Join the Community: Continuing Education at the Intersection of Classical Yoga & Contemporary Fascia Science
My Story: From Curious Teenager to Nature-Informed Teacher
After twenty-five years of Ashtanga Vinyasa practice and over a decade exploring rotational biomechanics, I've discovered something profound: the intersection of ancient wisdom and modern fascia science creates transformative magic. Nerd alert!
When I first stepped onto my mat, I sought physical fitness and stress relief, plus something novel I couldn't name. I was a curious teenager suffering and enjoying (and suffering from) the cocktail of hormones and exponential brain development... I was so hungry for new experiences, yet not quite mature enough to understand their significance!
I don't know what I was looking for, but what I found changed the course of my life forever. A gateway to understanding how movement and consciousness dance together?A winding road of injury, enlightened moments, tears of frustration? An expansive community that would become my extended family?
Yes, yes, and more yes.
Those early Ashtanga years built discipline, breath awareness, and an unquenchable wanderlust. A foundation was forming.
As it turns out, foundations are meant to weather and bend, lest they crack!
The Turning Point: When Injury Led to Discovery
Ashtanga is notoriously physically demanding and I'll be the first to admit: I injured myself trying too hard to achieve the postures in their "traditional" sequential order. I wanted to progress, I wanted to please the teacher. My self-worth became tied up in the story of getting authorized.
Fifteen years ago, injured and demoralized, everything shifted when I turned to the natural sciences for instruction. Diving into anatomy and then into the fascial basis of rotational biomechanics, I found inspiration, confidence, and joy.
I began understanding how fascia responds to movement patterns and how the postural sequences I'd practiced for over a decade could be optimized to prioritize spirality. It was my A-Ha! moment.
Suddenly, Ashtanga wasn't just a spiritual discipline, I realized it was born from a sophisticated biomechanical intelligence that generations had intuitively understood and continuously refined, long before Krishnamacharya, Pattabhi Jois, and their successors adapted it. I felt strongly that abandoning the method wasn't the answer. But I also couldn't keep practicing the same way. It was time to get brave.
Where Received Wisdom Meets the Natural Sciences
This intersection became my passion and gift to share. Understanding the science doesn't diminish the magic, it amplifies it. When we grasp how fascia responds to rotational movement and how breath work affects connective tissue at cellular levels, our practice becomes exponentially more transformative.
Over my ten years teaching yoga teachers, I've learned something beautiful: every cohort teaches me as much as I teach them. There's something about meeting new trainees infused with fresh enthusiasm that reignites my own wonder. Their questions push me deeper, their curiosity challenges my assumptions, and their beginner's mind reminds me why this work matters so profoundly.
Unique Yoga Teacher Training Programs
teacher training isn't just another yoga program. It's where curious minds and open hearts explore how ancient teachings meet cutting-edge research. You'll experience this integration firsthand in my 200-Hr Foundations course, learning how spiralized Ashtanga sequences create optimal fascial hydration and neurological integration.
In my 300-Hr Advanced YTT, we'll explore how rotational patterns affect everything from breathing capacity to emotional regulation. You'll gain your status as a Five Filaments Specialist, and retain access to codified sequences you can adapt and apply to your offering for a lifetime of fascia-informed, playful, challenging, nourishing, and effective teaching in your community.
A Personal Approach to Teaching and Healing
What excites me most is how this honors the complete human being. We are people, not poses!
When you understand how chanting and movement affect your vagus nerve, how backbends influence fascial chains, and how inversions impact your lymphatic system, you become a facilitator of discovery and healing.
Spiral Syllabus represents my journey's culmination: twenty-five years of practice meeting fifteen years of scientific exploration, woven together to create skillful, heart-centered teachers. Whether you're here for yoga training via KKYS or just diving into the resources, you'll leave with inspiration for how to hold transformative space while continuing your own evolution.
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This is initiation into honoring both ancestral wisdom and contemporary discoveries. Join us in exploring where classical yoga and modern science create magic.
With deep gratitude and joy in this continued exploration,
Karen Kirkness
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