Welcome to our new YogaDork Ed section! For the edification of yoga practitioners, teachers and yogi dabblers, on asana, philosophy, yoga biz and more. Stay tuned for tips, vids, skits, and skats. More to come! Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay in the know.
First up, we’re excited to announce a regular series featuring Jill Miller of Yoga Tune Up. Check it out!
Dynamic Stretching: Warm Up Before you “Pose”
by Jill Miller, Creator, Yoga Tune Up®
If you watch an animal when it wakes up, it progressively moves its body every which way, one motion tumbling into the next in a dynamically primal organic sequence. Animals also simultaneously contract their muscles while lengthening them to maximize muscle awakening and hasten fluids back into the muscles, connective tissues and joints.
Dynamic stretching is as natural to us as it is to animals and is vital to our health as it stimulates and strengthens special “fast-twitch fibers” within our muscles. These specialized fast-twitch fibers contract at a fast rate to maximize power and force. These quick-to-contract fibers are used when our bodies are in motion whether in your yoga flow class, on the playing field, or the dance floor. Try performing dynamic stretches before engaging in any type of activity as it is incredibly beneficial.
This simple dynamic stretch shown below, the Pranic Bath, will help keep your shoulders healthy and functioning fluidly before you start your sun salutations, pick up the tennis racquet or start your laps.
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Jill is a yoga and fitness therapy expert with more than 25 years expertise in the moving arts of Yoga, Modern Dance, Pilates, Bodywork and Shiatsu. Her format, Yoga Tune Up®, playfully integrates the nuts and bolts of human movement with profound yogic philosophy. This innovative therapeutic approach has been recognized by top Physical Therapists, Pain Medicine Doctors and Rehabilitative Specialists internationally. Jill and her products have been featured in Self, Prevention, Redbook, Yoga Journal, Women’s Running, on ABC TV, FOX TV and the Today Show; the LA Times calls her “kinetically arresting.” She is a “Contributing Expert” at Gaiam.com, with critically acclaimed DVDs that include the Yoga Tune Up® Quickfix Rx series, Yoga Tune Up® At Home Program, the Pranamaya produced Yoga Link series, and Gaiam’s Yoga for Weight Loss. Jill grew up off the grid in Santa Fe, NM where she fell in love with clean air, singing to her dogs and reading anatomy books for entertainment. She now lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two rescue mutts, trading the clean air of Santa Fe for endless access to ocean loving sunsets.
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Earlier…
Fabulous! Love the new section–and Jill. She rocks!!
LOVE the idea of this new section, and Jill Miller is the bomb. Thanks, man!
Luuurve Jill. And the pranic bath is amazeballs!
Fabulous! Kudos for adding this new section!
jill miller rocks! 😀
yay! glad to have more points of access to jill’s videos and teaching, thanks!
i should add, jill’s references to the multiple applicability of these routines, in this case dynamic stretching, is extremely helpful for anyone enjoying doing more than one type fitness activity – this will be a real plus for this new feature on yogadork – kudos! 😉