Martin Kirk
In a few minutes, I will drive back to Yoga Glo for my last day of an Anatomy Training with Martin Kirk. Friday's session was on the spine. Yesterday's on the shoulders and today's on the pelvis. Martin is a Certified Anusara instructor who specializes in Anatomy and Therapeutics. He holds a Masters in Biomedical Engineering. He is also the co-author a great book, Hatha Yoga Illustrated, which one of the books we use for Black Dog's Teacher Training. Martin and his beautiful wife Jordan have a three year old son Jonathan, who is the focal point of many of Martin's stories. Martin embodies the enthusiasm of a young boy (he had us laughing with his sound effects), coupled with the rigorous and fierce intellect of a scientist, and the soft heart of a yogi.
Yesterday Martin opened with sutra 4 from the sublime text Pratyabhijna-hrdayam:
"Citi-samkocatma cetano'pi samkucita-visvamayah."
"Even the individual, whose nature is Consciousness in a contracted state, embodies the universe in a contracted form."
Martin reminded us that like a hologram, we too contain the entire universe in a contracted form. That though we possess a limited embodiment, the whole picture is there. With that hopeful and powerful beginning, we then chanted. Then we did a few partner stretches and sat back down to learn about the Shoulders.
I love how Martin teaches. You can tell how his engineering eyes look at the body and inform his teaching. For instance, he had us look at the shoulder girdle on a skeleton. He reminded us that though a "girdle" implies a corset-like support, to notice how the back of the shoulders has nothing closing it, as opposed to the pelvis, which is all bone and ligament. The shoulders are a moving platform, thereby making it the most mobile joint in the body (and the most dislocated). He reminded us of the importance of bringing the bottom tips of the scapulae together, thereby helping our bodies transmit forces most efficiently. Otherwise the transmission of the forces will get blocked in the weak links: the soft tissues of the wrists, elbows and shoulders.
We proceeded to learn about the muscles that stabilize the shoulders, as well as the Rotator Cuff muscles. Martin has an unique way of personalizing the muscles thereby helping us remember them with his quirky humor and unflinching intellect.
Unfortunately, I could only stay for the beginning of the second session, for I had a memorial to go to. I am so looking forward to going today and immersing myself in Martin's scientific, spiritual and childlike light.
Thank you for clarifying what I have been trying to tell others about Martin's teaching style. He has so much information - pure, raw data - that he imparts to you, but he does so with such clarity that it becomes very accessible. I am seriously considering his 5-day therapeutics workshop next April. BTW, Martin is linking to your blog from his Facebook page.
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