About Trudy
This is a photo from 1975 showing Trudy with the teachers and students at Alpha Alternative School, Toronto, posing on a Geodesic Dome that the students built . A hands on teaching project to foster understanding of the Tensegrity principle.
"When I run after what I think I want, my days are a furnace of stress and anxiety; if I sit in my own place of patience, what I need flows to me, and without pain. From this I understand that what I want also wants me, is looking for me and attracting me. There is a great secret here for anyone who can grasp it." -Rumi
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To my teacher Flo Dedame, measureless gratitude, love and respect. To all the teachers whom I love and who have supported me over the years I send my deep gratitude:
Gioia Irwin Ravi Ravindra Bruno Mertens Joanna and Richard Swan and countless others.
To my students who continue to teach me and support me.
To Orit Sen Gupta, my gratitude for the Vijnana Yoga Practice
Education
3-year 800 hour Vijnana Yoga Teacher Training with Gioia Irwin
Certified and Accredited with Vijnana Yoga International
Assistant teacher 3 year 800 hr. Vijnana Yoga Teacher Training
200 Hour Hatha Yoga Teacher Training
Restorative Yoga Teacher Training
Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training
Yoga Meets Dance Teacher Training
Ongoing Visual Arts Studies
Registered Nurse
Recently
Vijnana Yoga and Tensegrity Repair Series and Biotensegrity paradigm
in Vancouver, Ontario, the Netherlands
Tensegrity Repair Series Teacher Training in Vancouver and Ontario
Workshops, Retreats, Trainings in Vancouver, Ontario, Amsterdam
Organization of events
Biotensegrity lecture at UBC with Stephen Levin as keynote and 2 other speakers. 70 people attending.
BIG - Biotensegrity Interest Group Retreat with Stephen Levin and 15 invited guests. Presentations, discussions, practices.
3 yearly Vijnana Yoga Gatherings- 80-120 participants each year
Meditation workshops with Will Johnson.
Artist Click Here to see Trudy's art.
Testimonials
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I want to say thank you so much for that rejuvenating workshop. I felt the fluids move more freely through my back body after the class...what a feeling. I have never felt the blood move around my back like that ...even during regular asana! What a difference slowing down our movement makes, not only the body, but the mind as well.
I also wanted to tell you how wonderful the yoga was today. I realized part way through that I haven’t moved my body, been in my body this much (except at the last class, which focused on tensegrity) for almost a year, what with the knee surgery then being away all summer and you being away and me being away again.... It was incredibly wonderful to move and stretch like that. Last night I dreamed that I need “more allies” to help my body fully heal from this rough year, and I realized during the yoga class that you’re one of them.
Thank you! – Love and blessings, Kate ********************************************************************************************************* I have been practicing Yoga with Trudy Austin since 2010, when I was recovering from neck cancer and throat radiation. I had been quite weakened by surgery and my subsequent treatments and also suffered from stiffness and numbness of the neck and upper shoulder area. I found Trudy's approach to considering my overall physical condition and well being very restorative and sensitive. She matched the practice both to my abilities and my challenges and my state of mind, which was much improved through mindful breathing and chakra work. When I think back over the past eight years, I am amazed by how much territory we covered together and with other teachers, introduced through semiannual weekend retreats. Trudy also organized some smaller residential retreats which lead us to move deeper into our understanding of both the Tensegrity series and the Viijnana yoga tradition. I appreciate her quiet sensibility and the integrity she brings to every aspect of her teaching and practice. Ann ********************************************************************************************************* For several years now I have been lucky enough to be a member of Trudy’s Saturday morning Vijnana Yoga and Tensegrity Repair Series class. Previously my yoga experience had been limited to a rather vigorous and rather too competitive Ashtanga class. The “no pain, no gain” school of thought. Trudy’s approach has been a polar opposite. Calm, insightful, encouraging, and collegial. She opened the door to the wonderful benefits of “repose”. Discovering the breath and becoming aware of nuances in the body unknown. I love her mantra of 70%…a gentle reminder that when we push our bodies too hard we negate any benefit that maybe be achieved. Thanks Trudy! Alison It started with an ad at a racquets club~ “yoga for squash players”. The interest was to sooth aging aching muscles and to perhaps improve flexibility.
