Interviews with Bernie Clark on The Everyday Sublime

“You’re flying the plane and have to figure out what works. We – teachers – are just ground control.”

Bernie Clark shares how his thinking about exercise has shifted from an emphasis on mobility to an emphasis on stability. This is important to how we think about what we’re doing in all forms of physical yoga.

In our youth, we’re more Yang and need to work on strength and stability. As we age, we become more Yin, and therefore need to spend more time working on maintaining our mobility.

In the second episode of a 4-part series, Yin master Bernie Clark unpacks the important concept of spinal neutrality and he explores how to think about symmetry, functional asymmetry, and dysfunctional asymmetry in the body.

In the first episode of a 4-part series, I welcome Bernie Clark back to the podcast to discuss his new book, Your Spine, Your Yoga. In it, Bernie talks about the main themes in the book including the importance of stability over mobility in the health of our spines.

Here, Bernie Clark talks about the fascial concepts of dynaments and creep. He discusses some misunderstandings of Yin Yoga, as well as how to think about propping and assisting in Yin Yoga.

Listen to Bernie Clark discuss: antifragility, confusion between correlation and causation, the four levels evidence in science, piezoelectricity, and Yin and Yang stress on our tissues. Essential listening for Yin Yoga teachers.

For yoga teachers, it can be a challenging process to unlearn rigid rules of alignment and to adapt their teaching to the unique experience of their students. Here, Bernie Clark will walk you through how to think about and teach functional alignment in Yin Yoga and beyond.