Private Yoga / Yoga Therapy
Private sessions are a unique opportunity for personalized care. This could be a one on one individual or group class experience. You may choose a more therapeutic approach would could be working with specific postures, supporting an injury or illness, or using yoga nidra to support mental health and general wellness. Together, we will create a custom plan that takes into consideration your unique body type, environment and current lifestyle to assess your needs and identify what will bring you into greater harmony and health.
The IAYT (International Association of Yoga Therapists) defines Yoga Therapy as “the professional application of the principles and practices of yoga to promote health and well-being within a therapeutic relationship that includes personalized assessment, goal setting, lifestyle management, and yoga practices for individuals or small groups.”
Each private session contains our established yoga therapy tools of: Assessment, Adaptation, and Relationship. This means we have an initial conversation which could include physical assessment/lifestyle evaluation and setting new intentions (key for brain state change). Adaptations include the unique techniques and skills we would provide. Relationship is another way to say accountability, we want you to go away from the session with a plan and practices to repeat regularly, and reinforce that with communication with us, or your designated support person (family/friend).
These sessions include Yoga on the mat (and off), when you arrive at discomfort/challenge. What do you do? Push through/ avoid. This takes many forms, and it helps to have a teacher/coach to help you stay focused and present, because the brain science would clearly show how, typically, we defer unconsciously to well worn patterns that keep us stuck. This level of yoga therapy practice may include dialog, meditation, yoga nidra, advanced meditation & FreeBack.
New! for 2024, Trauma Informed Yoga Therapy
I am pleased to offer trauma-informed support as part of my yoga therapy practice. After doing personal therapy recently to work through some past and present issues, I became more aware of the amount of individuals suffering through trauma and its’ aftereffects. In addition, having worked in schools and closely with students and children, I truly believe that the last 5 years, or so, have contained a unique collective trauma that affects all levels of society. For these reasons I have begun to serve as a yoga therapist, using the skills and methodology which have been part of my personal and professional practice for 40 years.
I was an inaugural IAYT (Certified Yoga Therapist) grandfathered in based on extensive hours of training, especially with the years living at the Kriplau Yoga Center, in Massachuettets. Beyond those credentials, some specific characteristics were incorporated in my classes. Such as;
Excellent verbal cues, such that I do not need to come to an individual’s mat, they have a safe space to explore and create self-care/and learning to regulate with the tools provided.
Permission, once I was led to lay down, pull the blanket over me and I felt safe in room of 60 yoga students participating in a class, I continue to invite ways to empower participants in individual or group sessions
I am not leading the 20% “keeners” or achievers. While there is nothing wrong with that, I am leading the other 80% who need to go at their own pace and peace, not relative to others in the room
Lightness, and humor I bring lessen the intensity or seriousness for many. That lightness gives an example that yoga should be more like play than competition
Finally, empathy and awareness, I have honed a high level of feeling senses over my years on the mat myself, and as a leader/teacher. The gift in that is my ability to see or sense an ‘issue’ in the class and offer a collective adjustment or awareness (physically/mentally/emotionally, even spiritually) that the entire class can hear and relate to which benefits an individual in the room who was struggling. This is a high level of teaching skill, and I am proud to say I can offer it. It has been affirmed to me many times when a student approaches me after class to say…”You did/said …. and I felt you were speaking directly to me, it was amazing”.
What a client can expect-
Trauma-informed and responsive cueing and assisting
Working with interoceptive and emotion-based sensations
Building an attuned and responsive experience
This essential foundation meets the increasing need for yoga teachers to be trauma-informed and trauma-responsive—and to be aware of how poses, breathwork, and meditation can impact the body. This unique therapeutic practice is suitable in working within the intersection of trauma-informed and trauma-responsive methods, and the relational space between yoga and the student. Clients will benefit from yoga practices for self-regulation, self-determination, and agency—as well as guidance on polyvagal theory, communication, setting boundaries, and self-care.
Prices do not include standard travel fees beyond local service area, priced per mile, or as required. For retreats or conferences, contact us for pricing.