Integrative Yoga Therapy and Support Group for Trauma, 6 sessions

In-person | Six Mondays: July 15, 22, 29 & August 5, 19, 26 (no class 8/12) • 6:00 – 8:00 pm

$385 Early bird use promo code TRAUMA, exp. 6/24

$425 regular

Please review our In-person Safety Guidelines.

Trauma is what occurs when you don’t feel safe, or feel too overwhelmed, to feel emotions in the body. Emotions are energy in the form of sensation. Different emotional states affect the physical body and its systems differently. Through an Integrative Yoga Therapy program one learns how to slowly and safely feel these states/emotions and allow the trapped emotional memory (i.e. trauma) to move its way through and out, experiencing a sense of freedom and ease in the body and thus in the mind as well.
In this upcoming Integrative Yoga Therapy and Support Group for Trauma, you will be guided through holistic practices to help navigate what’s been stuck within your body and find freedom and release through the practices of Qigong, Yin and Restorative Yoga, Somatic Meditation, Sound Healing, Chanting, Breathwork, Guided Self-massage and Acupressure.

In this series you will learn:
*the somatics of emotion – how emotions show up in the body and how to work with them.
*somatic meditation – how to mindfully and compassionately name and be with the sensations in your body as they arise.
*how trauma affects your brain, body, and nervous system and how to find balance across these systems.

Space is limited to 10 participants.

This is a confidential yoga therapy group. No prior yoga experience is needed.


Rachel is an IAYT Certified Yoga Therapist, Educator and Doctor of Psychology. Specializing in trauma work and embodied practices for nervous system integration, Rachel helps clients increase their capacity for joy and love in life through somatic movement, breath work, sound healing, self-reflection, and cultivating healthy life choices. Rachel brings years of mental health experience working with at-risk and underserved populations, integrating Eastern and Western practices to help clients move past symptom relief into true healing. She has brought holistic yoga programs and professional trainings on yoga for mental health into community mental health centers, hospitals and schools. Rachel’s aim is to guide individuals into states of peace and trust in their life’s story through the mind and body, create community, and bring the teachings and practices of yoga into various settings around the world. Rachel’s classes meet each student where they are at while still challenging them to reach new heights of self-realization, acceptance, and strength and flexibility, both on and off of the mat. She will push you to challenge yourself while also guiding you to listen to your body and intuition, teaching from a place of authenticity, passion and playfulness. To learn more about Rachel and her work visit racheljenninewellnessandyoga.com

Revitalize the Spirit: BIPOC mini-retreat

$75-108 Sliding scale

Please review our In-person Safety Guidelines.

The New Moon ushers in a fresh start and personal growth, inviting us to plant the seeds for a blossoming Year of the Dragon. Join us in this cosmic reset, with practices that will help us shape our path. We invite BIPOC folx to harness the power of the moon to revitalize the spirit with the guidance of our dedicated teachers, Andreina Maldonado, Gautam Mulchandani, Mia Velez, Muktidevi Demafeliz, Raśmi Lor Angue, Zipporah Vidya Roxas and special guest Dominique Dela Cruz. Handcrafted mocktails, snacks, and vegetarian dinner will be served (dietary needs will be accommodated). Engage in practices to renew yourselves to carry you throughout the year:

  • Revitalize your energy with Hatha yoga
  • Craft your intentions through creating your vision board.
  • Soothe your system with restorative yoga, sound bath and Reiki in one session.
  • Nourish yourself with plant based cuisine and mocktails
  • Enter a raffle to win a swag bag

Read the recent blog post, Why BIPOC Only by Mia Velez to learn more about this BIPOC events.

Space is limited, so don’t miss your chance to connect with a supportive BIPOC community. Begin the Lunar New Year with renewed intentions and vibrant energy.

Andreína Maldonado (She/her) is a Venezuelan artist, consultant, and registered Integral Yoga practitioner. She’s the driving force behind BienStar Consulting, a hub that’s been fusing Performing Arts, Wellness, and Language Justice for over 6 years in the Bay Area and beyond. With a knack for bridging cultures and weaving connections, Andreína’s all about blending art, wellness practices such as yoga, and social justice into powerful actions. Currently, she’s sharing the joys of beginner-level Hatha yoga in Spanish, where mindfulness and self-care take center stage. Join her every Friday at Integral Yoga San Francisco for a revitalizing class that’s equal parts fun and intentional – you’ll leave not only refreshed but also more connected to yourself and those around you.

