Aqua Yoga with Katherine

Aqua Yoga with Katherine Aqua Yoga is yoga practiced in warm water. In the water, the breath is illuminated and core muscles are gently strengthened.

FREE Aqua Yoga to Release Back Tension at https://www.katherinewinge.com/got-back-pain

Aqua Yoga with Katherine is formerly "Austin Aqua Yoga) Katherine teaches yoga on land and in warm water. This gentle, mindful practice combines breath-linked movements and longer-held poses that increase balance, ROM and strength. Aqua Yoga is often a great practice for people who:
-have inflammation
-have chronic tightness
-are pregnant
-trauma
-sustained injury
- are bigger-bodied
-have stress
-simply enjoy water


Classes start in Nanaimo BC this September. Please go to KatherineWinge.com for more info.

How Aqua Yoga Helps Your Body Shift Out of Pain Mode If you live with back pain, your nervous system is often stuck in “...
12/01/2025

How Aqua Yoga Helps Your Body Shift Out of Pain Mode

If you live with back pain, your nervous system is often stuck in “fight-or-flight.” That constant guarding makes your muscles tighter and your body more sensitive to pain.

Stepping into warm water changes everything:

✨ Gentle pressure from the water signals safety, calming your overactive nervous system.
✨ Buoyancy lifts weight off your spine, reducing the pain signals that keep your body on high alert.
✨ Warmth softens tense back muscles and helps them relax.
✨ Slower breathing happens naturally in water, activating your vagus nerve and shifting you toward “rest & digest.”

This is why aqua yoga is so powerful for back pain—
the water reduces pain, your body feels safer, and your system can finally let go of tension.

Your body isn’t fighting anymore.
It’s healing. 💙

Students regularly tell me that Aqua Yoga has helped them:-increase balance-reduce joint pain -reduce back pain-reduce b...
11/25/2025

Students regularly tell me that Aqua Yoga has helped them:

-increase balance
-reduce joint pain
-reduce back pain
-reduce back pain
-deepen their land yoga practice
-feel sense of belonging in the yoga/wellness’s space

11/23/2025

When we practice yoga on land, we can sometimes get over concerned with external goals like grabbing our foot or touching the floor. What’s so nice about aqua yoga is that we can hold the pool edge or a noodle instead. This provides the trunk with more length which directly supports a spacious long spine. This is especially important if you experience back pain.

11/19/2025

I’m teaching yoga to fifth graders this week. It’s been fun.

I’ve been in Nanaimo for over a year and I’m feeling more settled than ever.

When I ask myself “why?”. I notice that in addition to meeting so many great people and enjoying the wonderful community here, I have been teaching more yoga and it feels good.

While I know it is a trap over identifying with what I do for a living, I also recognize that when I do what i love, I feel so much more at home in the world.

11/17/2025

The Psychological Obstacles To Recovering From Low Back Pain

A 2009 study on low back pain found that the biggest obstacles to healing aren’t just physical — they’re psychological.
Researchers discovered that people are more likely to stay stuck in pain when they:

• Believe their pain will last forever
• Feel like everything in their body is connected to the back problem
• Doubt their ability to influence their own healing
• Lose confidence in doing normal activities, even gently

These beliefs can lead to tension, fear, and less movement — which unfortunately can increase disability over time.

🌊 This is where aqua yoga is so powerful.
In warm water, your body is supported. Pain decreases. Movement feels safer.
You can breathe, soften, and reconnect with yourself without the fear of making things worse.

The water gives you the space to explore gentle motion, rebuild trust in your body, and strengthen your confidence — exactly the qualities the study shows support long-term recovery.

💙 If you’ve felt discouraged or disconnected from your body because of back pain, aqua yoga offers a compassionate, supportive place to begin again. You don’t have to push. You don’t have to be perfect. You just have to show up — the water will meet you where you are.

Read more about this study on obstacles to low back pain recovery here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20022697/

11/12/2025

Ever been told that the tension in you hamstrings is contributing to your low back pain, but bending over to stretch increases back pain? 🥒

🌈In the water you’ve got many options for stretching and strengthening your body.

💙One of the many things I love about aqua yoga is that with the support of the water we are able deconstruct poses in order to address specific needs much easier than on land.

☮️Next time you’re in need of a gentle hamstring stretch try one of these three poses.

