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LAUREL BEVERSDORF

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Laurel Beversdorf – Teacher of Yoga Teachers – On Building An Online Studio

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Join my conversation with Frances Taylor of TaylorFit Wellness as we discuss building an online studio and teaching Yoga teachers.

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Tomorrow’s FREE class YOU AND A BOLSTER is gonna

Tomorrow’s FREE class YOU AND A BOLSTER is gonna involve these four moves and more. 5/4 1:15-2p EDT.

Our peak pose is camel, Ustrasana (which we will explore many ways...with a bolster, of course!)

Bolstered by our bolster, we’ll receive all the new input, have new experiences, and move in new ways.

Want in? Click the link in my bio to register. You can attend live tomorrow and/or watch a 7-day replay.

See you there! 😃 (Also, if you don’t have a bolster, roll up a thick blanket or two and tape the ends so it doesn’t unroll 🙌)

Why I love tactile cueing: 1️⃣ students use a

Why I love tactile cueing:

1️⃣ students use a prop to touch their body to guide awareness of the movement *by themselves through themselves* 
2️⃣ It promotes agency. It’s inside-in rather than outside-in teaching. Instead of a verbal cue or demo from the teacher (on the outside), the student applies this information—through self-touch—to feel it (from the inside). 
3️⃣ touch is a powerful way to teach movement because it enhances proprioception.

Similar to therapy balls—blocks, blankets, the wall, the floor all touch us too. We can deliberately use their touch (and unique input) to inform our awareness, as well. 
4️⃣ Each prop offers a different kind of input.

Blocks are small, angular, and hard.

Blankets are loose, soft, and malleable.

Bolsters are thick, heavy, and dense.

They all offer something different to learn because they offer something different to feel. 
5️⃣ Each prop can be used in countless ways. (More than just for sitting, lying, or placing a hand on.) 
In my series of classes One Prop, Many Possibilities—available to members of my Virtual Studio—I spotlight this strategy of proprioceptive cueing. With just one prop!

If you’d like to attend the latest in this series, You and Bolster, FOR FREE, you can sign up to do that via the link in my bio. 👀

The live class is Tuesday 1:15-2p EDT, but you will also get a 7-day replay when you sign up.

See you there!

YOU are invited to a FREE class YOU and a BOLSTER

YOU are invited to a FREE class YOU and a BOLSTER this Tuesday, May 4th 1:15-2p EDT.

PROPRIOCEPTIVE CUEING is one of my favorite ways to help students find alignment from the inside out (feeling it) rather than from the outside in (following verbal or visual cues from a teacher.) Come to class and feel how a single prop—a bolster—can offer endless opportunities to access your feeling body and have a new experience of movement through that input. No bolster? No problem. Roll up a thick blanket and secure it with tape.

Attend LIVE and if you can’t make it, don’t worry, everyone who registers will also get a 7-day REPLAY.

Ready to join?

Sign up via the link in my bio and then check your inbox. 👀

I hope to see you in class! 🧠 💡 😀

PROPRIOCEPTIVE CUEING is one of my favorite ways t

PROPRIOCEPTIVE CUEING is one of my favorite ways to help students find alignment from the inside out (feeling it) rather than from the outside in (following verbal or visual cues from a teacher.)

Verbal cueing alone has a lot of limitations.

One of the biggest strikes against it is *very few learners* learn best by listening alone.

That’s why more inputs are often necessary. Students need to hear it, see it AND *feel* it.

Meanwhile, in the yoga community, we rely heavily (sometimes exclusively) on verbal cueing.

Or, we rely on verbal cueing AND visual cueing (which we call demoing) to reach our visual learners.

Visual cueing by demoing also has limitations, one of which is it makes it difficult to see and respond to our students while we demo.

Ultimately, it’s good to be able to COMBINE verbal and visual cues.

However, there’s a 3rd effective way to cue and it involves TOUCH.

Touch allows for external cueing (which is using an external reference to orient students in their body, and research shows its superior for improving coordination.)

