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Laurel Beversdorf | Titanium Blonde Talks

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In this episode, I talk about movement, enjoying moving rather feeling like you have to do something because of what you look like or what you did during your day. Moving for the joy of moving your body in a way that feels good. Plus a whole lot more.

It was an inspiring conversation about moving, fear, enjoyment and the change in where and how we move as we continue to travel the pandemic. I also share my story of how I went from an actor to movement teacher.

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Topics
- Body Science
- Hips
- Lifting Weights
- Myth-Busting
- Pain
- Philosophy and Love
- Resistance Bands
- Self-Massage
- Shoulders
- Strength and Conditioning
- Teaching Inspiration

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laurelbeversdorf

If you’re looking for a place to develop a multi

If you’re looking for a place to develop a multidisciplinary practice that puts you together with a group of teachers and students who like to move in creative, multidisciplinary and creative ways, I have a Virtual Studio for you.  In my Virtual Studio, I'm confident you will find classes that offer you fresh inspiration, like yoga, strength programs, kettlebell classes, creative props workshops, restorative movement and self-massage, even a 3+ hour body science course all about strength science and how muscles work. (So you can understand the WHY behind a lot of the classes 😉)  Best yet, I’m offering a heavily discounted trial membership to my Virtual Studio.  For just $10, you can gain access to all of this content for 2 full weeks.  You’ll be able to take live classes with me during this time, as well. Get feedback, accountability, and answers to your questions in real time.  If you haven’t heard, this offer comes on the heels of news that my family and I are moving to Alabama.  Which is why I call this offer Move with Me!  When you sign up for 2 weeks for $10, you can one-click cancel at any time.  LINK IN BIO TO SIGN UP 👀

But don’t delay.  THIS OFFER ENDS TOMORROW. I won't be offering this discounted trial again for a long time.  #movewithme

Whenever we explore one structure, like the pelvic

Whenever we explore one structure, like the pelvic floor, we explore its relationship to other structures.

The idea there’s a separate structure called the pelvic floor is a mental abstraction.

My cadaver dissection teacher Gil Hedley calls words sharp scalpels that cut cleanly through concepts (like bodily structures) that are otherwise totally connected.

i.e. There’s no hip without the pelvis and so there’s no pelvic floor without a hip.

Body science and human movement is an exploration of relationships rather than parts.

My passion for teaching movement (with an emphasis on yoga + strength + modern movement science) is that I get to examine how it’s all connected.

I get to think critically about the ways that my prior understanding has lead me to believe otherwise.

I get to resolve my misconceptions by uncovering connections, and I get to make sense of it all in an online community, with people who are curious like me.

In short, I pinch myself daily. My niche is multidisciplinary education for people looking to make connections between seemingly disparate ideas like the pelvic floor and the hamstrings. Strength and flexibility. Learning to work harder and learning to work less hard. Discipline and fun. Niching down and offering multidisciplinary movement education.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

In these videos, I’m highlighting relationships like, the relationship between the pelvic floor and knee and hip rotation, hip rotation and squatting, hip rotation and external pelvic floor muscles, which are hip external rotators.

We explore these connections in my new 4-part class series Pelvic Floor Explore. Tomorrow is our 2nd class 2-2:30p — A Smarter Way To Kegel. It’s available to members live and on demand.

Wanna connect the dots with me? Right now I’m offering the best trial membership deal to my Virtual Studio ever. (I don’t do free trials.)

It’s called Move with Me.

I’m moving down south on Friday! 😉

2 weeks/$10, cancel anytime, no strings attached.

Come find out why my membership keeps growing even after the weather got nice and business started opening up.

Take 2 weeks to see if you’d like to join us.

Link in bio 👀

Feedback is a general term we use for when we wake

Feedback is a general term we use for when we wake up our body with props.

Another word I’ve recently started hearing is *constraint* and it’s a different way to view feedback.

(Side note: I love new movement vocabulary because new words seed new ideas.)

According to the dictionary, constraint means restriction.

