Laurel Beversdorf – Resistance Bands 101

Maybe you’ve hit a plateau in your yoga asana or the postures you’ve honed are now causing stiffness or pain. If you’re seeking a science-backed approach to reinvigorate the poses you love, join Laurel Beversdorf—yoga and movement educator, creator of Body of Knowledge, modern movement science workshops, and co-founder of Movement Logic, online movement therapy tutorials— for a six-week online course that shows you how to incorporate resistance bands into your practice. Get ready to make exciting discoveries as you build strength, flexibility, and precision. Thanks to the ways bands inform awareness and control, you may feel some results right away.

Resistance bands are commonly associated with physical therapy and fitness programs—not so much yoga asana settings. But if you’ve been practicing poses and sequences for years, bands can be invaluable tools that challenge your body and mind in new ways and keep them strong and agile. In this program Laurel offers you body science, band techniques, and innovative practices, so you can increase resilience, enhance body perception… and have fun while you’re at it!

Course Objectives:

– Learn how resistance bands increase strength and flexibility, may mitigate pain, and can harmonize muscular imbalances
– Dive into a few key biomechanical concepts, like adaptation and stress, which aren’t normally discussed in yoga classes and teacher trainings
– Explore how the bands increase strength and refine your body maps (representations of your body in the brain that help facilitate awareness and control movement)
– Experience the benefits of bands for yourself through innovative practices
– Increase strength and skill in your yoga practice

Here’s what you’ll receive each week:

“Body Science Why” discussion: Contextualize your practices with talks that span anatomy, exercise science, and biomechanics. For example, you’ll explore: external loading and how to determine the right resistance for you; the differences between tightness and tension; why alignment isn’t the whole story when it comes to poses; and more.

Band Technique:

Pick up new ways of incorporating the bands in your yoga asana practice. Laurel will also reinforce why, from a science-backed perspective, you’re using them that way.

Innovative Practice:

Plus, at the start and end of each session, you’ll do a pre-check and re-check, so you can get a “before and after” internal picture of how your body feels as the result of the work you’ve done.

You’ll also access:

Two webinar recordings in which Laurel answers learner questions and presents bonus lessons—including how to create your own band practices at home or for your students.

Curriculum:

– Welcome

– Laurel’s story

– Benefits of Bands

– Safety 101: Dos and Don’ts

– How to Choose, Cut, & Tie Your Bands

– Program Overview

– What You’ll Need & Recommended Readings

Week 1: Beginner Sun Salutes

– Body Science Why: More Tension for Less Tightness in Tricky Transitions

– Band Technique: Getting a Grip

– Practice

Week 2: Standing Poses

– Body Science Why: Varying the Loads to Your Hips for Fluidity & Balance

– Band Technique: Compression Loops

– Practice

Week 3: Backbends

– Body Science Why: Posterior Shoulder Power & Hamstring Resilience

– Band Technique: Feelback

– Practice

Week 4: Arm Balances

– Body Science Why: Pushing Power Through Progressive Loading & Cross-Training

– Band Technique: Joint Flossing

– Practice

Week 5: Inversions

– Body Science Why: Core Stability to Transfer Force to the Floor Through the Arms & Legs

– Band Technique: Assistance Bands for Making the Impossible Possible

– Practice

Week 6: Seated Poses

– Body Science Why: Exploring Active Range of Motion in Seated and Floor-Based Poses

– Band Technique: Glide Bands

– Practice