Gautam Mulchandani, is a certified 200 hr yoga teacher, reiki ll master and has completed level 1 & 2 Intuitive guidance through the Academy of Intuition Medicine. He has self-studied and taken an array of courses, certificate programs in Crystal Therapy, Astrology, Ayurveda, Vedanta and NLP. He has a deep understanding of energy systems and the inter-relationship between man and the Cosmos. Moreover, he continually harnesses the gifts of his INFJ – MBTI Personality, (the “perceiver / advocate”) and gleans insights from his innate ability to read energy from the collective, within a room or during a reading. His unique gift is his sense of knowing or “claircognizance”, along with “clairsentience”, the felt experience. His warm aura, depth of wisdom and perception allow him to guide and provide clarity on a variety of personal and professional areas. He serves clients the world over and is top rated on Google and Yelp. To learn more visit: gemsofclarity.com

Mia Velez, (she/her), E-RYT 500, entered Integral Yoga Institute (IYI) in 2016 through the kitchen as a volunteer cook. She completed her first 200-hour teacher training in 2008 and certified with IYI in 2018. Mia is a disciple of Sifu Pete Pajil of the Moy Yat Ving Tsun Kung Fu lineage and is highly influenced by her martial arts training. To teach is a privilege and believes that learning is a reciprocal process between student and teacher. Her hope is to liberate herself and others from oppressive social conditioning. She teaches Ving Tsun Kung Fu, offers yoga to incarcerated men, and stress management techniques to new parents. She is a trainer for the Basic Teacher Trainings at IYI, including the BIPOC Yoga Teacher Training, and mentors new teachers. Yoga and Kung Fu are integrated into her daily life as a wife and mother, a preschool teacher, and an advocate for gender, race and class equity through multiple organizations.

K. Muktidevi Demafeliz is a born and raised San Franciscan and has been a yoga practitioner for 16 years. Her yoga practice began with her mentor Tony Garcia who guided her in the study of yoga back in 2012 through the SFO Airport’s Wellness Program. He encouraged her to pursue yoga teacher training, which she did, in the Integral Yoga tradition. She is certified in Basic Hatha I, Intermediate Hatha II, Accessible Yoga (Gentle), and certified in Mindful Resilience Training through the Veterans Yoga Project to teach trauma-informed yoga. She wishes to pursue future trainings such as Meditation Teacher Training in addition to Yoga for First Responders as she is the Well-Being Champion for the San Francisco Police Department. YOGA IS HER PASSION, and she expresses her love and enthusiasm for the practice with those she comes into contact with, on and off the mat. Muktidevi mentors and supports teacher trainees as well as newly certified teachers to help them continue to develop and grow while on their yogic path. She also supports the BIPOC Sangha which was born at the Integral Yoga Institute San Francisco (IYISF) and continues to serve these communities to help create ripples for change to establish a space of healing and empowerment. With that, yoga has impacted and transformed her life in such a positive and healthy way that she truly believes it is the saving grace for all. For 26 years, Muktidevi has been living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and continues to carry out the practices of yoga to help her maneuver through life’s challenges when facing adversity. She is a lifelong learner and strives to become the best version of herself to live her best life, regardless of what life may bring.

Rasmi Lorrett, a San Francisco native, whose love for yoga began more than twenty years ago. Through consistent dedication to daily practice, she always found a sense of balance and harmony. In 2019, she completed her teacher training at IYI. It was during this transformative experience that she delved even deeper in her Hatha yoga practice and unlocked new levels of self awareness. Committed to lifelong learning, her purpose is to share the invaluable benefits of yoga with others, guided by the wisdom of Patanjali, ” If you can control the rising of the mind into ripples, you will experience Yoga”. She hopes to inspire and guide others in their own journey towards physical, mental and spiritual well-being.

Zipporah Vidya Roxas (she/her) took her first Integral Yoga class in 2018 and completed her 200-hour Teacher Training at IYI SF in 2023. Through a regular meditation and yoga practice she cultivated a connection to the body, a deeper understanding of the self, and a sense of inner peace that is often muted by the modern world. An immigrant from the Philippines, Zipporah advocates for improved BIPOC representation across media, technology, and yogic spaces.

