The Somatic Strength Collective

We have a big problem with misinformation in the Yoga world. This problem seems most rampant around the hamstrings but is by no means exclusive to the hamstrings. The myth that stretching the hamstrings will “lengthen” the hamstrings and reduce the subjective experience of tightness has been going around for some time. For this 30 minute practice, we will practice a very traditional Yin practice focused on the hamstrings, EXCEPT, we won’t be stretching the bejesus out of your hamstrings. I’ll teach you a more sustainable approach that will ACTUALLY help you to increase range of motion and decrease sensitivity. Not only is it more effective, but it’s a whole lot more enjoyable.

Learn more about evidence informed teaching and Yin Yoga Teacher Training with me: https://yoga.mandyryle.com/yin-yoga-teacher-training/

Transformational Self Care
A Late Winter Wellness Retreat in the Dominican Republic
March 3-10, 2023

Join me for a 7 day Caribbean wellness retreat. Each day we will focus on a pillar of self care. By the end of the week you will have a group of new friends, some unforgettable memories and a personal self care strategy to enhance your life back at home.  Learn More 

Let's connect! Follow me on:
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TicToc
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Free Resources:
Master the Yin Yoga Pose Repertoire: 7 Day Email Course
Introduction to Pain Care Yoga
Practice Gallery Workbook - 6 go to sequences with pictorial instructions

 This 30 minute practice is for you if you tend to get down on yourself, if you are a bit perfectionistic. I've borrowed from a meditation I got from the self compassion researcher, Kristen Neff. We will blend Yin Yoga poses with a breathing practice and simple meditation to establish warmth and affection. Our anatomical focus is the shoulders and chest. 

Props Needed: A Yoga Block and a Blanket

Yin Yoga Teacher Training: 

Transformational Self Care
A Late Winter Wellness Retreat in the Dominican Republic
March 3-10, 2023

Join me for a 7 day Caribbean wellness retreat. Each day we will focus on a pillar of self care. By the end of the week you will have a group of new friends, some unforgettable memories and a personal self care strategy to enhance your life back at home.  Learn More 

Let's connect! Follow me on:
Facebook
Instagram
TicToc
YouTube

Free Resources:
Master the Yin Yoga Pose Repertoire: 7 Day Email Course
Introduction to Pain Care Yoga
Practice Gallery Workbook - 6 go to sequences with pictorial instructions

 For our final practice in this four part series, we will be working with the upper back, or thoracic region of the spine. For your exploration, I've borrowed a bit from a Feldenkrais Method® Lesson, the thoracic clock. If you are a movement geek like me, you will be blown away by the simple complexity of this somatic experience. Prepare to feel stuff you may not have felt in your back before. We will also be touching on one more important back related topic that can't be ignored. The influence that society and societal norms has on our experience of our back. This is a really juicy practice and it is especially wonderful if you suffer from upper back pain. 

Props Needed: Yoga blanket and 2 blocks

Transformational Self Care
A Late Winter Wellness Retreat in the Dominican Republic
March 3-10, 2023

Join me for a 7 day Caribbean wellness retreat. Each day we will focus on a pillar of self care. By the end of the week you will have a group of new friends, some unforgettable memories and a personal self care strategy to enhance your life back at home.  Learn More 

Let's connect! Follow me on:
Facebook
Instagram
TicToc
YouTube

Free Resources:
Master the Yin Yoga Pose Repertoire: 7 Day Email Course
Introduction to Pain Care Yoga
Practice Gallery Workbook - 6 go to sequences with pictorial instructions

 This is the third class in our series, Getting to Know Your Back. You are welcome to explore these practices in any order. In this practice, we will explore another layer of the experience of the back, the Thoraco Lumbar Fascia. I am fascinated by fascia and have spent a great deal of time studying it. But the TLF is special. The fascia in the low back is unique as you will learn in this practice. Getting to know the TLF will I hope, engender feelings of friendliness even awe in you for this incredible layer of you and your back.

