Can yoga practice predispose you to sacroiliac (SI) joint pain? In her travel and teaching around the world, renowned yoga teacher Donna Fari has found that SI joint issues are one of the most common complaints that she sees in yoga practitioners.
More and more Yoga practitioners (and teachers) are showing up to class with debilitating sacroiliac discomfort becoming members of a rapidly growing international “SI Club.” In many instances, SIJ issues in Yoga practitioners are the consequence of repetitive dysfunctional movements, skewed body mechanics and forceful overstretching. Little by little, these actions can erode the inherent stability of the pelvis, resulting in pain and movement impairment. This course will be an invaluable investment in helping you to prevent and resolve sacroiliac instability for yourself and your students.
In this 13+ hour course, Donna will guide you through the complex anatomy and kinesiology of the sacroiliac joints so that you can better understand why certain practices compromise the integrity of these joints. Drawing on decades of medical research, we’ll look at several models for joint function and spinal stability that can inform your movement choices, and better enable you to adapt the method or tradition of Yoga you practice.
Here's What You'll Receive in the Program:
Week 1:
- Develop a comprehensive understanding of the bones, ligaments, and articulating surfaces of the pelvis and lower spine.
- Explore the natural range of motion for both the SI joint and spinal facets Identify observed gender differences in the anatomy of this region.
- Understand how force is transmitted through the pelvis.
- Video: Eight Things Yogis Do to Stuff-Up Their SI-Joints: Including femoral and spinal leveraging, misguided biomechanics in standing postures, faulty transitions in flow sequences, and poor core strength coupled with hypermobility.
Week 2:
- Understand the key types of Sacroiliac dysfunction and common habits that can aggravate these.
- Learn the three levers we exert on our SI joints.
- Explore how these forms of leveraging can show up in yoga practice and what problems the can cause.
- Develop a tool set for identifying and sacroiliac dysfunction and steps to take to mitigate it.
- Video: Reducing Pain & Discomfort: Learn a simple practice sequence for calming and alleviating sacroiliac discomfort and helping to recenter the pelvic bones. Do targeted release work with the iliopsoas muscles, gently mobilize the pelvis and lumbar spine, and adapt practices to prevent excessive loading into the SIJs.
Week 3:
- Build a comprehensive understanding of the musculature and kinesiology of the pelvis and lower spine.
- Explore the 3 stability and 3 mobility subsystems of the musculoskeletal and nervous systems and how to put their principles into practice.
- Identify common “problem” poses
- Video: Coming Together: Building Pelvic Integrity: Learn a protocol to reduce asymmetrical torque in the SIJs. Many people who suffer from SIJ discomfort falsely believe that stretching will alleviate their discomfort, only to discover that within hours the pain has worsened. Although counterintuitive, increasing force closure of the SIJs (the snugness of the joint offered through increased regional muscular support) can give startlingly positive results, both immediately after practice, and in the long term. This pelvic integrity practice is a simple, accessible practice that may become your lifelong friend.
Week 4:
- Develop a step-by-step progression for working with sacroiliac dysfunction.
- Identify a spectrum of pose types from safest to least safe.
- Common adjusting “no-no”s to avoid.
- Video: Maintaining Stability While Regaining Mobility: This practice sequence begins with a standing warming and loosening sequence to improve fluidity in the spine. Explore strategies for maintaining stability while increasing mobility and function, reintroducing asymmetrical practices such as lunges, wide-stance standing postures, and twists. Many of the variations offered can be incorporated into your Yoga classes to help your students avoid future SIJ problems.
“Donna’s information and unique practices for SI joint issues is exactly what I have been searching for. She is simply brilliant, a shining star in the yoga world and beyond. So glad you created this program for all of us to learn from and then share with our students.”
- Dianne M."
"I wanted to tell you how valuable I found Donna's talks about the sacroiliac joint. From her explanations I realized that the lower back pain I have had for some years is in one of my sacroiliac joints. I am making the changes in yoga postures that she suggests, to avoid stretching the ligaments in the pelvis, which she says is the source of instability and pain in the sacroiliac. I noticed a reduction in my hip pain within just a few days and it continues to get gradually better. I'm really glad to have discovered this."
- Susan M.
Donna Farhi is a yoga teacher who has been practicing for 39 years and teaching since 1982. She is one of the most sought after guest teachers in the world, leading intensives and teacher training programs internationally. Her approach to yoga is informed by the refinement of natural and universal movement principles that underlie safe and sustainable Yoga practice. This concentration on fundamental principles allows student of all levels of experience and from all traditions to build their own authentic yoga practice.
Donna is the author of four contemporary classics; The Breathing Book, Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit: A Return to Wholeness and Bringing Yoga to Life: The Everyday Practice of Enlightened Living. Her fourth book Teaching Yoga: Exploring the Teacher-Student Relationship is a curricular text for teaching trainings worldwide. She is also the co-author of Pathways to a Centered Body: Gentle Yoga Therapy for Core Stability, Healing Back Pain, and Moving with Ease, alongside Leila Stuart.
After nearly four decades of practice Donna believes that yoga is about learning to befriend our self and to be in friendship with others as a means to building greater fellowship with all of humanity. American born, Donna now resides in Christchurch, New Zealand on a 30- acre farm with her horses, Santosha, Liberty and Ambrosia.
This course qualifies for 13 CEs with Yoga Alliance and 13 APD Hours with the International Association of Yoga Therapy. During the COVID pandemic, the course qualifies for both contact and non-contact CEs.
