Pelvic Floor Yoga to Alleviate Incontinence: An Evidence Based Practice

Online & in-person

$75 | $60 Early bird, use promo code PELVIS, exp. 3/31

Please register in advance; a Zoom link will be emailed 1 hour before the session, or join Zoom directly via your Momence dashboard.

Please review our In-person Safety Guidelines.

About one in four people in the US struggle with urinary incontinence. It is not just a medical problem; it can affect us emotionally and socially, as it often makes us afraid to engage in activities that would make us veer too far away from a bathroom.

The pelvic floor muscles play an important role as part of the body’s core system, contributing to core stabilization during movement. Yoga offers numerous techniques to strengthen and balance the pelvic floor. Proper strengthening and stabilizing of the pelvic floor help to create the correct foundation for each movement in the body. This is the true meaning of “core work.” In this course, study with yoga therapist and pelvic floor expert Leslie Howard as she shares the evidence-based yoga practices for pelvic floor health used in studies on the benefits of yoga for pelvic floor health with a specific focus on incontinence. In a study designed by Leslie for University of California, San Francisco, women who participated in the yoga program in the study experienced an overall 70 percent improvement – or reduction – in the frequency of their urine leakage compared to the baseline!

Whether you experience this condition or are just plain curious about how to create greater tone and balance of the pelvic floor, this course contains a wealth of helpful and practical information.

This workshop qualifies for continuing education credits with Yoga Alliance. Certificate given upon request by the instructor.


Leslie Howard is an Oakland-based yoga teacher, specializing in all things pelvic. She leads workshops and trainings nationally and has written a book about caring for the female pelvis, Pelvic Liberation. In 2022, after losing a long time student, she took a deep dive into the subject of death. She has 60 hours of Death Doula training, runs a regular Death Café (a place to come and talk about death) and is volunteering in hospice for Kaiser Oakland. Her teaching is informed by over 3500 hours of yoga study with senior Iyengar yoga teachers. She considers Ramanand Patel her most important influence and mentor. She has designed two very successful studies for UCSF on how to use yoga to alleviate incontinence and pelvic pain. To learn more about Leslie or for some online education opportunities visit: www.lesliehowardyoga.com

Yoga After 60

Online & In-person | $30 | $25 Early bird, use promo code 60, exp. 3/17

Please register in advance; a Zoom link will be emailed 1 hour before the session, or join Zoom directly via your Momence dashboard.

Please review our In-person Safety Guidelines.

In a very natural way and as the body changes with age, the approach to how and what we practice changes as well.
In this workshop, Diana Meltsner, certified yoga therapist will address the needs of the changing body to stay strong and mobile, to support the joints, to sustain good balance and to enhance brain function. How can we continue to experience contentment with our Yoga practice? Sometimes that means letting go of the “Yogi” we used to be and finding the Yogi who is deeply grounded in Peace in the midst of life’s changes.

This workshop will include a gentle chair and a mat practice, presentation and sharing.
We offer teachers 2 hours CEUs for Yoga Alliance upon request.


Diana Meltsner, C-IAYT, ERYT-500, YACEP, has been teaching a variety of classes and workshops since 2001 and since 2017 offers yoga therapy sessions privately and at Integral Yoga Therapy Clinic in San Francisco. She has worked in the clinical setting for Kaiser Permanente since 2005 as a yoga teacher, yoga therapist, and health educator and is teaching mindfulness and meditation to the medical staff. Her focus is on the healing aspects of yoga on the mind as well as the body by applying the teachings of Yoga, practices of breath-control, mindfulness and meditation. Diana helps her clients to find healing and the ability to move through life with increased ease, stress resilience, and intuition. Diana Meltsner works as a programs manager and serves on the board of directors at Integral Yoga Institute, an urban ashram in San Francisco. She is a yoga teacher trainer for the 200-hour and Meditation Teacher trainings. www.dianameltsner.com

 

Making Sense of Suffering

Online | $20-30 sliding scale

Please register in advance, a Zoom link will be provided via email 1 hour prior to the session. You can also join zoom directly via your Momence dashboard.

Suffering rarely seems to have a positive side. It often assaults us with its senselessness, making us bitter, depressed, confused, fearful, angry, or doubt the existence of God.

Why does God allow suffering?
Can it be avoided?
Does it bring any benefit?

The biblical story of Job strikes at the heart of the mysteries of suffering. It is a tale that staggers the heart and confounds the mind. In it, we encounter God prompting Satan to plague Job with staggering losses of possessions, family, health, and position. Yet, God repeatedly refers to Job as, “A good and honest man who fears God and shuns evil.”

We will accompany Job through trials that lead him to question – as we might – God’s judgment, wisdom, and compassion for allowing senseless suffering. Discover how suffering holds the key to profound peace and a deeper understanding of life and the Divine.


Reverend Jaganath Carerra has been teaching all facets of Yoga theory and practice at universities, prisons, Yoga centers, and interfaith programs since 1974. He established the Integral Yoga and Yoga Life Ministries, and co-developed the highly regarded Integral Yoga Meditation and Raja Yoga Teacher Training Certification programs.
He is the founder and spiritual head of the Yoga Life Society www.yogalifecenter.org and has authored highly regarded books.

  • Awaken: Inside Yoga Meditation
  • Inside the Yoga Sutras: A Comprehensive Sourcebook for the Study and Practice
  • Inside Patanjali’s Words: Explore the Heart of Yoga
2024-02-14T19:11:38-08:00December 19th, 2023|Tags: , , |

Scripture Study: Yoga Sutras for Modern Times, 3-part series

Online | $5-15 sliding scale per session
3 Mondays, January 22, 29, & February 5 | 6:00 – 7:00pm
Each session offered individually | Please register in advance.

Zoom link will be emailed 1 hour before the session, or join Zoom directly via your Momence dashboard.

How do we cultivate peace and harmony when everything else around us seems to be in turmoil? How can our spiritual practice really affect change? Sometimes discipline isn’t accessible (for various reasons), and sometimes protecting our peace at all cost seems too selfish. Although written thousands of years ago, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali provide clues on how to conduct a life that leads to harmony and peace.
Join Mia Velez in this 3-part series to delve into the Yoga Sutras and get fresh perspectives on the age-old scriptures.
All are welcome to join any one or all of the sessions.

Mia Velez, E-RYT 500, entered the Integral Yoga Sangha in 2016 through the kitchen by helping to cook Thursday community lunches and silent retreat meals. In 2018 she was certified as an Integral Yoga teacher to learn more of the IYI approach and be part of the lineage. Mia is a disciple of the Moy Yat Ving Tsun Kung Fu lineage and is highly influenced by her martial arts training. After completing her first 200-hour teacher training in 2008, she began to see undeniable parallels in Yoga and Kung Fu. When she began teaching Kung Fu in 2014, she incorporated Yoga insight and principles in her classes. Her goal in teaching is to connect with the students and to facilitate a safe space for exploration and self-inquiry. Yoga and Kung Fu are integrated into her daily life as a mother, a preschool teacher, and an advocate for gender, race, and class equality through multiple non-profit groups.

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