Jenny Otto Workshop

Weekend Anatomy & Asana Workshop
The Spine and Scoliosis,  
The Lower Body,  
The Upper Body,  
Asana and the Anatomy of Loops and Spirals

These are my comments, observations and reflections on your Anatomy and Asana Workshop. Neither being a yoga teacher nor a long time student of yoga, my comments may be of limited use to you but I do hope that you may find something of value in them.

After having taken the teachers training in Annapolis I learned that you were going to do this workshop at the HAYC and from that learning experience, I new I had to sign up for it. Not as much for the knowledge that I knew I would gain, but from the experience of learning from you. I was not disappointed in the least but elated after the workshop was over. I new and expected you to have extensive knowledge of the subject but it is more your style of teaching that I enjoy the most. Your energy, you directness, your humor, your reflections about how yoga helped you, your ability to explain, your ability of listen to the student questions and comprehend and provide answers were some of the attributes I enjoy from your teaching.

The Friday night session on the Spine and Scoliosis proved to be most educational for me. I knew a little about the spine from doing the bones and muscles in the Anatomy Coloring book but I knew practically nothing about Scoliosis. I was pleased to find it was not just going to be a lecture, but lecture combined with considerable hands on working with corrective asanas and props. I had come prepared for a long three-hour session but when the time was ending was surprised how quickly it had passed. Your handout and class showed you had put considerable thought into it and was very organized such that the class flowed well and provide me with considerable knowledge for a subject which I had previously little.

The Saturday class on the Lower Body I found to be most informative for I find that so many of the foundations of the asanas involved the lower body. The handout having the proper and improper alignment pictures were particularly informative. This was one class that I would have liked to have been longer for it was clear that after you had run over the time that there was still much more information and teaching you could have provide. 

The class on the upper body I found to be a good but I did not come away with as much as the other classes. I don't think this was as much any shortcoming on your teaching or the presented material but I seem to have a better understanding of the shoulder and arms.

The Sunday class on Loops and Spirals was most fun and educational. I did find there was some of which you had covered at Annapolis but you added considerable additional material. I particularly liked the diagrams of the misalignments and how you reviewed what loops and spirals it would take to correct them. I also find I really liked your approach to the skull loop. Doug has been teaching the "hyoid bone" method of skull alignment. I found you method a much more gentler method achieving the same result of proper skull loop alignment. I continue to find wonder and appreciation for the loops and spirals the more I learn about them and your class provided new insight into them. 

Larry Mixson April 10, 2001