Access even more pain care resources in my free video course, Introduction to Pain Care Yoga. 

Transformational Self Care
A Late Winter Wellness Retreat in the Dominican Republic
March 3-10, 2023

Join me for a 7 day Caribbean wellness retreat. Each day we will focus on a pillar of self care. By the end of the week you will have a group of new friends, some unforgettable memories and a personal self care strategy to enhance your life back at home.  Learn More 

Let's connect! Follow me on:
Facebook
Instagram
TicToc
YouTube

Free Resources:
Master the Yin Yoga Pose Repertoire: 7 Day Email Course
Introduction to Pain Care Yoga
Practice Gallery Workbook - 6 go to sequences with pictorial instructions

Many who have back pain believe that their spine is unstable. There is a distinct feeling of instability and vulnerability in the back that is reinforced by confusing or misleading messages coming from popular culture and even medical professionals. Current research shows however not that people with back pain are not unstable, but too stiff! In this short practice we will gently explore that stiffness and seek to restore subtilty and differentiation to the movements of the back, especially the spine and ribs.

This is the second episode in a short series "Getting to Know Your Back". You are free to take the classes in any order.

If you are interested in exploring an evidence informed approach to healing back pain, check out my free e-course "Introduction to Pain Care Yoga". You can enroll here and start today.

Transformational Self Care
A Late Winter Wellness Retreat in the Dominican Republic
March 3-10, 2023

Join me for a 7 day Caribbean wellness retreat. Each day we will focus on a pillar of self care. By the end of the week you will have a group of new friends, some unforgettable memories and a personal self care strategy to enhance your life back at home.  Learn More 

Let's connect! Follow me on:
Facebook
Instagram
TicToc
YouTube

Free Resources:
Master the Yin Yoga Pose Repertoire: 7 Day Email Course
Introduction to Pain Care Yoga
Practice Gallery Workbook - 6 go to sequences with pictorial instructions

Most of us think of the back as a collection of tissues; North of the hips and behind the core, supported by the spine. We don’t think too much about it unless something goes wrong. Which, happens a lot. Most adults will experience non-specific back pain within their lifetime. That is to say, back pain which has no specific etiology that can be seen on scans. The back is an incredibly complicated structure anatomically, but even more so when you consider other parts of the experience like the the vascular system and the nervous system. But humans are not just walking, talking tissues. We are embodied selves with thoughts, feelings, beliefs and predictions. These parts of our experience are EVERY BIT as important to our experience as the tissues themselves, maybe even MORE important. So this practice is all about getting to know your extraordinary, multi dimensional back which is a reflection of the complexity and wonder of you as a self. The development of awareness, differentiation and variability in movement in the back is our goal. All of these things are proven to reduce back pain and sensitivity.

Props Needed:

Two Blocks, 2 Blankets and a Bolster

Learn how pain care yoga can help you to overcome chronic pain. Enroll in my free mini course, Simple Strategies to Overcome Chronic Pain

Transformational Self Care
A Late Winter Wellness Retreat in the Dominican Republic
March 3-10, 2023

Join me for a 7 day Caribbean wellness retreat. Each day we will focus on a pillar of self care. By the end of the week you will have a group of new friends, some unforgettable memories and a personal self care strategy to enhance your life back at home.  Learn More 

Let's connect! Follow me on:
Facebook
Instagram
TicToc
YouTube

Free Resources:
Master the Yin Yoga Pose Repertoire: 7 Day Email Course
Introduction to Pain Care Yoga
Practice Gallery Workbook - 6 go to sequences with pictorial instructions

For this gentle but incredibly powerful practice, I have borrowed a lesson from the Feldenkrais Method. You will engage in gentle progressions to experience not just movement of the shoulder joint, but the embodied experience of the shoulder, from the tissues, to your thoughts and beliefs about your shoulder. A practice like this feels mild, but trust that your body is learning, that your nervous systems are developing a faith and confidence in your shoulder. This is a very affirmational way to experience your shoulder, which may facilitate an experience of healing if you struggle with this area.

