By Jenna Zizzo
When the word ‘core’ is used in a yoga class, thoughts of six-pack abs often come to mind, a picture of what most people often refer to as the ‘outer core’ or the ‘superficial’ abdominal muscles. While anatomically correct, there’s another core, our ‘Deep Core Line’, which is more of aligned with the purpose in our yoga practice.
A new type of yoga is beginning to sweep the nation. This yoga, called Core Strength Vinyasa, is a unique perspective on the overall practice of yoga. Founded by New York-based yoga teacher Sadie Nardini, Core Strength Vinyasa (CSV) focuses on our ‘Deep Core Line’, allowing us to practice and bring awareness to the core of each yoga pose. The process of CSV is drawing inward, becoming empowered through the poses and learning to move from our deep center – the core of our being!
The Deep Core Line that Sadie refers to in Core Strength Vinyasa is a myofascial line or meridian that begins in the arch of our feet, and travels up our mid-line, through the oh-so-important psoas muscle, into our torso and up and out through our tongue!
Core Strength Vinyasa is its own expression of Hatha yoga, as well as a set of physical and energetic alignment principles, core postures and even core philosophies that teachers or students can use to boost the benefits of any style of yoga. It has been said that Core Strength Vinyasa is one of the most effective yoga practices for creating changes both inside and outside the body.
Since Core Strength Vinyasa is such a transformational paradigm of yoga, it makes sense that Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA) and Spirit of Yoga is incorporating this type of yoga into studio classes and yoga teacher training curriculum. SWIHA and Spirit of Yoga embrace a transformational environment within every class offered, with the intention of helping students and practitioners evolve on multiple levels.
Kim Bulloch, E-RYT 500, Spirit of Yoga studio teacher and Master Core Strength Vinyasa instructor, has studied with Sadie Nardini for years, taking dozens of workshops and master classes to help hone her CSV skills. Kim has been teaching yoga for over ten years. She is passionate about yoga, and especially about anatomy and alignment, two major components of the CSV perspective. The focus on anatomy and alignment is to help guide the physical body into a safe space while building each pose from the ground up, preventing injury and creating a strong foundation in which to build every pose.
“Before I found Sadie Nardini, I was ready to stop practicing vinyasa yoga due to all of the injuries and physical pain my practice was creating,” Kim confided. “Learning how to be more sensitive to my body and flow from a more core centered place has renewed my love for yoga, and I am stronger than ever!”
According to Sadie’s website and training manuals, the poses in Core Strength Vinyasa are designed to release tension from the outer superficial body, and re-activate the inner body muscles to support the spine and joints from the inside out, instead of pressurizing them from the outside in.
The Core Strength Vinyasa perspective is becoming more dominant in yoga studios across the country. Beginning February 5th, Kim will start teaching the first 20 hours of a 100 hour Core Strength Vinyasa Certificate of Excellence, a premier offering for SWIHA. This 100 hour Certificate of Excellence can be taken as a stand alone offering, or combined with one of the three yoga teacher training programs SWIHA offers, creating a wonderful supplement to any yoga teacher’s toolbox.
“In the CSV training, students will learn how to teach a strong vinyasa flow class that can be tailored to suit people at any level of practice,” Kim explains with a huge smile. “They will learn what it means to be uniquely themselves, not a replica of some other teacher, find their voice, their point of view, and teach from their deepest center in a way that focuses on the happiness and well-being of those they will serve.”
“In the CSV training, students will learn how to teach a strong vinyasa flow class that can be tailored to suit people at any level of practice,” Kim explains with a huge smile. “They will learn what it means to be uniquely themselves, not a replica of some other teacher, find their voice, their point of view, and teach from their deepest center in a way that focuses on the happiness and well-being of those they will serve.”
Core Strength Vinyasa is a practice for everyone and every body type. Kim’s CSV classes produce a wide range of students from teens to working moms, first-time yogis to women or men in their late 60’s. There are no levels in CSV! It is a new perspective of yoga that can be adapted to any style, making yoga accessible and safe for every type of person to practice.
“If you’ve been in one of my classes, then you’ve probably seen 60 and 70 year olds rocking arm balances of every variety,” she says. “It's not magic, it's the power of CSV!”
Sign up for the first 20 hours of Core Strength Vinyasa Intro by clicking here or calling SWIHA Student Services at 480-994-9244. Or, try Kim’s Core Strength Vinyasa studio class at Spirit of Yoga, every Tuesday morning at 8:30 am and Sunday morning at 8:00 am.