But like all good boundaries, constraints (like the wall) create new opportunities.

Swipe L for 6 ways the wall restricts movement (and as a result, actually **creates** new opportunities.)

1️⃣ I keep my head, back, sacrum, at least one part of my upper extremity pressed into the wall and usher a lot more movement into my shoulder joint—a potent, active stretch for my shoulder muscles.

2️⃣ I press my finger tips against the wall and mobilize my spine and hips with a significant amount of spinal rotation already in place. The triplanar motion range of motion I can explore is greater because of the wall’s constraint. A constraint is often a source of leverage, and (therefore) greater joint freedom in terms of range of motion.

3️⃣ because the wall limits my neck motion, I can better mobilize my thoracolumbar spine, and get a good inner picture of where my head is in space as it relates to spinal wave. Here the constraint creates more awareness.

4️⃣ again because my crown is affixed to the wall, I restrict movement of my neck and just work on cervical rotation, when it would otherwise rotate AND also laterally flex. (BTW, this could feel really good to you! Try it.)

5️⃣same as 4, but now I can sense my spine’s position from the top down and better isolate shoulder movement against gravity.

6️⃣here the wall restricts movement of my hand in space (similarly, the floor restricts movement of my oposite side foot) providing me with a clearer perception of my spine then I would otherwise get in tricky cat/bird dog.

You know I have 8 full length classes in my Virtual Studio that explore these prop concepts, right? One Prop Many Opportunities.

Check them out along with all the other classes in my Virtual Studio with a special trial membership offer — 2 weeks/$10.

EXPIRES SATURDAY 7/24
link in bio 👀

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but you can

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but you can have a practice separate from the one you teach that’s all your own.

You can let that practice inspire what you do teach.

You can have it remain completely separate, too.

In 2012 I changed my practice to help myself feel better, more inspired, and eager to share my discoveries.

I asked myself how I wanted to feel. I made changes based on what wasn’t working. I sought out creative inspiration.

It started with my practice. And inevitably my teaching shifted too. But that wasn’t the point initially. I think that’s an important distinction.

Let your practice belong to YOU first, teachers.

Really use it to help yourself. To learn and get inspired about movement, your body, your capacity for change and growth.

Because that’s when you gain the most insight for how you can translate it for others. When the time is right and you find the way that makes sense for you and your students, it will come out authentically. It will come from you.

It starts with your practice.

Pssst! If you’re curious for ways to create a shift in your practice and you’ve been waiting for an opportunity to practice with me, right now you can get started with a 2 week trial to my Virtual Studio—2 weeks/$10.

Multidisciplinary movement education—Yoga with Bands, Kettlebell Gym, strength programs, self-massage, and a continuing ed course Strength Science 101, and more.

This discounted trial offer ends Saturday so don’t delay.

Link in bio 👀

I’ve found there are 3 main ways students practi

I’ve found there are 3 main ways students practice “getting to the top of the mat”.

1–step all the way up with one foot—harder than it sounds! (A topic for a different post.)

2–jump or hop all the way up

3 — walk

Have you considered that there are *more ways* to go from down dog to standing than just these ways?

Here are 6 more that combine stepping, walking, and hopping in novel ways.

1️⃣Slalom hops! Add variability with novel loads to your ankles and knees + give your core a new challenge with slalom hops. You don’t have to hop super high or far. Take multiple hops to zig-zag your way up.

2️⃣Slalom hops on one leg! Challenge your legs and balance even more by lifting one foot up off of the floor. 😅

3️⃣Walk around your arm side plank style. Looking for another way to fit this fabulous pose into your flow? Well, here ya go! From plank, lift one arm up and start to walk on the inside and outsides of your feet directly out to the side of the mat. Your support shoulder will gradually go from a flexed to abducted via a closed chain movement. One of the most challenging parts of this transition is (once you’re in side plank) stepping the bottom foot in and popping up to chair pose. It’s awkward in a good way. 🤪

4️⃣Hot feet! One of my favorite low load ways to ballistically warm up my feet and ankles and give my nervous system a gentle bounce at the beginning of my practice.