Transformational Self Care
A Late Winter Wellness Retreat in the Dominican Republic
March 3-10, 2023

Join me for a 7 day Caribbean wellness retreat. Each day we will focus on a pillar of self care. By the end of the week you will have a group of new friends, some unforgettable memories and a personal self care strategy to enhance your life back at home.  Learn More 

Let's connect! Follow me on:
Facebook
Instagram
TicToc
YouTube

Free Resources:
Master the Yin Yoga Pose Repertoire: 7 Day Email Course
Introduction to Pain Care Yoga
Practice Gallery Workbook - 6 go to sequences with pictorial instructions

If I had a dollar for every time a student asked for a yoga pose for tight, or painful hips.... It's one of the main reasons that people come to Yin. The notion that stretching tight hips will relieve stiffness is well embedded into our Yoga/fitness culture. But, based on the evidence that I have seen, stretching does not adaptively lengthen muscles. So, can Yin help? YES! Just not for the reasons you may think. This is a short go-to practice for you if you suffer with tight or painful hips. We will explore some better options than static stretching and I will give you some tips along the way about how you can maintain your soothed hips.

Transformational Self Care
A Late Winter Wellness Retreat in the Dominican Republic
March 3-10, 2023

Join me for a 7 day Caribbean wellness retreat. Each day we will focus on a pillar of self care. By the end of the week you will have a group of new friends, some unforgettable memories and a personal self care strategy to enhance your life back at home.  Learn More 

Let's connect! Follow me on:
Facebook
Instagram
TicToc
YouTube

Free Resources:
Master the Yin Yoga Pose Repertoire: 7 Day Email Course
Introduction to Pain Care Yoga
Practice Gallery Workbook - 6 go to sequences with pictorial instructions

This is a gentle yet very effective practice for challenging our biases. Neck pain is one of the most common types of chronic pain and like all pain, is a product of bi-psycho-social factors. For today, we will focus of the psychological and cultural contributors to neck pain. We’ll do so with somatic movements intended to activate tissues in your neck, shoulder, and chest. You will also have time in common yin poses to explore and contemplate. This practice is the heart of what I do in Pain Care Yoga. We learn, we are challenged and often delighted by our efforts.

Transformational Self Care
A Late Winter Wellness Retreat in the Dominican Republic
March 3-10, 2023

Join me for a 7 day Caribbean wellness retreat. Each day we will focus on a pillar of self care. By the end of the week you will have a group of new friends, some unforgettable memories and a personal self care strategy to enhance your life back at home.  Learn More 

Let's connect! Follow me on:
Facebook
Instagram
TicToc
YouTube

Free Resources:
Master the Yin Yoga Pose Repertoire: 7 Day Email Course
Introduction to Pain Care Yoga
Practice Gallery Workbook - 6 go to sequences with pictorial instructions

To me, Yin is the answer, the cure, for our stressful times. A practice which invites us to slow down, attend to the self and surrender is not just helpful, it's vital. So for this practice we will retreat from the heart opening, expanding and activating for an opportunity to soften, to close and defend to heal. As a people pleaser and perfectionist, this meditation and simple movement is not natural for me, but it is so sweet and healing. 

Transformational Self Care
A Late Winter Wellness Retreat in the Dominican Republic
March 3-10, 2023

Join me for a 7 day Caribbean wellness retreat. Each day we will focus on a pillar of self care. By the end of the week you will have a group of new friends, some unforgettable memories and a personal self care strategy to enhance your life back at home.  Learn More 

Let's connect! Follow me on:
Facebook
Instagram
TicToc
YouTube

Free Resources:
Master the Yin Yoga Pose Repertoire: 7 Day Email Course
Introduction to Pain Care Yoga
Practice Gallery Workbook - 6 go to sequences with pictorial instructions