Liberating Alignment

Established 2021

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Kutilaa School of Embodied Resilience

39 Bayview Ave, Mill Valley, CA 94941, USA

Mill Valley, CA

Upcoming Instances

On demand

40 hours • $ 2650.0+

Video

Led by

Michelle Bouvier

Level 3

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Purpose

Empower practitioners and teachers to embody and guide movement aligned with the body's natural spiral design and rooted in yogic tradition—maximizing benefit, minimizing harm, building lasting resilience.

What to expect

Participants can expect a comprehensive, self-paced journey through the body's major motion centers, woven with both intellectual understanding and embodied exploration.

During the program:

On-demand training accessible on your own schedule with lifetime access

Extensive educational materials including a digital training manual, educational lectures, and embodied explorations

Investigation of movement at each main motion center: hips & pelvis, shoulder girdle, spine & head, hands & feet

Integration of somatic restoration and floor play practices

Optional mentorship tiers offering live practice sessions, group discussion, and 1-on-1 guidance

After the program:

A fundamentally new way of understanding and teaching movement as meditation—aligned with the body's design, modern science, and timeless yogic teachings

Mini-sequences combining movement, mindfulness, breath, relaxation, and functional coordination

Evolved language and cueing approaches that honor individuality and biotensegrity

Greater confidence, creativity, and purpose in personal practice and/or teaching

CEUs available for Yoga Alliance, I-AYT, and other professional organizations

Style/Lineage

Embodied Resilience: Liberating Alignment is an interdisciplinary approach that bridges ancient yogic wisdom with modern scientific understanding. The program draws from:

Prana Vinyasa® Yoga (instructor is a certified teacher trainer)

Biotensegrity and neuromyofascial research

Somatic movement practices

Nervous System science

GYROTONIC® methodology

Tantrik roots of embodied yoga (honoring that the origins of physical yoga practices were in spontaneous, fluid movement)

The lineage honors yoga as a Living Tradition meant to serve life as it is, while integrating evidence-based perspectives from neuromyofascial science, nervous system research, and modern biomechanics. This creates a paradigm-shift away from standard grid-based alignment toward spiral, interconnected movement aligned with the body's natural design and more aligned with the philosophy of yoga.

Additional Information

This training emerges from over thirty years of devoted study, practice, and teaching at the intersection of yoga, interdisciplinary movement, and bodymind science. It represents not a departure from tradition, but a return to it—honoring yoga as a Living Tradition that has always evolved to serve life as it is.

The origins of physical yoga practice lie not in static postures, but in spontaneous, fluid movement within the Tantrik daily ritual. Standard grid-based alignment—the foundation of most modern movement teaching—is a relatively recent development that, while well-intentioned, often works against the body's intelligent, spiral design. This training reclaims alignment from within: rooted in biotensegrity, informed by current fascial and nervous system research, and deeply respectful of yoga's philosophical foundations.

Embodied Resilience: Liberating Alignment is designed for serious practitioners and teachers who sense that something has been missing—and who are ready to be part of the evolution. This work is ahead of the curve, yet anchored in timeless wisdom. It addresses a growing, often unspoken crisis of movement-related injuries in yoga and offers a path forward that is safer, more accessible, more creative, and more true to the embodied freedom yoga has always promised.

The world needs evolutionary embodiment teachers to help build bodymind resilience, one person at a time. This training is for those ready to answer that call.

Core competencies

By the end of this program, graduates will be able to…

Teaching Skills	Cue movement using evolved language that honors biotensegrity and individual variation replacing standard grid-based alignment cues with spiral-informed, soma-centered guidance Assess students' movement patterns for signs of misalignment with their body's natural design identifying when linear cueing may be causing restriction or harm Guide students to find joint centration from within their own felt experience rather than imposing external alignment standards Create movement sequences that cultivate healthy, resilient patterns for real life integrating mindfulness, breath, relaxation, and functional coordination
Anatomy, Physiology, Biomechanics	Describe the neuromyofascial web and its role in bodymind connection including how current fascia research informs embodied practice Analyze how the body's natural spiral design influences healthy movement patterning applying this understanding to common yoga postures Differentiate between linear/grid-based alignment cues and spiral/biotensegrity-informed cues explaining the potential benefits and harms of each approach Explain the biotensegrity model of biomechanics contrasting it with standard grid-based alignment and describing its implications for movement Identify joint centration at each major motion center (hips/pelvis, shoulder girdle, spine, hands, feet) and describe how to find and feel it in one's own body
Practice Skills	Perform yoga asana with alignment from within based on biotensegrity principles demonstrating joint centration and spiral integration at major motion centers Apply joint centration principles to their personal movement practice across hips/pelvis, shoulder girdle, spine, and hands/feet Adapt common yoga postures to honor individual anatomy moving away from rigid, external alignment toward internal felt-sense Cultivate qualities of curiosity, play, and creating options in embodied practice rather than striving for a single 'correct' form as a performance or perfection
Yoga History & Theory	Describe the historical evolution of alignment in modern postural yoga including when and how grid-based alignment became dominant Discuss the tantrik origins of physical yoga practice explaining how spontaneous, fluid movement was central to early embodied yoga Explain how biotensegrity-informed practice aligns with yogic philosophy bridging ancient teachings with modern scientific understanding Discuss the history of anatomy and its influence on how yoga alignment has been taught recognizing cultural and historical factors
Lifestyle & Ethics	Describe how to embody values of curiosity, humility, and lifelong learning remaining open to evolving understanding of bodymind science and yogic teachings Recognize when embodied practices may cause harm rather than healing taking responsibility to minimize injury in oneself and others

AYC allows each school to state and evaluate the competencies each student acquires. Students rate how well the program delivered them.

Program Emphasis

Evaluation methods

Program evaluations

Solo Project Or Presentation
Written Submission
Direct Observation
Other

Competency is assessed through written submissions, solo projects/presentations, and direct observation. Graduates articulate the paradigm shift from conventional grid-based alignment toward biotensegrity and the body's inherent spiral design. Solo projects develop critical analysis of real-world movement; presentations, demonstrations and essays require graduates to embody and be able to explain joint centration and spiral integration—ensuring this evolutionary understanding is not only intellectual but lived.

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Program Faculty

Featured Faculty

Interdisciplinary movement educator, living yoga teacher, trainer, certified yoga therapist (C-IAYT), merging modern research and ancient teachings, on a mission to transform alignment in embodied practice to honor our body's nonlinear nature.

Michelle Bouvier

Level 3

michellebouvier.com

Mill Valley, CA, US