The practices that Simon will teach you in his course can:

  • help you optimise your immune system

  • enhance energy levels

  • show you how to apply the techniques to strength training

  • increase blood flow

  • increase mobility of the spine

  • give you some of the benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy

  • give you some of the benefits of intermittent hypoxic training

One Time Payment Only.

  • I used to be a gymnast and dancer before I came to yoga. My first yoga class was with Simon in Tel Aviv, and I have never experienced a movement system like his. I have been suffering from back pain for 5 years, but his circular movements don’t just make me feel stronger without feeling stressed out, but made it much easier to do any other movement system and use the Joint Synergy principles in any type of exercise.
    - Tal, 34, Israel

Enjoy the benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy without paying thousands of dollars for it!

This course is for intermediate and advanced practitioners who would like to learn how to practice advanced breathing techniques such as the Valsalva Manoeuvre (the Western medical analogue of compressive bandhas in Indian Pranayama) and the Müller Manoeuvre (the Western medical analogue of expansive bandhas in Indian Pranayama).

Simon will also teach you special types of autogenous hyperbaric oxygen therapy and intermittent hypoxic training. These techniques are highly regarded methods used to improve your immune system

WHO IS THIS COURSE FOR?

Intermediate to advance breathwork and pranayama practitioners

INTERMEDIATE TO ADVANCED BREATH-CONTROL COURSE

One Time Payment Only.

Testimonials

  • I’ve been studying with Simon for 9 years and the wealth of knowledge and experience he’s sharing so generously just cannot stop. I have also trained with him and the early morning classess started with joint synergy exercises which were kind of a moving meditation that’s always been more effective for me than sitting ones. And now thsi has been turned into a whole program that I can practice with Simon from home. I got into the habit of starting my day with joint synergy to energyze mysel, but I also do these sequences before I go running or climbing. The joint synergy sequences get me in the zone, I become warmed up and energised and it makes so much easier to do my high-intesity exercise regime.
    - Andrea, 32, UK
  • I was in a car accident a few years ago that shattered my right shoulder and I had to wear a neck brace for month. Recovery was slow, I still have to be careful with what I do and how I do it, especially that I am in my fifties. I used to practice with Simon back in New Town ten years ago, and I miss him ever since he left. But sadly, I cannot do too intense a yoga practice any more. I started doing his Joint Synergy Program that not only helps my aching joints but it also makes me feel stronger while improving my poor circulation. Thank you, Simon!
    - Stacey, 53, Sydney
  • I have been doing Yoga Synergy for quite a few years, but Simon’s classes and workshop are always so jam-packed with valuable info that it always takes month to digest all the theory and apply it to my practice. And because Simon himself is continually evolving his practice and teachings, there’s always a lot that I still don’t understand, but this Joint Synergy program clarified so many thing for me that I feel I am doing his yoga sequences much more efficiently because of the understanding this course gave me.
    - Leo, 42, Spain

INTERMEDIATE TO ADVANCED BREATH-CONTROL COURSE

One Time Payment Only.

MORE ABOUT THE COURSE AND WHATS IN IT

INTRODUCTION & THEORY TO BREATH-CONTROL:

In the first part of the course, the Introduction, I have put a theory lecture and spoken a bit about physiology and the applications to posture etc. 

PRACTICAL EXERCISES PART 1: Basic breath-control exercises with no complex muscular activations (breath cycles of between 20-60 seconds in length). 

In Part 1 of the practical part of the course, I'm teaching relatively simple breath-control practices, which build up to about doing 1 breath per minute for a few cycles. I'm not incorporating any bandha or intense muscle activations in this course section. Instead, I am getting people to focus on breathing while seated in a lengthened and erect posture. I encourage people to remove unnecessary tension in their bodies other than the gentlest breathing muscles. 

PRACTICAL EXERCISES PART 2: Breath-control exercises with exhalation retention breath-holding emphasis and use of Mueller manoeuvres  (use of Bandha in the Nauli Kriya cycle of Indian Hatha Yoga) (breath cycles mostly 30 seconds in length).

In Part 2 of the course, I mainly teach Mueller Manoeuvres in exhalation retention. Here I also take some time to teach the expansive versions of uddiyana bandha and combinations of compressive and expansive versions of Mula bandha. Together these create different components and versions of the nauli kriya cycle of hatha yoga. In terms of practice, I have given people 30-second cycles of this for 5 minutes doing 10 breaths with 10 different types of exhalation retention with or without bandha (trunk muscle co-activations). In Part 2, I also have videos explaining how to learn, practice and perhaps simply teach these kriya practices. Here I use the simple spinal movements from my '5-Dimensional Flow' system to get the physical application and practical skills required to learn these bandhas.

PRACTICAL EXERCISES PART 3: Intermediate to advanced breath-control exercises incorporating with inhalation retention breath-holding emphasis and use of Valsalva manoeuvres (breath cycles of between 30-60 seconds in length).

In Part 3 of the course, I incorporate inhalation retention and Valsalva Manoeuvres. I carefully contract and expand the trunk during inhalation retention. I refer to this as: 'Hold your breath in, while pretending to breathe out', and 'Hold your breath in, while pretending to breathe in'

In Part 3, on exhalation retention, I also talk about 'Hold your breath out while pretending to breathe in' and 'Hold your breath while pretending to breathe out'. This creates a 6-part breath where inhalation retention and exhalation retention have two parts. Using the notation that is conventionally used would be called a 1:2:1:2 rhythm.

I have found this technique of gently pretending to breathe while holding your breath very useful in my practice. 

A big concept I use in my practice and teaching concerns the relationship between breathing, trunk volume, and the diaphragm's position. I suggest that when you breathe, don't think 'suck in the air'   to breathe in, and don't 'push air out' air to breathe out. Instead, think to expand and contract your trunk. Expansion, and an increase in trunk volume, tend to make air come in. Contraction, and a decrease in trunk volume, make air go out (provided your nose, mouth, or glottis are open, of course). Also, I use techniques to get people to take advantage of the connection between the psoas muscle and the diaphragm and the connection between the shoulder blades and the intercostal muscles of chest breathing.

PRACTICAL EXERCISES PART 4: Advanced breath-control exercises incorporating both exhalation and inhalation retention breath-holding emphasis and use of Mueller manoeuvres and Valsalva manoeuvres, (breath cycles up to 120 seconds in length).

In Part 4 of the course, I introduce 2-minute cycles of breathing and more complex breath-control. These include the digital pranayamas. I show some ways of doing this without using the fingers on your nose, which was the way it was meant to be done according to the old hatha yoga texts. 

Currently, the course has about 15 hours of pre-recorded video classes and lectures. These will be progressively upgraded and added to as time goes on.

About Simon

Simon Borg-Olivier MSc BAppSc(Physiotherapy) APAM c-IAYT has been teaching how to use posture, movement, breathing and mental control for health and well-being for 37 years, while also treating people as a physiotherapist. His unmatched wealth of knowledge comes from merging modern medical science with what he learned from great masters in Tibet, India, Japan and China.

We recommend that you do Simon's beginner course first, unless you’ve studied breath-control somewhere else and have been practicing at least for a year.

The course is pre-recorded and it includes site lifetime streaming access.