REVIEW: Simon Borg-Olivier and Bianca Machliss' Yoga Synergy 12 week online Yoga Therapy Course, 'Therapeutic applications of movement and breathing: yoga therapy'.
Note: for those Ashtangi's coming to the post for the review of Manju's book, you might be interested to hear that Simon has online Ashtanga course coming soon.
This is more of an introduction than a review as I've only just begun Simon and Binaca's new Yoga Therapy course, more reviews to come as I progress through the course.
If the excellent, and highly recommended, 120 hour YogaSynergy Fundamentals course is more like an online university short course, with it's wealth of materials, Anatomy and Physiology text book, Powerpoint slide books, video lectures and practice videos for each module as well as a chat rooms and access to faculty, the new YogaSynergy Online Yoga Therapy course feels more like an extended workshop.
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I loved the Yoga Fundamentals course, I keep going back to the material, the videos as well as hunting through the powerpoints and course notes but the course does take a degree of commitment that many might not be able to offer or maintain. The Yoga Therapy course is perhaps more accessible while perhaps covering much of the same material, in an applied environment.
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The course includes course notes, a resources page, a forum and all the Powerpoint slides that Simon Borg-Olivier refers to throughout the lectures but mostly the course consists of videos, lots of videos.
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Each week seems to be made up of between five and ten videos of between ten minutes to half an hour in length, some may even be longer.
So far I'm still on the first week but the format is excellent.
We have Simon Borg-Olivier, and in later weeks I imagine, also Bianca Machliss, working with an audience, introducing an area of therapy in manageable chunks and then applying those techniques to member of the audience, theory and practice.
Simon stresses we are our own first and most important perhaps client, that we can and no doubt should explore these techniques on our own bodies.
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I like that Simon doesn't jump straight into too much anatomy in the first week, as much as we need for the therapy suggestions he is offering. Week three though, seems to go into more detail.
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I was constantly getting up to try stuff out, standing in frount of the mirror to see how balanced my body was (it wasn't, isn't), walking back and forth in frount of a mirror or window to check my gait.
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Most of all I trust Simon, I've met him, seen how he checks an article that I pass to him, checking first the bibliography and the research quoted. I know his background, how he was first introduced to pranayama by his father, a freediver, as a child. How after many years of yoga practice with the likes of BKS Iyengar, Shandor Remete, Pattabhi Jois and others he, along with Bianca, went back to University to study for a Bachelor of Applied Science in Physiotherapy. Not satisfied with the tradition passed along to them they went back to school so as to be able to check the ground of the teaching they received.
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I wish I had the commitment to go back and do a degree in Anatomy and physiology, perhaps then I would consider actually teaching. Simon and Bianca's course is a start at least.
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With many yoga teachers, however experienced they may be working with bodies, I wonder at times if they have ever opened an anatomy book in their lives or whether they are just passing along the 'wisdom' of others, subject to 'Chinese whispers', as are many of the old texts quoted. Simon has a Bachelor of Science in human biology, a research based Master of Science in molecular biology (Bianca has a Bachelor of Science (Microbiology & Psychology) as well as his and Binaca's Bachelor of Applied Science in Physiotherapy. Simon knows how the body works on a molecular level, which interests me immensely when we talk of pranayama, as well as it's anatomy and physiology alongside several decades of practice and teaching.
Below and outline of the course - look out for future blog posts reviewing future weeks as I move on to them.
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| https://yogasynergy.com/online-courses/yoga-therapy-therapeutic-applications-posture-movement-breathing/ |
Note: for those Ashtangi's coming to the post for the review of Manju's book, you might be interested to hear that Simon has online Ashtanga course coming soon.
This is more of an introduction than a review as I've only just begun Simon and Binaca's new Yoga Therapy course, more reviews to come as I progress through the course.
If the excellent, and highly recommended, 120 hour YogaSynergy Fundamentals course is more like an online university short course, with it's wealth of materials, Anatomy and Physiology text book, Powerpoint slide books, video lectures and practice videos for each module as well as a chat rooms and access to faculty, the new YogaSynergy Online Yoga Therapy course feels more like an extended workshop.
I loved the Yoga Fundamentals course, I keep going back to the material, the videos as well as hunting through the powerpoints and course notes but the course does take a degree of commitment that many might not be able to offer or maintain. The Yoga Therapy course is perhaps more accessible while perhaps covering much of the same material, in an applied environment.
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About the course
Over 12 weeks of Video Lectures, you will learn to make the yoga you teach safer and more effective.
Many people practice exercises way beyond their understanding and physical capability, which is why it is so easy to get injured.
If you’re a yoga teacher and would like to deal with your students’ ailments and conditions safely and effectively, first you have to understand the anatomy and physiology of your own body.
Once you have understood how to manage your own ailments and injuries, it’s then much easier to start giving advice to other people.
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The course includes course notes, a resources page, a forum and all the Powerpoint slides that Simon Borg-Olivier refers to throughout the lectures but mostly the course consists of videos, lots of videos.
Each week seems to be made up of between five and ten videos of between ten minutes to half an hour in length, some may even be longer.
So far I'm still on the first week but the format is excellent.
 |
| The first twelve of fifty general principles |
We have Simon Borg-Olivier, and in later weeks I imagine, also Bianca Machliss, working with an audience, introducing an area of therapy in manageable chunks and then applying those techniques to member of the audience, theory and practice.
 |
| from the powerpoint file |
Simon stresses we are our own first and most important perhaps client, that we can and no doubt should explore these techniques on our own bodies.
Most of all I trust Simon, I've met him, seen how he checks an article that I pass to him, checking first the bibliography and the research quoted. I know his background, how he was first introduced to pranayama by his father, a freediver, as a child. How after many years of yoga practice with the likes of BKS Iyengar, Shandor Remete, Pattabhi Jois and others he, along with Bianca, went back to University to study for a Bachelor of Applied Science in Physiotherapy. Not satisfied with the tradition passed along to them they went back to school so as to be able to check the ground of the teaching they received.
I wish I had the commitment to go back and do a degree in Anatomy and physiology, perhaps then I would consider actually teaching. Simon and Bianca's course is a start at least.
With many yoga teachers, however experienced they may be working with bodies, I wonder at times if they have ever opened an anatomy book in their lives or whether they are just passing along the 'wisdom' of others, subject to 'Chinese whispers', as are many of the old texts quoted. Simon has a Bachelor of Science in human biology, a research based Master of Science in molecular biology (Bianca has a Bachelor of Science (Microbiology & Psychology) as well as his and Binaca's Bachelor of Applied Science in Physiotherapy. Simon knows how the body works on a molecular level, which interests me immensely when we talk of pranayama, as well as it's anatomy and physiology alongside several decades of practice and teaching.
Below and outline of the course - look out for future blog posts reviewing future weeks as I move on to them.
