After 20+ years of asking, seeking, exploring, studying, experimenting, Yogi Aaron can confidently say, he’s found many answers, but more important than that, he discovered a simple and effective technique to alleviate pain!
He says it’s easy to incorporate in any yoga practice or any movement activity to ensure we continue to live pain-free into our third age.
He calls his system AYAMA-- Applied Yoga Anatomy + Muscle Activation™. (AYAMA), is a revolutionary way to practice yoga that focuses on activating and engaging muscles rather than stretching them.
As you might imagine, his journey to pain free started with pain. Lots of different kinds of pain in different places and it all began while he was still in his 20s. No amount of massage, therapists, yoga teachers, could help him get relief.
His relief was found in learning about how muscles work and how to stabilize the body muscle by muscle.
You don’t need to study anatomy to make use of his system. Aaron is easy to follow and has step by step guidance for doing postures safely on Youtube, and in his Yogi Club, an online membership portal. He offers a free, 15-day trial which I’ve just signed up for.
(Not for nothing Peloton but your classes have gotten predictable, and I need something new.)
It’s only $15/month after 15 days or $99/yr. I’ll come back here and do a quick review of my experience. If you happen to be a person with chronic pain there is a 15-day pain free challenge.
Speaking of pain free, one of Yogi Aaron’s missions in life is to help as many people live pain free as possible.
“It lights me up to imagine a world free from pain. When we feel good in our bodies, we can then focus on discovering and manifesting our life purpose. And, living our purpose is what we're here to do!”
I asked how pain free equaled manifesting and living our purpose and here’s what he told me.
“When I have experienced chronic pain, everything in my life then becomes about that pain. How do I get rid of it? How do I feel better? Yeah. And from a yoga perspective, then all of my energy, all of my mental energy and my prana, my life force energy is directed there, rather than being directed to living my life purpose.”
Makes sense to me.
We talked about the responsibility we have to ourselves to take care of our bodies and what that looks like. And the importance of asking why something hurts, what’s at the root and how can we give the body what it needs to relieve that pain.
No pain no gain is not in his system, and I think you’d agree, especially as we pile on the years, pushing through pain is not the best idea.
Yogi has a beautiful retreat center in Costa Rica where he lives full time. If you are a yoga instructor and want to add AYAMA to your repertoire take a look at the courses he has here.
He also runs teacher training.
As I age my body has let me know that I must pay attention to how I move regardless of what I used to be able to do. I love Yogi Aaron’s AYAMA because it brings awareness into each movement and helps me being stability to my body. A more stable musculature equals prevention from injury, falls, and lack of focus on what’s important.
Find him on Instagram