5️⃣Hopping on one foot this time straight ahead. Harder than it sounds!

6️⃣ Hop hips high is a personal favorite and a great way to add some jumping and plyometrics to the practice. Prepare for an uptick in heat and cardiovascular activity with this one sprinkled in.

Tips for accessibility: consider adding blocks under the hands for any and all of these moves. Blocks can make the flexibility component less for the hips, predominately, and offload some of the work of the shoulders.

Try these and let me know what you think!

Also psssst! 2 weeks/$10 trial to my virtual studio ends this Saturday! One week left to take advantage of this super deal. It won’t come along again for a long time.

Link in bio 👀

What is a home? A place we feel safe in? A place

What is a home?

A place we feel safe in? A place we go for comfort? A place where the people we love live?

For me, yes, sometimes. But no, not always. For me, home is the place that makes us.

It’s a space we grow in—familiar but new. As we change, it changes. As it changes, we do too.

Home is where the heart is. And the hurt. It’s a place where we learn to love the people we love, the people we’re with by happenstance, and sometimes even the people we dislike.

Home is a space for growth where we learn who we are through people who reflect back to us the ways we’re capable of love.

Home, hopefully, teaches us we shouldn’t take anything for granted while reminding us, in many ways, that we will always take so much for granted. Until it’s gone.

We leave NYC in less than a week—a place I’ve innumerable reasons to mourn leaving. They piled up today watching Eli play for the last time at a playground we often go to together, just her and me.

Tomorrow I’ll feel something else, I suppose.

Here's something: I love listening to Guns N’ Ro

Here's something: I love listening to Guns N’ Roses while I crank out a few banded pull ups at my outdoor neighborhood gym. #justoldladyhobbies

There. I bet you don't feel the same way. That's okay. 😉

Here’s another thing: Fun for me is mixing it up and doing different stuff.

Sometimes I take an entire week off of a type of movement I do consistently to do something completely different. If I don’t, shit stops feeling fun sometimes...

I also find kettlebells and yoga flow fun, and rolling on balls and using resistance bands in my yoga practice interesting.

But real talk: I don’t think this stuff is for everyone, because it’s not fun or interesting for everyone. Nothing is.

For the people who do enjoy these modalities, in combination, they are an effective way to work on strength, power, endurance, and mobility. They also mean you can mix it up on the regular.

If this sounds like you—someone who likes to mix it up—then you might like to know that right now I have a 2 weeks/$10 trial membership offer for my virtual studio.

I don’t do free trials. It’s just not my thing. So this is probably the lowest cost trial I’ll do.

So if you’ve been curious about my Virtual Studio and have wanted to try, now’s your chance.

Link in bio 👀

I appreciate the author @jamesclear, who wrote a g

I appreciate the author @jamesclear, who wrote a great productivity book called Atomic Habits. He shared a quote on his IG a few days ago about creativity. To me creativity is the key to longevity (career, mostly but maybe also life?) so I’m interested in ways to cultivate it.

His quote also resonated with me because it reflected back to me my own experience.

He wrote:

“Study a totally different field, then return to the original problem. Apply insights from other domains.”

Bingo.

Wanna make your practice and teaching more multidisciplinary? Right now you can try out any/all classes in my Virtual Studio including live and on-demand for 2 weeks and pay only $10.

Link in bio 👀

Throwback to live teaching a Pelvic Floor workshop

Throwback to live teaching a Pelvic Floor workshop (@bambooyogafh).

SWIPE L

The pandemic has changed how I share movement for sure.

I used to teach 90% in person. And so a topic like pelvic floor would be relegated to workshop.

But now I teach 100% virtually and can make a topic like pelvic floor a weekly class. (For live and on demand students).

Which is what I’ve done with a new 4-class series that’s about to drop in my Virtual Studio. Balls & Bands: Pelvic Floor Explore. The first class is this Thursday 2-2:30p EDT.

