Yoga and Somatics Training

This training laid the foundation for my yoga therapy and yoga classes.  It brought together anatomy, kinesiology, physiology, psychology, and spirituality in a practical and integrated manner. I learned how to adapt to my client’s and student’s needs which I then extended to all relationships. I offer private sessions to support recovery from injury, address perinatal issues, and navigate chronic pain.

More importantly this training was pivotal in the deepening of my spiritual practice and journey to healing.  While I only had the good fortune of his support as a spiritual mentor and teacher (2005 – 2014), his whole-hearted support and unconditional acceptance helped me become a more authentic human being, and gently guided me to my inner teacher.   He also opened my path as an end-of-life doula when I was invited to support his family during his time of transition.  I bring the blessing of this experience forward with me when I am invited to support others at the end of their lives.

Uma and I met at the Structural Yoga Therapy training in 2006.  After responding to one of her first questions on the first training, Mukunda identified Uma as a committed teacher who is doing profound healing work for women. The first opportunity I had to learn from Uma was in-house retreat for perinatal yoga teachers in 2006. This was when I learned how to prepare my womb for conception.  My next encounter was a birth rehearsal with Uma and her husband Nirlipta where my husband and I were expertly guided through the yoga of labor and birth (This experience spurred me to offer the birth rehearsal for parents-to-be.)  I trained with Uma between 2010 – 2019.  All of her offerings are grounded in women’s biology, physiology, and spirituality from menstruation to motherhood and menopause. All this wisdom in integrated into doula support (conception, birth, post-partum), woman wellness mentorship, and workshops I offer.

Uma also invited me to join a 2-week yoga retreat with Angela Farmer in Lesvos, Greece. This experience was transformative in many ways. Angela’s free-flowing approach to movement invited a gentle and deep unfolding and somatic processing of unresolved trauma and old injuries. It was the first time that I witnessed the healing potential of conscious, mindful, movement.

However, the deeper human encounter was with the steady stream of refugees who would arrive at daybreak from Turkey.  My heart and soul were simultaneously expanded and broken immeasurably.  I was witness to our collective inhumanity and humanity firsthand. I am forever changed.

Kids Yoga
This 3-day training was pure joy and delight. It was an invitation for adults to return to childhood and engage with yoga from a child’s point of view. It was a  playful exploration of movement and open-hearted connection.

Yoga for Special Needs
These two trainings by Jo Manuel and Sonia Sumar opened my eyes and heart to the extraordinary gifts and teachings that children with special needs or rather abilities have to offer their family and humanity.  It made me question and unlearn many of my ableist beliefs.  It is a true privilege to be able to support the children and their families.

Yoga Nidra
My first experience with yoga nidra was at the In-House Yoga Teachers retreat with Uma in 2006.  My most profound experience with yoga nidra was provided by Nirlipta Tuli during my birth rehearsal in 2008 – it was that nidra practice that supported me through my traumatic birth experience and became a part of my being and I could access to regulate myself when needed.  Over the years, Nirlipta and Uma have refined and honed their knowledge and experience to offer Total Yoga Nidra, “a comprehensive, inclusive and non-dogmatic approach to yoga nidra”. Personally, the training facilitated deep encounters of consciousness.  However, over time, I came to understand that it was a profound spiritual technology that must be shared with care and responsibility.

These 3 very diverse yoga trainings gave me great insight and skills to support the mindful movement classes for families and post-partum doula support.

My first experience of a somatic based practice was in the 80’s with a Feldenkrais practitioner which helped me address a long-standing shoulder and upper-back pain. I was intrigued but got distracted by yoga and dance.  I found it again in 2006 when I met Aki at the Structural Yoga Training.  Since then I had a personal practice but in 2019, I was ready to explore deeper and signed up for a life changing training with Aki. It was an “experiential study of the Nervous System and Embryology/Infant Developmental Movements, along with other body systems and helpful practices” that we applied to “yoga, and other therapeutic modalities and to our daily lives.”

I continued my exploration of somatics with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen’s online course.  This course gave me the opportunity to deepen my experience of embodiment at a subtler tissue and cellular level.  It is quite remarkable to be able to have this refined awareness.