I have been a yoga practitioner since 1986 and a yoga instructor since 2008. Wanting to be the best teacher that I could be, I took trainings from many different modalities, putting in almost 1,000 hours.
I have had yoga injuries over the years, but figured that it was all part of my learning experience and that, someday, I would be able to do the poses without pain and be a model yogini. Well that never happened, and what I noticed, over three years ago, was that I was continually hurting my low back from doing certain poses like forward folds — seated or standing, it didn't matter.
I was very concerned that my students were also injuring themselves. While I changed how I taught forward folds, only doing them with bent knees, I knew something still wasn’t working with the practice.
Call it luck, serendipity or the universe heeding my call, a friend told me about YogAlign. After looking at the website, I bought Michaelle Edward's book and, little by little, started to change the way I taught. And, again as the powers that be would have it, Michaelle was teaching a training in Nelson, B.C., where my daughter lives. I took the training, and started teaching the YogAlign method as soon as I returned home. I stopped teaching the standard method of yoga completely.
My students have embraced the change with enthusiasm, and have been spreading the word. I photographed them before a class and right after, showing shocking results in their posture. We have all gained both strength and length using the YogAlign method. We are much more aware of our spinal alignment in any movement. Michaelle Edwards has created a safe and very effective technique that helps people to move more fluidly, and functionally, from the inner core.
She has been doing yoga for nearly 50 years and began to question the risks involved as she was recovering from a yoga related injury. After much research in functional anatomy, YogAlign was born. I am forever grateful to Michaelle for her passion, her desire to help others, and her ever-growing knowledge.
Joanne Van Ee