After almost six years of yoga practice with Trudy, I can define the introduction to Trudy by just a single word - “ a blessing.” Of course there were the expected standard asanas, soon complimented by the tensegrity method- a series designed by one of Trudy’s phenomenal teachers to improve the strength, symmetry and effectiveness of the muscular - skeletal structure. From whence, with our yoga practice, we learnt about and recognized the fascia layers of the body and also about the corporal rather than the local connectivity of muscle tissue and tendons( anatomy trains). And the wonderful sessions progressed on to learning pranayama( breathing) and dhyana (meditation). We were soon reading, studying and discussing the yoga sutras for beginners, which then led to studying Patanjali’s original treatise on yoga and more recently what many consider to be the ultimate text on yoga and life - the bhagavad gita. Through Trudy, we were introduced to exceptional scholars, committed practitioners, fellow explorers and enlightened individuals who are all serving to expand and deepen our knowledge of, dare I say, “life”. Namaste- and an infinite thank you, our dear friend, guide and inspiration. And my opponents say that my squash playing has never been better. Mustaq |
I want to say thank you so much for that rejuvenating workshop. I felt the fluids move more freely through my back body after the class...what a feeling. I have never felt the blood move around my back like that ...even during regular asana! What a difference slowing down our movement makes for not only the body but the mind as well.
WHY I PRACTICE AND TEACH THE TENSEGRITY REPAIR SERIES
www.rootedheart.ca
When I first came to yoga it was mostly for the peace and calm it brought to my mind. I was going through a difficult time in my personal life and found so much support and open-heartedness at Queen Street Yoga in Kitchener that it felt like a second home.
Constructive Rest is always Step #1 in my personal TRS practice. It is also the 'yoga pose' I recommend most frequently to anyone looking for first steps towards better self-care.
But when I made the decision to dive into my 200 hour teacher training year, I felt the need to push my practice to its physical limits. I wanted to be able to 'do more poses'. I wondered, what kind of teacher I could be if I couldn't push up to a handstand with grace and ease. As I worked towards this and other physical goals, I felt so many unexpected changes in my body. I became denser, heavier, stronger, longer, bendier, my feet grew half a size bigger (seriously!), and my muscles were tired most of the time with that good kind of soreness that follows a satisfying workout. Working hard, pushing my physical limits, and learning more about alignment and anatomy were high on my list of priorities.
I perhaps pushed myself a little too hard. Despite hearing over and over again to listen to my body and calm my mind, like so many other yoga practitioners, I struggled to let my ego soften.
And then I went paddling. A long time favoured activity with my sweetheart, we packed our bags, rented a canoe, and headed off to Killarney Provincial Park to explore some new lakes we wanted to check off our bucket list. It was October, and stormy weather was pushing through, but it was a rare and precious chance to take time away from work, and we were determined and eager to see our plans through.
A fierce headwind greeted us on George Lake, but it was as we pushed on through Killarney Lake that the pain in my left shoulder started to ring. I'm certain the fatigue in my muscles prior to the trip played a part, but it was paddling into the wind on that fateful day and steering the canoe with a few too many sweeping c-strokes that caused a handful of tiny tears to pull through the muscles of my left shoulder girdle. I saw the pain, but we were in the middle of a lake with 2 more days of paddling planned and we had driven 6 hours to get to the park. I made the decision to keep going.
Everything else about the trip was perfect, including snagging a primo site on the fabled OSA Lake that we would never have been quick enough to get a booking for during the summer season. I was glad I went, but I left the park riddled with fear over my injured shoulder.
When we returned to the city, I got an ultrasound, saw a chiropractor who performed Active Release Technique (ART) on the muscles around the affected area, I stopped going to the climbing gym altogether, and changed my yoga practice, forcing myself to stop pushing towards poses that had always been difficult and now had the potential to be increasingly injurious like chaturanga and handstands. And lucky to be in a space that nurtured self care, I took the opportunity to turn my attention to more gentle and restorative practices including the Tensegrity Repair Series (TRS).
When we are injured, sometimes stillness is required to heal. But in this case of fairly minor muscular trauma, I understood that gentle movement was better for my body in that moment. If I stayed too still, I would stiffen, layers of fascia would bind and stick, which could limit my range of motion in the longer term. And that's where my TRS practice really came in.