In my class series One Prop, Many Opportunities, I spotlight this cueing strategy.

With it, I combine verbal and visual cueing with TACTILE cueing (called proprioceptive cueing).

All with just ONE prop. Minimal inventory. Maximal variety.

This way students HEAR the cue, SEE the move, and FEEL the cue land (literally TOUCH) their highly sensory rich skin.

These clips are from a class I created last year for my virtual studio called You and a Block, which was part of this series One Prop, Many Opportunities.

This year I’m doing part 2 with all new props and sequences.

The first class in this series is called You and a BOLSTER and it’s happening THIS TUESDAY, MAY 4th 1:15-2p EDT.

This class is available live and on-demand for members, but the best news is I have a special gift for you.

I’m making this class available LIVE + 7-day replay for FREE to anyone who signs up.

Wanna join?

Sign up to receive the Zoom link and access to the 7-day replay of You and a Bolster via the link in my bio. 👀

No bolster? No problem. Roll up a thick blanket. 🙌

An aesthetics-only or “one-right/safe way” app

An aesthetics-only or “one-right/safe way” approach to teaching alignment is not helpful—it's dogmatic, coercive, and false.

However, throwing alignment out the door entirely is also not helpful. Throwing out a useful tool just because it’s been misused isn't rational, either.

Do you throw away all the permanent markers after a toddler finds them and scribbles all over your walls?

Naaaahhh!

This is because we know that the value of a marker (or any tool) relies on how we use it (and don’t use it.)

We can use markers to create art. We can use markers to destroy it, too.

I think we can seek out ways to use the tool of alignment for good, not harm, to help, not hurt.

This means, first and foremost, recognizing that there is no universally safe alignment.

It means recognizing the limits of our knowledge which is that we can’t possibly know what alignment is safe for everyone.

It means recognizing that there are a lot of ways to align the body, and that the value of alignment is in being able to discern between, choose, and try out these different approaches. Not to find the one right one to do forever.

Ultimately to teach alignment well, we need to understand that variation is the norm when it comes to human bodies. Our alignment instruction should make space for that.

We must teach with humility and curiosity and continue to listen and learn from people who help us locate our blind spots and check our biases.

I think we can become more skillful at teaching alignment when we foster these attitudes of humility, curiosity, and learning. I think alignment can be come a way to practice these qualities as well.

Never been so excited about a shot! Jab #2 done. I

Never been so excited about a shot! Jab #2 done. I’m looking forward to being fully vaccinated in 2 weeks! #pfiezer

I’m a big fan of rotating my thoracolumbar spine

I’m a big fan of rotating my thoracolumbar spine. I like to consider my options for how this segmental chain of joints can rotate.
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Here are considerations that guide my creativity:

1. The upper spine can remain relatively fixed while the bottom half moves more.
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2. And the opposite is true, the bottom half of the spine can remain fixed while the top moves more.
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3. Rotation feels different if my spine is also extended, flexed, or neutral.
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Here are ways I apply constraints and freedoms.
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1️⃣ My upper shoulders are fixed & the block keeps my rib cage relatively fixed. This encourages more rotation through my pelvis & lumbar joints, as well as my lower thoracic spine.
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2️⃣ Hand to block reach is a mirror of #1. The block is an external point of focus to bring an intentionality to the reach of my upper extremity from one side of my trunk to the other. I start with my pelvis on the ground and lift it to add extension. My upper spine moves a bit more than my lower spine because my feet are fixed. However I allow my pelvis to “roll” with it and don’t try to keep anything too fixed.
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3️⃣ This is an unusual way into twisted chair variations. The block keeps my ribs “flush” with the front wall and I “lazy Susan” my feet to one side, the lower part of my thoracolumbar spine rotates.
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4️⃣ This one mirrors #3. I keep my feet pointing forward and use the block to bring more of an external focus to rotating my ribs in the room that I’m in. It’s amazing how much clearer a sense of direction becomes with an external point of focus & how much clearer ribs become with a block pressing.
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5️⃣ I shift weight between my front and back foot. Weight shift affects pelvic rotation. My hands are fixed on blocks so my uppermost back is relatively fixed while my pelvis and the lower part of my thoracic spine rotate more.
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6️⃣This one mirrors #5. The block keeps my pelvis relatively fixed. I alternate reaching & rowing my arms to get my upper spine rotating.

