“Jason’s workshops changed the way I use props when I teach.”
As a Purna Yoga instructor, I have an abiding love for props. They can make poses more accessible either by filling in space or acting as extensors, or they can help practitioners understand action in a pose by providing contact sensation to give direction. And while the Three Minute Egg® seemed like a nice enough prop to backbend over, I didn’t understand the range of its applications until attending a workshop with Jason Scholder. Put simply, Jason Scholder’s Three Minute Egg® workshops changed the way I use props when I teach. As a result, my students are learning more, reconnecting with beginner’s mind in the process, and making new discoveries in their practices. Previously I saw the Egg as just another prop in the arsenal, but now it has become the first tool I reach for.
As the adage goes, necessity is the mother of invention. This seems especially true of Jason Scholder and his creation of the Three Minute Egg® as a prop to relieve chronic back pain. For some, this would be the end of the story. Jason creates a prop, uses it to treat his back pain, and a new prop joins the pantheon of yoga props suited for therapeutic purposes.
But in this case, the creation of the Egg is just the beginning, and as Scholder demonstrates in his eye-opening workshops, the Three Minute Egg® has a plethora of uses beyond back-pain therapeutics. Jason clearly and effectively introduces a variety of applications for the Eggs that demonstrate their function as more than just another prop but instead as a communication pathway between the pose and your body. Because of the Egg’s organic shape, all kinds of truths can be revealed about the body, about your poses, and about the work your body needs. As he says, the Eggs turn asanas into aha-sanas. I experienced this first-hand in the workshop almost immediately when using the Eggs in the Lotus Booty placement for sukhasana. Never had my femur bones felt so supported by a prop in sukhasana, and I have the unique shape of the Egg to thank for this new sensation.
Jason brings humor, precision, knowledge derived from his own practice, and his passion for the Eggs and all of their applications to bear on his workshops. They are packed full of new ways to experience any number of poses simply by using this organically-shaped prop that fits the body better than any block. If you teach in a studio with Eggs, you owe it to yourself to learn all the ways you can use them, and not just because it’s fun to use a new prop. The Three Minute Egg® is a unique prop with a unique shape designed to give new experiences with one’s poses that keep one’s practice growing, changing, and progressing. Your students will thank you for introducing this tool to their practice.
– Letitia Walker, Purna Yoga Teacher, Asheville, NC ashevilleyogasangha.com
Photo by Paola Nazati (PaolaNazati.com)