Moving from your Inner Spirals with Callie Glover
Report by Judith Lynch. Photographs by Kathryn Smith
Twenty seven people attended this workshop at the wonderfully warm, comfortable Rixton with Glazebrook Centre . We were ably led through the day’s activities by our tutor Callie Glover. The workshop explored our inner spirals, through somatic movements and twisting asanas.
After welcoming ourselves to the session in a settling/centring exercise Callie explored with us the concept that humans are inherently “spiralic”, explaining that the foetus itself develops via folds and curves. So fluidity, softness and ease is where we come from. The intention in the workshop was to investigate the natural elasticity in our tissues and strength and glide in our movement. The somatic work in the morning was perfect for this exploration, being slow and mindful. We were introduced to “pulsing” as a way of hydrating the fascia and then moved through rolling to twisting movements, with centred postures in-between and also time to recover from asymmetric postures – “the moment of melt.” Simple twists moved onto sequences, such as “wash-rag twist” and “puppy with a twist”. There was a need to concentrate but we learnt a lot and enjoyed the new approach. Callie kindly gave workshop attendees access to her website to view a video of our somatics work.
In the afternoon Callie prepared us for our yoga session with a breathing exercise, using a belt fastened above the rib cage and also some leg stretches and bends. The sequence of downward dog/hare/half cat/upper ward dog/downward dog was energising and softness followed with a loose swing twist and bouncing/shaking out. We were shown and practised thread the needle and stargazer twist (new to me) which we then incorporated into a sun salutation. There was some discussion on practising trikonasana with straight feet or turned out and whether the latter involved a slight twist in the side stretch. We used a belt to stretch the arm upwards here and blocks/balls as props on other occasions. Callie prepared us for reverse trikonasana with deep squats and a salsa-type movement of the feet, with hands leaning on the wall. We practised reverse trikonasana posture, coming into it slowly and mindfully, using a chair to rest the supporting hand(s) which assisted with preparation of the pelvis/lower back and with the twist and balance. A supported lower back raise with feet on the wall and a lovely peaceful relaxation completed an engrossing day of well planned, interesting and novel activities with challenges for the body and the brain.
Thank you to Callie for her thorough preparation and professional delivery of the session. Thanks to all the attendees and to the Cyta committee for organising the event.
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