Special Guest:
Dominique Dela Cruz (she/her) is a Bay Area sound practitioner, multi-instrumentalist, registered nurse, and meditation teacher. Her journey into the world of wellness started in her teenage years when she entered her first yoga class and experienced the transformative power of the mind-body-and spirit connection. This led her down a path of deep reflection and liberation, which began with studying yoga and meditation in Rishikesh in 2016. Since then, Dominique has expanded her own studies and teachings to include modern meditation, leadership coaching, and the ancient practices of sound healing. With over 25 years as a musician, she uses melodies, harmonies, and textures to create sonic soundscapes that transport listeners into a state of restoration and peace while cultivating a practice of mindfulness and active listening. Currently, you can find Dominique leading virtual sound meditations through the Modern Meditation Club and in-person sound experiences that resonate with the soul.

Integrative Yoga Therapy and Support Group for Trauma, 8 sessions

8 Mondays – In-person | $385 Early bird use promo code TRAUMA, exp. 1/15/24
$425 Regular

Please review our In-person Safety Guidelines.

Trauma is what occurs when you don’t feel safe, or feel too overwhelmed, to feel emotions in the body. Emotions are energy in the form of sensation. Different emotional states affect the physical body and its systems differently. Through an Integrative Yoga Therapy program one learns how to slowly and safely feel these states/emotions and allow the trapped emotional memory (i.e. trauma) to move its way through and out, experiencing a sense of freedom and ease in the body and thus in the mind as well.
In this upcoming Integrative Yoga Therapy and Support Group for Trauma, you will be guided through holistic practices to help navigate what’s been stuck within your body and find freedom and release through the practices of Qigong, Yin and Restorative Yoga, Somatic Meditation, Sound Healing, Chanting, Breathwork, Guided Self-massage and Acupressure.

In this series you will learn:

  • The somatics of emotion – how emotions show up in the body and how to work with them.
  • Somatic meditation – how to mindfully and compassionately name and be with the sensations in your body as they arise.
  • How trauma affects your brain, body, and nervous system and how to find balance across these systems.

Space is limited to 10 participants.

This is a confidential yoga therapy group. No prior yoga experience is needed.

 

Rachel Jennine Goudey, Psy.D., C-IAYT is a Certified Yoga Therapist, Educator and Doctor of Psychology. Specializing in trauma work and embodied practices for nervous system integration. Rachel helps clients increase their capacity for joy and love in life through somatic movement, breath work, sound healing, self-reflection, and cultivating healthy life choices. Rachel brings years of mental health experience working with at-risk and underserved populations, integrating Eastern and Western practices to help clients move past symptom relief into true healing. She has brought holistic yoga programs and professional trainings on yoga for mental health into community mental health centers, hospitals and schools. Rachel’s aim is to guide individuals into states of peace and trust in their life’s story through the mind and body, create community, and bring the teachings and practices of yoga into various settings around the world. Rachel’s classes meet each student where they are at while still challenging them to reach new heights of self-realization, acceptance, and strength and flexibility, both on and off of the mat. She will push you to challenge yourself while also guiding you to listen to your body and intuition, teaching from a place of authenticity, passion and playfulness. To learn more about Rachel and her work visit racheljenninewellnessandyoga.com

Cultivating the Heart; Kindness and Compassion

This event has been cancelled
$30 Early bird use promo code Heart, exp. 11/9
$35 Regular

 

In this 2-hour workshop we will practice gentle and restorative yoga to allow the body to find ease followed by guided meditation practice on the heart space, to help feel the heart and open its doors.

In Sanskrit, this practice is called Hridayākāsha Dhārāna, concentration on the bright space in the heart which is at the center of our being and the core of connection to ourselves. This powerful ancient practice is still so current and provides us with inner strength. Talk and discussion will be included as well as suggested ongoing practices supporting cultivation of kindness and compassion towards oneself and others.

CEU: 2 hours – Yoga Alliance certificate upon request

Diana Meltsner, C-IAYT, ERYT-500, YACEP, has been teaching 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

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