The Element Series
The Element Series is a new sequence i have created to bring to the Yoga / mobility community.
Most of my Yoga journey i have been an Ashtanga practitioner and teacher, with some additional study at the Iyengar school of Yoga, but my background has largely been in sports and competetive sports. What i have cultivated from this is a broad understanding of body mechanics, injury prehab / rehab and compssion, as i have worked through so many inuries and imbalances in my own body and students over the years.
The Ashtanga system which i teach at my shala here in Oslo, when taught correctly within the Mysore style setting is an excellent metholody to open the body, breath and mind to the practices of Yoga. As much as i love teaching this system, it is limited in it’s reach if it is not practiced in a progressive way. What i mean by that is if it is not taught in the Mysore style class setting.
Mysore style Ashtanga Yoga
Often Ashtanga is taught in a led style class setting only, where students maybe learn the half of primary series and potentially the full primary series. This in my opinion is not the way to learn this system and when i have come across students who have learnt it this way they often have imbalances in thier body / mind as they were never taught a way to progress through the system as a whole.
Over the years i have worked with a variety of different people from different backgrounds, ages, with different injuries and body types that are not ready for, or have the necessary desire to work through the Ashtanga system in a Mysore style setting.
So as a teacher and body worker i felt it was necessary to develop a new system / series of postures that could accomadate this group that was more balanced in essence, could accompany a wider range of ages and mobilities and something that could be practiced in itself without a need to progress into deeper asana work. I have been testing and developing this system over a number of years with individuals privately and with a variety of different groups which i am now ready to share. I’ve called it The Element Series.
Element: Straightforward - Basic - Fundamental - Essential.
Yoga / mobility sequences can be created for a variety of different reasons and intentions, but my goal and intention with postural yoga has always been the same. Health, healing and effectifness.
A bit like the Diamond Path in Buddhism. I have always been interested in the most direct methodology.
The Element Series is available for all body types and ages. I have created it for Ashtanga / yoga practitioners to use in conjunction with thier existing Ashtanga / yoga practice as an alternative to do on some days, if you are dealing with or coming back from certain typs of injuries or for anyone new to mobility training and yoga who wants to learn a new way of moving to increase thier mobility, improve thier health in general and reduce pain and sensitivity in thier body.
Along side The Element Series i have made The Better Mobility Guide which is a series of tutorials to aid each practitioner to understand the mechanics of how to move thier bodies and a breakdown of different movement modailities to teach you how to move your body correctly with better technique.
Whether you are a yoga practitioner, athlete, mum, dad, office worker etc. The Better Moblitity Guide was created to bring about a better sense of health in your body so you have more time to do the things you love and less time injured or with pain and feeling like you are gaining better mobility.
Not all of us have enough time these days in the modern world to accomadate a regular practice, which is why i have focused this on essentially work works the best and has the most impact on what i would say are the most essential areas of the body.
We start with the Supine Sequence. This is something you can practice daily, whether you are recovering from an injury or have limited mobility as a way to ease the body into basic movements and create the neseccary openness.
From here we move into The Element Series which i have broken down into three options relating to time: 15 minutes, 30 minutes and one hour. Depending on time and your capacity you should try and practice this 2 to 3 times a week. 15 minutes is good but an hour would be better. With this schedule you will easily start to see significant improvements in your moblity and general well being. As always, do what you can but more is usually better.
I’ve met many people over the years who suffer with chronic pain, have negative relationships with thier bodies or who have stopped doing the activies they love due to injury or pain and are just generally looking for better moblity and something that works, which is why i created this system.
Start now, start while you can, and incorporate the Better Mobility Guide into your life so you can have the ability to keep doing the things in life that you love.
For more information on The Element Series and The Better Moblity Guide check out my online tutorial.