This class series has arisen out of multiple member requests (bumped to the top of my list of classes to create.)

In Pelvic Floor Explore, we’ll get curious about the ways our pelvic floor is an integrated team member (not an island of kegels and mula bandha only) moment to moment every day — with each breath, or anytime we need to manage loads — the pelvic diaphragm like any group of muscles needs to be able to contract and relax in a reflexive, anticipatory way.

We’ll notice this area, observe its path of movement while we breathe, and explore its involvement in how we often move (and involve it more by moving in new ways, too!)

We’ll hold space for this group of muscles to be like the whole person we are - ordinary and special, mundane and unique.

We’ll explore its integration with all the other muscles that manage pressure & move the hips and spine.

We‘ll tour circular movement dynamically and also practice stabilizing one position statically.

We’ll get a sense for our center from deep to superficial and back again through outer touch (bands and balls) and inner touch (muscle contraction and joint movement).

Wanna explore? Move with Me is my first ever 2 weeks/$10 trial membership where you get all access to the entire collection of multidisciplinary classes in my virtual studio for $10. (This is likely only ever gonna be a once a year thing, if that.)

You can take advantage of this deal until July 24th (Moving Day! I’m moving down south 😉) or you can let this opportunity pass you by. (All good! But this is the best trial membership I have for you so now’s your chance.)

Link in bio 👀

I'm moving. Come move with me! I feel fortunate t

I'm moving. Come move with me!

I feel fortunate to provide multidisciplinary movement education to students around the world from my home, no matter where I live.

I’m relieved that in this big life transition, my job is not changing.

Well it kinda is, because now I’ll have an office to work out of. I’m still trying to figure out what to do about the carpeted floors, though.

Did you know that there is not a single uncarpeted bedroom in any rental in all of Huntsville, Alabama? I know. I checked.

For those of you who’ve attended my classes on Zoom, you know that I teach next to a Murphy bed that folds up against the wall. I won’t have to rearrange my entire bedroom to teach anymore. That's wonderful.

To celebrate this move from NYC to Alabama, I’m offering a special 2 weeks for $10 trial membership to my Virtual Studio.

It's called Move with Me! 😃 🧳 🤸‍♀️

When you sign up, you can practice with me for 2 weeks live and on demand for a dollar a state. That’s a dollar a state that we’ll drive through to move our lives south.

It’s an NYC send off and an Alabama open house!Come on in and see what I’ve been building this past year. Spend a couple of weeks taking live and on demand classes with me.

But don’t delay, because this offer ends July 24th, AKA moving day.

One-click cancellation, no strings attached. Once the two week trial ends, if you decide to stay on, you will be charged the regular membership price.

LINK IN BIO 👀

And we just found out a few weeks ago. Cha cha cha

And we just found out a few weeks ago. Cha cha cha changes.

Okay, who lives in Alabama? Teach me the ways.

@greatoakcircle 😉 💜

It’s often the case that our beliefs change more

It’s often the case that our beliefs change more slowly than the language we use to communicate our beliefs. I’ve noticed this when I look back at my old social posts and I want to edit them. 😂

This is interesting to me because beliefs and language work both ways.

Beliefs shift how we talk about things.

But how we talk about things shifts our beliefs, too. And all of this shifts behavior.

Words matter. (Also, I’m a word person.)

And IMO, “overstretched” isn’t a bad description of what we might *feel* is happening.

For that level of subjectivity—what we *feel* is happening—pretty much anything goes. We could use pictures or music to describe our subjective experience and it’d be totally accurate.

But saying tissues are overstretched (and using that to explain why we have pain or discomfort or why we feel weak) may not be the best description of what’s actually happening on a biological level. Know what I mean?

#wordsforthought

Psssst….I’ve got some strength training classes in my virtual studio if you haven’t heard. Most of the members are yoga teachers. If you’d like to learn more (and get a super dope offer on membership) get on my list via the link in my bio. 👀 New live classes start next week!

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