Structural Integration & Your Yoga Practice
Our newest yoga class on the schedule is Heatwave Yoga, an intermediate Vinyasa-style class that builds on familiar poses with added challenges while exploring more advanced breath-to-movement flows, arm balances, and inversions in a supportive environment.
We’re also introducing our new 6-week Vinyasa yoga series, Ignite, with two sessions—one in June and one in July. This series is designed for members looking to deepen their practice through progressive week-to-week instruction. Participants will explore alignment, transitions, strength, balance, and control while building confidence and consistency in a supportive small-group environment.
With these new yoga options on the schedule, we wanted to dive deeper into what’s holding your practice back and how Structural Integration can help you progress. Keep reading to get the lowdown from Marie Thiebaud, Certified Advanced Practitioner of Structural Integration & Massage, and check out our summer yoga classes:
⚡️Ignite 6-Week Series
Session 1 | June 11th - July 16th | Thursdays at 9:00am
Session 2 | July 23rd – August 27th | Thursdays at 9:00am
☀️Heatwave Yoga
Thursdays at 5:30pm
No sign-up required!
If you’ve been practicing yoga for a while, you might have landed on this question at some point: Why do some people continue progressing in their practice, while others struggle with the same tight shoulders, stiff hips, neck tension, or low back discomfort year after year? It can be frustrating to feel like you’re doing all the right things to move forward with your yoga practice without seeing the results you want.
Yoga is one of the most powerful movement practices available. People have been practicing yoga for over 5,000 years, and there’s a good reason for that. It can improve balance, body awareness, breathing, strength, nervous system regulation, and, of course, flexibility.
Yet sometimes flexibility alone isn't enough. Many people can touch their toes, perform advanced poses, and attend classes consistently, yet still feel restricted in certain areas of their body. The reason often has less to do with muscles and more to do with long-standing patterns within the connective tissue system.
What do we mean by connective tissue system? Your connective tissues are simply the tissues that hold your body together and connect its many different parts and systems.
So how do you address patterns that have been affecting your connective tissues for years? One of the most effective ways is Structural Integration.
Structural Integration, also sometimes called Rolfing, is a hands-on approach that looks at how the body organizes itself around gravity. Rather than focusing on isolated symptoms, it works holistically with your body’s fascia and examines the relationships between the feet, legs, pelvis, spine, rib cage, shoulders, and head. When these relationships improve, many people notice that yoga begins to feel different. Poses that once felt difficult may become more accessible, often with less effort and strain. You may notice yourself breathing deeper and your balance improving. The body begins working with itself rather than against itself.
Many yoga practitioners discover that Structural Integration helps them access movement patterns they've been trying to achieve for years through stretching alone. Once you shift your goal from your body becoming more flexible to your body becoming more organized, you’ll start to notice a big difference in your practice. When the body is better organized, flexibility, strength, stability, and ease of movement often follow naturally.
If you've been practicing yoga and feel like you've reached a plateau, or if you're curious about how Structural Integration can complement your practice, I would be happy to answer your questions. As a Structural Integration Practitioner for over 15 years, my passion is helping people feel better and reach their movement goals. Visit my website to learn more!
- Marie Thiebaud
Certified Advanced Practitioner of Structural Integration & Massage