TRS is a series of gentle movements designed with fascia in mind. It is not an exercise of strengthening the muscles, or of stretching into new shapes, or of stacking the bones. It is a practice of lubricating the web of fascia (connective tissue) that weaves our muscles and bones together into the shape of our bodies. Through these gentle movements, we can encourage the layers of our tissues to glide across one another, loosening the adhesions of past physical traumas, or simply undoing the stiffness of repetitive motions, sitting, and poor posture patterns.
Practicing my shoulder circles - the TRS move that challenges my left shoulder most - the week before heading to French River for canoe leadership training.
Done mostly lying on your back, TRS can appear from the outside as a pretty sleepy looking workout. But this practice has so much more to offer than what might be visible from the outside. By engaging through the tips of our extremities, and moving with expansive, radiant breath, each movement offers a whole-body experience. By slowing down enough to notice the pulls, pops, and asymmetries of our movements, TRS offers a new lens through which to understand our bodies.
It took a long time after my paddling injury to be able to feel a sense of symmetry or evenness across my shoulders. I still struggle with it from time to time and wonder if the echoes of that injury will be with me for the rest of my life... one of many invisible 'scars' I bear in my body. But through TRS, along with my other mindfulness and movement practices, I have built such a strong awareness of my left shoulder, its capabilities, limitations, moodiness, and range.
I have embarked on a few low key paddling trips since that fateful day on Killarney Lake, but at least partly due to fear of re-injury, paddling has generally taken a backseat to other activities in recent years. I finally faced that fear head on this past month as I embarked on a 6-day canoe guide leadership training course with my new friend Bretton at The Land Canadian Canoe Adventures.
The course was physically demanding, and mental and nervous system fatigue also played into the challenges I faced. But throughout the week, I felt the lessons of TRS in my body in a newly enlivened way. While paddling, I worked to stabilize my pelvis and shoulders to let the sturdier muscles of my legs, core, and arms do the work. Before and after paddling, I made time for gentle movement breaks to encourage a sense of ease in my body. When I started to feel serious fatigue and a bit of pain in my left shoulder after a hard day of whitewater skills training, I had the self-awareness and confident understanding of my body to take things down a notch and ask for help. When my trip companions struggled with discomfort from hours of kneeling in their boats and strains to their back and shoulder muscles, I felt empowered to offer them restorative movement ideas stemming from yoga and my TRS practice.
Nothing in life is a cure-all. But in this world of fast-paced progress, where so many of us struggle to balance our minds and bodies through huge physical and mental demands, I believe there is certainly a place to be made for more gentleness.
I have been incorporating movements from TRS into my regular yoga classes for several years and completed a TRS teacher training program with Trudy Austin in 2017. This weekend I'll be teaching a workshop that introduces the basic TRS movements and the rationale behind them. Come check it out at Peterborough Living Yoga from 1:00-3:30pm on Sunday, June 3rd.
www.rootedheart.ca
When I first came to yoga it was mostly for the peace and calm it brought to my mind. I was going through a difficult time in my personal life and found so much support and open-heartedness at Queen Street Yoga in Kitchener that it felt like a second home.
Constructive Rest is always Step #1 in my personal TRS practice. It is also the 'yoga pose' I recommend most frequently to anyone looking for first steps towards better self-care.
But when I made the decision to dive into my 200 hour teacher training year, I felt the need to push my practice to its physical limits. I wanted to be able to 'do more poses'. I wondered, what kind of teacher I could be if I couldn't push up to a handstand with grace and ease. As I worked towards this and other physical goals, I felt so many unexpected changes in my body. I became denser, heavier, stronger, longer, bendier, my feet grew half a size bigger (seriously!), and my muscles were tired most of the time with that good kind of soreness that follows a satisfying workout. Working hard, pushing my physical limits, and learning more about alignment and anatomy were high on my list of priorities.
I perhaps pushed myself a little too hard. Despite hearing over and over again to listen to my body and calm my mind, like so many other yoga practitioners, I struggled to let my ego soften.
And then I went paddling. A long time favoured activity with my sweetheart, we packed our bags, rented a canoe, and headed off to Killarney Provincial Park to explore some new lakes we wanted to check off our bucket list. It was October, and stormy weather was pushing through, but it was a rare and precious chance to take time away from work, and we were determined and eager to see our plans through.
