I'm trying something new here. What do you think?

For the past eight years or so, I've been a big believer in plain ol' simple emails. Just the text—nothing fancy.

But lately I've been experimenting with a new approach to everything in my business. One of things I've been considering is "naming" my emails, so in the spirit of trying anything once, here we are.

I was humming and hawing about what name to go with, stuck between "The Cue" and "The Movement Lab".

I went with The Movement Lab because I like the idea of us stepping into this space together to explore and experiment, whereas asking you to "join the cue" sounded too much like asking you to line up.

When you see these somewhat prettier emails from me land in your inbox, know that the writing hasn't changed. The only difference is that this container is giving me a greater sense of purpose—like I'm creating something tangible through words rather than simply firing off thoughts that may or may not land.

The Stable Summer Challenge Continues

As we head into the third week of Stable Summer inside the Detour Virtual Studio, I'm seeing this challenge as a movement lab in itself.

We started with the goal of building more stability from the ground up and asked, "How can we do that using different forms of movement—most of which can be integrated into any yoga class?"

Week One showed you just how much work can be done to target the feet and ankles.

In Week Two, we moved up the chain and explored how paying attention to the structures above and below the knees can bring more confidence and proficiency to the entire lower body—despite the noises your knees might make along the way.

This week, we're focusing squarely on the hips (see what I did there? 🤓). You'll see that I've prioritized three main sub-areas when it comes to hip mobility:

1. Hip stability (this will come in handy when we progress next week into single leg strength)
2. Hip rotation (because without a hip that rotates, we can't squat, hinge, or move efficiently)
3. Hip extension (since most of us have been borrowing extension from our lower backs)

Creating structural balance in the hips with this mix of strength-based and mobility-based movement is the best way I know to combat the fear of "bone-on-bone" stress.

In the yoga world, the phrase "bone-on-bone" is often thrown around as a fear tactic: "It's a bad idea to rotate the hip under load because that could compromise the joint and lead to bone-on-bone contact." It's one of the reasons people have been afraid to transition from Half Moon to Warrior 3 (or vice versa), concerned that doing so would pulverize their joint cartilege.

But what we now know is that joints respond well to being loaded progressively, since its the load itself that strengthens tissues. And when we abide by progressive load (vs. pushing things too much, too soon, or too frequently like what you might see in the extremes of Ballet or Ashtanga), the body's structures are highly adaptable. While we need to keep in mind that every body has its own threshold of tolerance (ie. our capacities for load are variable), it's safe to assume that building strength through a full range of motion (that includes rotation) will have more benefits than drawbacks.

This week's class recommendations:

With that in mind, I suggest starting the week with Stable to Stand. This class features a lot of ground-based movement and targeted work at the wall to address the pelvis and side-bum (glute med). Here's what Nancy said about this practice:

When it comes to rotation, you've got Formidable Figure-4 and 360-Degree Hips.

The Figure-4 class is a great progression from Stable to Stand, since it combines external rotation of the hip with your ability to stand on one leg (using the wall for support).

Then we double-down on rotation in 360 where the work you did in Figure-4 gets applied to more complex positions and movements. You'll walk away hopefully feeling like Talita:

Save Hip Extension Unlocked for a day when you're ready to combine deep core activation with glute and hammy engagement. This practice will remind you just how easy it is to default into lumbar extension when what we're actually aiming for is hip extension. When you learn to fix that habit, your entire backside will reap the benefits 🍑.

Lastly, we've got Recovery on Demand because this week's classes are NO JOKE and your body deserves some nourishing movement after putting all that work in.

Keep track of the classes you're doing either on the DVS Calendar, or inside the DVS Community (where the Stable Summer Challenge lives).

All of the above can be accessed for FREE with a 7-day trial of The Detour Virtual Studio.

Or, if you want minimal commitment, snag the 3-Month Unlimited Pass. One payment, no recurring fees.

And best of all, the Detour Virtual Studio is now available via an Andoid app! The app experience (regardless of whether you're on Android or iOS) is WAY better than using your web browser on mobile to access class content.

​Get the Android app here.
​Get the iOS app here.

See you on the mat,

Cecily
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ps. If you know someone else who could benefit from the Detour approach, they can read these emails here regardless of whether they're a Movement Lab subscriber.

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