breathing new life into yoga: michael bengry's gemini track system
Like many devoted yoga practitioners and/or yoga studio owners, Michael Bengry of Golden Tree Yoga (www.goldentreeyoga.com) in Santa Barbara, CA. started practicing 14 years ago after a serious bout with back pain. While Bengry started taking a therapeutic back class, as his sciatica improved, he moved on to other yoga styles. Bengry studied with a number of instructors trained in the Iyengar method. Through this practice, he first started working with rope walls.
While Bengry liked some of the mind/body benefits of this practice, he felt frustrated by the inflexibility and other limitations of the Iyengar rope walls. According to Bengry, some problems with the system include:
*No adjustment for different body sizes. Different sized people experience much different support pull angles in the same pose. "This is far from the Iyengar ideal," he says.
*Pairs of ropes on a traditional wall are almost never the same length and length adjustment via twisting ropes is cumbersome and awkward.
*The traditional wall is uncomfortable to use, ropes exert too much concentrated pressure in such poses as supported down dog. "Knotted ropes provide uncomfortable handgrips - especially for larger individuals," he adds.
*Traditional installation makes rope wall space unusable for normal at-the-wall poses because there is hardware and dangling rope protruding from the wall at all times.
An inventor and engineer by trade, Bengry began searching for ways to improve the comfort, adjustability, and user friendliness of the Iyengar system. "Prior to the development of the Gemini Track system and my opening Golden Tree Yoga," Bengry recalls, "I was the co-founder and owner of a software engineering company specializing in embedded systems, particularly automotive applications such as engine control, adaptive braking, etc."
Bengry's search eventually led to the development of the Gemini Track, a method that features several unique attributes and capabilities. While it is a new and relatively experimental system, Gemini Track is a forward step that may bring many potential benefits to men, women and children in their yoga practice. Here's a sampling of its unique features:
Attachment points are adjustable in about 1.3 inch increments from floor to ceiling. Precise and rapid adjustment to achieve proper support angles is possible for students from small children to large adults.
Adjustment of strap length is also fast and simple.
Use of wide webbing and easily detachable handles makes the system much more flexible and comfortable to use than existing systems. The webbing reduces and spreads the pressure when using the straps for support. The handles provide far more comfortable grips than the standard knotted ropes.
Even relatively inexperienced practitioners have easy and safe access to many poses that often inspire anxiety. Headstands, hand stands, shoulder stands, and backbends can now be performed with ease and safety. No longer does the practitioner have to rely on their own strength and balance to enter and remain in these poses. The therapeutic benefits of these poses are thus safely extended to a much wider range of participants.
Supported yoga offers many of the same benefits of partner yoga without the necessity of finding a competent and willing partner.
For many people, particularly those who are not very flexible, some yoga poses produce what Bengry calls muscular conflict - the student's muscles are working at cross-purposes.
For example, in Bengry's case, "Because my shoulders are tight, I would try to support myself in down dog pose with strength, which worked against the proper rotation and extension of the arms towards correct alignment," Bengry says. "With the support of the Gemini Track system, however, I no longer had to use my strength to hold me up and I could concentrate on releasing my shoulders, dropping my shoulder blades, and rotating my arms toward proper alignment."
Furthermore, he recounts, "I achieved more progress in this pose after a few sessions of supported yoga than I had in several years of traditional practice." Finally, when the Gemini Track system is not being used, no hardware interferes with the normal use of the flat wall for traditional at-the-wall poses.
Gemini Track has been under development for about 5 years. Initially there were several prototypes fabricated before settling on the current twin track/sliding car configuration. The Gemini Track system was then tested in a small private studio for about two years before installation at Golden Tree Yoga in Santa Barbara.
While people have been practicing with Gemini Track since July of 2004, as of autumn 2005, there appear to be no significant dangers associated with this equipment. In addition, Michael Bengry is very open about the fact that the system is evolving. He is so open that he would like to offer the following ideas about how Gemini Track may help various age groups and life conditions:
*children & teens
Children and teens relate very well to the Gemini Track system. Perhaps the similarities to gym equipment or playground equipment resonate especially well with this group.
The owner of the private studio where the first Gemini Track was installed has children of her own as does the owner of one of the other prototype installations. In all cases the children found the Gemini track very attractive and spent a great deal of time exploring the recreational possibilities inherent in the equipment. The Gemini Track system provides the opportunity to develop strength, flexibility, and balance in a safe and entertaining environment.
*before surgery
I would expect that strengthening and stretching prior to surgery would be of benefit, but I am not medical practitioner and I would welcome some opinions on this subject from those who are professionally qualified.
*after surgery
Again I would like to hear from some expert medical practitioners on this subject but I would expect the Gemini Track system to allow for gently progressive strengthening and stretching with the security of support.
*prenatal
Some yoga practitioners have suggested using the Gemini Track system as a birthing wall.
*postpartum
The Gemini Track promotes gentle renewal of exercise after childbirth. Again, prenatal and postpartum uses have yet to be explored by experts.
*back problems
Many back problems result from compression of the spine. Supported yoga, particularly inverted poses using the pelvic swing places the entire spine in traction and allows the spine to expand and decompress the disks.
Many back pain sufferers find significant benefit in this practice. I would also like to work with one or more chiropractors to investigate the full benefits of the Gemini Track system as it relates to a wide array of back problems.
*alignment problems
The Gemini Track is an extension and refinement of existing rope wall technology and offers superior benefits in the area of alignment. Precisely aligned support strongly encourages proper postural alignment and the kinesthetic internalization of that alignment.
Performing postures with proper alignment is integral to reaping the full benefits of a yoga practice since poor alignment prevents the correct stretching or strengthening of the muscles a given posture is designed to affect.
*people with balance problems
Balance problems are a serious impediment and improved balance, together with strength and flexibility, is one of the main benefits of yoga. The Gemini Track system allows people with limited balance to work in balance poses safely and without fear of falling. Comfort zones can be safely pushed to each individual's edge.
vWhile Bengry's Golden Tree staff have been using the Gemini Track system and exploring its possibilities since the studio opened in July of 2004, he plans to be offering classes targeted to this equipment starting in late 2005.
"I hope to be offering teacher training and certification on this equipment by the spring of 2006," Bengry says. "Much research remains to be done in making proper use of the fully adjustable nature of the system e.g. what are the proper height/length/angle adjustments for the various poses to accommodate different sized individuals."
Bengry also notes that he would welcome the participation of a few top tier practitioners in developing the guidelines for use and adjustment of the Gemini Track equipment. It seems just a matter of time before he has the full range of teaching aids on the market: teacher training courses, users' manuals, DVD instruction, etc.
"I am getting such enthusiastic response from people who have tried the Gemini Track," Bengry says. "It's great to share it with the world and see how it can help people feel more comfortable, peaceful and flexible."
For more information on Gemini Track, contact Michael Bengry at: Golden Tree Yoga, 608 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, Telephone: 805.568.5309 |
