Yoga for Sciatica & Scoliosis Special Series with Sharon Hawley

II.44 Svadhyayat istadevata samprayogah

“Study of the self has two paths.  One is for communicating from the skin, through the inner sheaths towards the seer; the other from the seer to the outer layer of his abode.”B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

“During the month of March, Sharon will emphasize back care.  The classes are designed to support back health, care, and comfort.  They are appropriate for students with and without back pain.   They are not designed for students in acute pain and are not diagnostic. 
Classes will cover all styles of poses (standing, forward extensions, seated, twists, backward extensions, inversions, restorative) as well as pranayama.  
Classical poses will be taught with support and modifications to allow practitioners to elongate and broaden the spine, soften the muscles supporting the spine, and create better postural alignment.  The goal is to facilitate healing and ease the pain.  Ultimately, Sharon hopes to instill a sense of understanding conscious movement, or intelligent action, so that practitioners can go inward and study themselves from the periphery to the core and, perhaps, from the core to the periphery.  

In the first three weeks of the month, Sharon will emphasize actions for Sciatica – pain that radiates along the path of the sciatic nerve; pain can branch out and down, from the lower back, through the hips and buttocks, and to the legs.  It most commonly occurs when a disc bulges, bone spurs or there is compression on a nerve.  In the last two weeks, she will look more closely at Scoliosis, or curvature in the spine.  Its causes are often unknown but may be genetic or environmental.  One can have both conditions.  Yogic actions to address discomfort in one condition may also be appropriate to the other.