Post-Surgery 4: Yoga for Dancers

Last month I had the pleasure of taking Hilary Cartwright's Yoga for Dancers workshop.  Hilary was one of the co-founders of White Cloud, the first GYROTONIC® studio.  An incredible teacher, Hilary embodies the core principles of GYROTONIC® movement while teaching in a modality that she has really made her own.

The three day workshop consisted of a three hour class every morning, followed by a lunch break and an afternoon review session where we went over some of the choreography and the energy behind the movements.  About half the class was made up of standing exercises, and about half seated on the floor or lying down.  There was a huge breathing emphasis.

At the end of the third day I felt better physically than I have ever felt.  That night I noticed that the scar from my surgery was significantly less visible.  I realized that movements which I had felt stretching adhesions and scar tissue on the first day of the workshop felt completely different on the third day.

At one point in the workshop Hilary had mentioned an experience in a hospital, post abdominal surgery, when she had to blow into a breath strength measuring device.  I had to use the same device, and I remember how difficult it had been to move any volume of air.  I'm quite sure the breathing emphasis in Hilary's workshop, and the corresponding movement patterns, were responsible for the sudden and profound change in my body.