✌️1) Single Leg Forward Fold (with the bottom knee bent):
This is the most gentlest option.
Bending the bottom knee and perhaps even the leg that is getting stretched will allow for your low back to feel more spacious as you get into the hamstrings -one at a time.

🔺2) Pyramid Pose variation:
This one is very similar to the first pose, except the bottom leg is straight and you’re actively pressing both feet into something. The top leg which is getting stretched, press the ball of the foot into the wall. Since both legs are fairly straight, some people may feel an increase in the low back tension or discomfort in this pose.

☯️3) Warrior Three:
This is the more active version of a hamstring stretch.
The bottom leg here is getting stretched as you balance on it. You’re also getting a foot, ankle and hip workout as you balance plus some core in a very gentle way in order to hold even this pose. Your back and glutes (which are part of your core) get an opportunity to strengthen in this pose.

11/08/2025

Over the last 15 years of teaching aqua yoga, I’ve occasionally come across people in the yoga community whom either don’t take aqua yoga seriously or write it off completely saying it’s not actual yoga.

To that I say:

➡️NO WHERE in any of the classical yogic texts does it say yoga must be practiced on land.

➡️After years of yogic study it is my humble understanding that yoga is many things -many different type off practices depending on what your inner and outer circumstances are.

🥨So for some, the practice of yoga will be about bending themselves into a comfortable and stable pretzel -on land.

🧑‍💻However, for most modern humans the practice will be about…

➡️breathing
➡️staying compassionately embodied
➡️ being committed to a regular practice
➡️ taking responsibility for our actions
➡️ choosing non-harming/ non-violence.
➡️finding motivation from something bigger than the material world.
➡️giving up out come based-transactional-mindset.

🧘‍♀️This applies to our life and our physical practices.

All of these practices can be done in the water. ➡️And BTW, just being in water brings the body-mind into parasympathetic (rest and digest) state.

11/04/2025

Get a free Aqua Yoga class for releasing back tension. ➡️ Just comment the word: BACK and I’ll send you a fully guided 🎧 audio and companion 📸sequence sheet so you can practice with at your local pool. 💙

“If you see every challenge as a gift in disguise, I promise you this:💪Your experiences will reveal to you the strength ...
11/04/2025

“If you see every challenge as a gift in disguise, I promise you this:
💪Your experiences will reveal to you the strength of your character, the extent of your courage, and the resilience of your spirit.
🔥You will burn down the stories you’ve been telling yourself about yourself, and emerge reborn. 💎Every moment of “Oh sh*t” will lead to “Aha!”-and every trial and tribulation will show you what you’re capable of.” (📖 from “Choosing Wonder Over Worry” by Amber Rae )

10/28/2025

Whenever I feel that familiar sciatica twinge, I know it’s time to get into the pool. 🌊
The warm water relaxes my body and mind — it’s like the weight of the world just lifts away. ✨

One of my favorite poses for sciatica is Parsvottanasana (Pyramid Pose).
Here, I’m pressing my back heel into the wall to help stabilize the pose — and it also wakes up the glute muscles (so good if weak glutes are part of your back pain story!). 🍑

Tips for practicing this pose:
Keep your spine long and your chest broad as you hinge from your hip crease.
If you feel any increase in back discomfort, slightly bend your front knee to reduce strain. Keep breathing. 💛

Want to try a few other poses that help release tight muscles contributing to back pain?
Click the link in my bio for a free Aqua Yoga class to release back tension and feel lighter in your body. 💦

Bought a few sweet crystal bracelets and met a gem! Check out Spell Bound Sky next time your in
10/23/2025

Bought a few sweet crystal bracelets and met a gem! Check out Spell Bound Sky next time your in

10/23/2025

What a wonderful 4 days! Rejoicing with a word salad inspired by our time together:

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Nanaimo, BC

Website

https://aqua-yoga-katherine.mykajabi.com/Release-Back-Tension

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Aqua yoga is a gentle and supportive way to practice yoga. In water temperatures of 85 – 90 degrees, this mindful practice combines the movement and longer held poses for balance, stretch and strength. In the water the breath is illuminated and core muscles are gently strengthened. Appropriate for folks who are working with inflammation, chronic tightness, sustained injury and stress. For class times and prices go to austinaquayoga.com