If you find this way of thinking about movement creative, informative, and interesting you’ll probably like the classes in my Virtual Studio.💡 Same thought process! Find out about membership via the link in my bio 👀

I’m a details girl. I can’t get enough of them

I’m a details girl. I can’t get enough of them. That why I teach with attention to details. That’s why I write. That’s why I stare at things for long periods of time.
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The details are what makes life interesting for me. It’s what makes teaching interesting for me, and I think it’s what attracts certain students to my teaching.
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The details are also where the practice of attention comes into play.
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For me, the practice of attention is the real practice. It’s the practice that undergirds everything I teach. That and the practice of asking “why?”
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Tomorrow is Kettlebell Fluency in Flow. This video is a sneak peak of my lesson plan, which is divided into the details, and targeted toward the transitions.
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Fluency is the ability to express oneself easily and articulately.
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In order to do this we have to start with sounds, then words, then phrases, then whole sentences, then big ideas.
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With kettlebell flow, we start with moves, then transitions, then phrases, then bigger phrases, then flow.
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Tomorrow’s live class 12-12:45EST and a permanent replay is available to members. If you’d like to try membership to my Virtual Studio, you can pay for one month all-access (sign up and cancel) or recurring subscription (sign up and stay.) $40/mo link in bio 👀 or go here —
https://laurelbeversdorf.com/membership/

May you become more of who you are each day. ❤️ #elianamae #2andahalfyearsold

Like going from plank to side plank, only lying do

Like going from plank to side plank, only lying down rolling around on the ground, so better! #almostarmbar

From my latest blog, Supple Strength. Yep, been bl

From my latest blog, Supple Strength. Yep, been blogging lately! 3 reasons why:

1. My blog is content I own, unlike this post here, which IG owns. (Plus I think blogs might make a comeback...)

2. I get to go into more detail on teaching, body science, and strength because I have more than 2200 characters and 10 slides.

3. I’m on Pinterest! Yup! @laurelbeversdorf Wondering what that has to do with blogging?

My pretty pins click away to my nerdy-ass blogs. And at the bottom of each blog is an opportunity to get free movement education content (aka the email opt-in). Stuff like free kettlebell tutorials and classes, as well as resistance band and therapy ball stuff.

You can click the link in my bio 👀 to get all that nerdy blog stuff & FREE feel-good movement too. The free stuff is at the bottom of each blog 😉 #supplestrength

This class, Gentle Thoracic Link Unkink, combines

This class, Gentle Thoracic Link Unkink, combines some of my favorite ways to move:

✅Fluid, gradual whole body progressions with a focus on upper back release.

✅Exploring the same move from different angles to blend the planes and hit different fascial lines of the body.

✅Contrasting moving fast and slow, shaking things up and slowing things down.

✅Shoulder and pelvis interplay with spinal rotation—studying the links.

✅A slow exploration of unique transitions that uncover blindspots and under-explored nooks and crannies.

Because this sequence is relatively passive, I refer to it as ‘gentle.’

Even the faster movement is relatively passive because momentum plays more of a role and the load is low.

And I call it gentle because on a spectrum, this class is passive relative to the whole collection of classes in my Virtual Studio.

I could have also called this class Welcome to Your Rib Cage since that is mostly what I feel when I do these moves. My rib cage has never been the same since pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding so I’ve got a thing for upper back unwinding. 🤤

If you’d like to try membership to my Virtual Studio, you can pay for one month all-access (sign up and cancel) or recurring subscription (sign up and stay.) $40/mo link in bio 👀 or go here —
https://laurelbeversdorf.com/membership/

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