Physiology and Pathology with Peter Blackaby

Last weekend we travelled to Ranby, Notts for a Physiology and Pathology course led by Peter Blackaby. Unfortunately Dr Christine Roberts who was to have co-led the course was unable to attend but we were fortunate that Peter is extremely knowledgeable and was more than able to teach the whole course by himself.

Peter's approach is that "yoga is to do with human integration, and the way we approach yoga is with this intention in mind. So, to the best of our understanding all the posture work and breathwork should work with the needs of the body thereby reducing somatic conflict."

Peter argues strongly for an inclusive approach to yoga classes wherever possible rather than the creation of classes for conditions (he does acknowledge that this is not always possible e.g. where someone is extremely limited in movement). The emphasis of the work is that we look at the individual and not the condition. Over the weekend we examined how when we work with awareness and attend to how well we perform the movement rather than trying to make a particular shape it is possible to include multiple conditions in a general class environment.

"The intention is to be as inclusive as possible; we should not try to separate people by illness anymore than we should by race or religion; someone with a heart condition still needs to move in all the ways a healthy person does, to breathe as effectively as possible. If we find easier ways to make people move, it will help whatever the condition they have." Peter Blackaby & Dr Christine Roberts

On Saturday we looked at the musculo-skeletal system. We started by lying in the semi-supine position and letting go of tension. We then moved on to some simple movements focusing on maintaining awareness and not introducing unnecessary muscular effort or tension as we performed them. At this stage we were not considering various pathologies but looking at how we might work to bring our students to normal functioning of the musculo-skeletal system and restore homeostasis by encouraging wholesome movements so that the student does not move into pain or tension. If a student cannot do a particular movement at all without tension or pain then we need to back off to something that they can do to work towards the function or movement involved. For example if someone is unable to weight bear then they could perform the same function is a sitting or even lying position. In the afternoon we looked at pathologies of the musculo-skeletal system and considered how, with everyone working in the above way, most pathologies can be included in regular classes. We need to look at the whole person and not the condition.

On Sunday morning Peter answered questions that we had about Saturday's material. He then wrapped up the musculo-skeletal system before leading us in a short asana session. After lunch we looked at the nervous system and some of it's pathologies including migraine, M.S., Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, stroke, and Alzheimer's. We learnt that yoga can be very helpful and that people with these conditions do not have to be excluded from general classes. Look at the whole person, work intelligently and do not have a fixed idea about the shape that the person should be in.

We also spent some time discussing the training of neural pathways. Students often think that they are not strong enough to perform a certain movement but usually it is the muscular co-ordination rather than strength that is lacking. By training our neural pathways we use our muscles more efficiently and strength becomes less of an issue.

Thanks to Pete for an interesting, informative and stimulating weekend and thanks to Christine and Dave Clarke of The Jasmine Trust for organising the weekend and providing a lovely lunch each day.