A fierce headwind greeted us on George Lake, but it was as we pushed on through Killarney Lake that the pain in my left shoulder started to ring. I'm certain the fatigue in my muscles prior to the trip played a part, but it was paddling into the wind on that fateful day and steering the canoe with a few too many sweeping c-strokes that caused a handful of tiny tears to pull through the muscles of my left shoulder girdle. I saw the pain, but we were in the middle of a lake with 2 more days of paddling planned and we had driven 6 hours to get to the park. I made the decision to keep going.
Everything else about the trip was perfect, including snagging a primo site on the fabled OSA Lake that we would never have been quick enough to get a booking for during the summer season. I was glad I went, but I left the park riddled with fear over my injured shoulder.
When we returned to the city, I got an ultrasound, saw a chiropractor who performed Active Release Technique (ART) on the muscles around the affected area, I stopped going to the climbing gym altogether, and changed my yoga practice, forcing myself to stop pushing towards poses that had always been difficult and now had the potential to be increasingly injurious like chaturanga and handstands. And lucky to be in a space that nurtured self care, I took the opportunity to turn my attention to more gentle and restorative practices including the Tensegrity Repair Series (TRS).
When we are injured, sometimes stillness is required to heal. But in this case of fairly minor muscular trauma, I understood that gentle movement was better for my body in that moment. If I stayed too still, I would stiffen, layers of fascia would bind and stick, which could limit my range of motion in the longer term. And that's where my TRS practice really came in.
TRS is a series of gentle movements designed with fascia in mind. It is not an exercise of strengthening the muscles, or of stretching into new shapes, or of stacking the bones. It is a practice of lubricating the web of fascia (connective tissue) that weaves our muscles and bones together into the shape of our bodies. Through these gentle movements, we can encourage the layers of our tissues to glide across one another, loosening the adhesions of past physical traumas, or simply undoing the stiffness of repetitive motions, sitting, and poor posture patterns.
Practicing my shoulder circles - the TRS move that challenges my left shoulder most - the week before heading to French River for canoe leadership training.
Done mostly lying on your back, TRS can appear from the outside as a pretty sleepy looking workout. But this practice has so much more to offer than what might be visible from the outside. By engaging through the tips of our extremities, and moving with expansive, radiant breath, each movement offers a whole-body experience. By slowing down enough to notice the pulls, pops, and asymmetries of our movements, TRS offers a new lens through which to understand our bodies.
It took a long time after my paddling injury to be able to feel a sense of symmetry or evenness across my shoulders. I still struggle with it from time to time and wonder if the echoes of that injury will be with me for the rest of my life... one of many invisible 'scars' I bear in my body. But through TRS, along with my other mindfulness and movement practices, I have built such a strong awareness of my left shoulder, its capabilities, limitations, moodiness, and range.
I have embarked on a few low key paddling trips since that fateful day on Killarney Lake, but at least partly due to fear of re-injury, paddling has generally taken a backseat to other activities in recent years. I finally faced that fear head on this past month as I embarked on a 6-day canoe guide leadership training course with my new friend Bretton at The Land Canadian Canoe Adventures.
The course was physically demanding, and mental and nervous system fatigue also played into the challenges I faced. But throughout the week, I felt the lessons of TRS in my body in a newly enlivened way. While paddling, I worked to stabilize my pelvis and shoulders to let the sturdier muscles of my legs, core, and arms do the work. Before and after paddling, I made time for gentle movement breaks to encourage a sense of ease in my body. When I started to feel serious fatigue and a bit of pain in my left shoulder after a hard day of whitewater skills training, I had the self-awareness and confident understanding of my body to take things down a notch and ask for help. When my trip companions struggled with discomfort from hours of kneeling in their boats and strains to their back and shoulder muscles, I felt empowered to offer them restorative movement ideas stemming from yoga and my TRS practice.
Nothing in life is a cure-all. But in this world of fast-paced progress, where so many of us struggle to balance our minds and bodies through huge physical and mental demands, I believe there is certainly a place to be made for more gentleness.
I have been incorporating movements from TRS into my regular yoga classes for several years and completed a TRS teacher training program with Trudy Austin in 2017. This weekend I'll be teaching a workshop that introduces the basic TRS movements and the rationale behind them. Come check it out at Peterborough Living Yoga from 1:00-3:30pm on Sunday, June 3rd.