga for Osteoporosis, 2010 with Dr. Loren Fishman. Her book Anatomy & Yoga: A Guide for Teachers and Students will be released in December 2016. She offers yoga therapy webinars through YogaOnlineU.com, and she teaches nationally and internationally with a specialty in anatomy and therapeutics. She is known for her clarity and depth of knowledge, and her enthusiasm in encouraging students of all levels to find freedom and joy through yoga. Please visit her website at www.ellensaltonstall.com.