Yoga Teacher Barbara Lyon - using yoga & fascia to relieve chronic tension

On April 20, 2024 Icelebrated my 29th anniversary as a yoga teacher!

Fall 2020: I was back in yoga school again, this time earning certification as a Yoga Wellness Educator. I chose this program because one of the organizers/ instructors is Tom Myers, my 'fascia guru' (he wrote Anatomy Trains), and this course has an important fascia (connective tissue) element. I am very interested in using yoga to reawaken and hydrate our fascia to help ease chronic pain and create a feeling of freedom; it was extremely helpful in alleviating my own knee pain from a torn meniscus and eventually I was able to sleep through the night, walk down stairs, ride a bike, and even swing dance all without pain. Of course I bring this new training knowledge right into my classroom and you are the recipient of this marvelous approach to bring ease, flexibility, and coordination to our bodies.

My yoga history: I have taught Kripalu- and Iyengar-style yoga since 1995 at Cambridge Health Associates, Art & Soul Yoga, for companies, and for many private students. In addition I've taught at Mt Auburn Hospital, Harvard Vanguard, Harvard U, retirement communities, and even an all-dementia class for a year using music 'from the day,' which I loved doing (they loved it, too, but their funding ran out).

The wonderful Danielle Levi Alvares was my first Kripalu-style teacher for 10 years, starting in 1986. It was she who encouraged me to become a yoga teacher -- I just wanted the pleasure of always being a student. But she persevered, trained me to teach at her studio, and then hired me.

In 2010-11 after teaching for 15 years, I returned to my yoga studies and earned an Advanced Teacher Training Certificate called The Art of Teaching, from The Yoga Studio (with nationally-acclaimed Barbara Benagh), a 200-hour program.

Then in 2012, after another year of study, I earned a certificate in Silver Age Yoga, a program that teaches how to modify yoga to safely teach it to seniors. One level is chair yoga where all the moves are done sitting on chairs, and yet it is surprisingly effective. The more advanced level includes standing, sitting and floor poses, with many modifications to accommodate for physical conditions and challenges.

I have continually studied many forms of yoga since 1986, particularly Iyengar style, as well as taken dozens and dozens of workshops and immersion weekends focusing on different topics like Yoga and the Aging Spine, backbends, restoratives, breathwork (pranayama), balance, twists and, of course, fascia.