yoga workshop

Immunity and Community

Our physical well being is rooted in the mind — as directly as water emerges from ice — and managing the mind is a key factor in managing our health. Now that we are faced with monumental stresses, we need monumental support! In this workshop, we will look at how we can help each other manage our minds through community connections.

Use zoom password: 974113

Suggested donation $10 – 25

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Swami Divyananda Ma is one of Integral Yoga is senior monastics and foremost teachers. Over the years she has served as the director of the Integral Yoga Institutes in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Coimbatore, India and as the Ashram Manager of Satchidananda Ashram, Yogaville in Virginia. In addition to teaching at these centers, she has taught Yoga and meditation on special retreats, in corporations and universities, at the Commonwealth Cancer Center and for the Dr. Dean Ornish Heart Disease Programs. For many years she was one of the primary Basic Hatha Yoga teacher trainers at Integral Yoga’s International Headquarters in Yogaville, VA. Swami Divyananda served for eleven years at the Integral Yoga Institute in Coimbatore, South India and led tours throughout South India during that time.

Sevika Ford2020-04-04T11:02:18-07:00March 31st, 2020|Tags: Swami Divyananda, yoga, yoga workshop|

Healing Trauma Through The Body: Introduction to Teaching Trauma Sensitive Yoga

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Please register in advance, a zoom link will be provided via a confirmation email.

$100 or $80 for those with limited funds

“Trauma Informed Care” has become a buzzword for a reason. People are realizing that many of us are living with the impact of trauma on our nervous systems. If you are a yoga teacher, healer or work with people, chances are you are already working with trauma survivors. There are lots of cultural norms that are taught in yoga trainings that can actually cause more harm than good. It is important to become aware of the unique needs of trauma survivors if you want to provide the safest possible space for post traumatic growth.

Perhaps you are a survivor of trauma yourself. When you work with people and you have your own trauma history, it is extra important to understand the inner workings of your own nervous system so that you can show up and actually give your offerings from full instead of getting depleted. There are practices you can do to prevent taking on vicarious trauma or increasing the burden that you bring home at the end of the day after your service work. It is crucial to learn how to take care of yourself and tend to your own trauma as you take care of your clients.

Are you ready to grow compassion and competency in your work serving trauma survivors? This training will prepare you to incorporate trauma theory and embodied healing techniques into your existing practice as a care provider so that you can be more effective in working with clients who have experienced complex trauma or PTSD. After the 3 hours together, you will have the tools to reduce harm, increase support and create a much safer space for the most vulnerable of your clients.

Who is this for? The trauma theory you learn in this workshop is easily understood in a therapeutic yoga or body movement setting, and can also apply to anyone who works with trauma survivors. It is a great fit for yoga and movement teachers, therapists, counselors, psychologists, healthcare professionals, teachers, activists, healers, caregivers and anyone who wants to learn the theory and practice of body-based, survivor-centered, trauma informed care.

You will learn:
• Basic trauma theory and the physiology of trauma
• The theoretical underpinnings of Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY)
• How to use trauma-sensitive language with your clients
• Tips on how to incorporate trauma sensitivity into your work
• How to work with vicarious trauma and exposure to trauma in the workplace

You will take home:
• 2 Trauma Sensitive Yoga practice videos
• A resource list with books, websites and additional training options
• A written Trauma Sensitive Yoga class script for your use
• A handout with grounding exercises to use in your practice

What is TCTSY? Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY) is an empirically validated, adjunctive clinical treatment for complex or treatment resistant PTSD. It has foundations in hatha yoga, neuroscience, trauma theory and attachment theory. As a trauma survivor herself, Kelsey shares about trauma informed care drawing upon her experience working in the field, wisdom from her personal healing journey and many years of training. It is currently the only somatic evidence based practice that has been empirically validated.

Kelsey Gustafson, RYT 200, TCTSY-F, has been teaching yoga for 10 years and has over 1,000 hours of training in yoga and healing arts. In 2015, Kelsey became the first Trauma Sensitive Yoga Facilitator in the state of California when she graduated from the advanced TCTSY certification program through the Center for Trauma & Embodiment. She now facilitates private and group classes in somatic trauma healing.

Student Testimonials:

“My entire approach to teaching changed, and my students noticed! I’m amazed that after one afternoon I now get asked where I did my trauma training.”

“An incredible value for the time and financial investment. This one workshop has been the best education I have gotten since my original training”

*This workshop was previously schedule for Sat, April 25 @ 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm and was moved due to schedule changes due to COVID-19.

Sevika Ford2020-04-22T00:29:36-07:00January 14th, 2020|Tags: yoga workshop|

Embodying our Interconnected Wholeness

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Please contribute whatever you can to this fundraising program generously donated to us by Richard Miller. Suggested donation $45.

Normal human development culminates in our sense of being authentic and individuated human beings, living in time and space, feeling ourselves as separate from the world and those around us. But this milestone is often accompanied by injuries to our soul, whereby we lose touch with our Essential Ground of Being-Presence-Awareness-Essence. And, as aptly expressed in the Brihadaranyaka Upaniṣad, such loss is always accompanied by anxiety, fear and/or the feeling that something’s amiss in our lives. Fortunately, our underlying Essence always remains whole and intact. It just needs recognizing, engaging and embodying.
Join Richard Miller for an engaging experiential exploration of our next stage of human development that leads to embodying our Undivided Wholeness whereby we recognize our identity as not just with our body-mind-personality, but also with our essential Being-Presence-Awareness-Essence. Richard will teach six inquiries that enables you to recognize and embody your Essential Wholeness and take it with you into your daily life and relationships.

Richard C. Miller, PhD is a Master of Yoga and Meditation, recognized as a leading authority on the practice of Yoga Nidra. He has founded key organizations including the iRest Institute, the International Association of Yoga Therapy, and the Institute for Spirituality and Psychology. Richard teaches worldwide and serves as a consultant researching the efficacy of iRest Yoga Nidra Meditation, a meditative healing program he’s developed based on the ancient meditation teachings of Nondualism.

As the Integral Yoga Institute San Francisco enters its 50th year serving the San Francisco Bay Area, the revenue from this workshop will go to our building campaign, so that we can continue to inspire peace and transformation for another 50 years and beyond. Please select a donation amount that you feel comfortable with.

Sevika Ford2020-02-10T12:17:39-08:00January 6th, 2020|Tags: yoga, yoga workshop|

Yoga and the Core
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Yoga and the Core

Yoga and the Core

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$20

The core is the foundation upon which all movement is based and stability maintained at both the physical and energetic levels. Almost every yoga pose involves the core in some way and a strong core can facilitate one’s yoga practice in improving balance, stabilizing the spine, and preventing injury. At a more subtle level, It can also cultivate a greater sense of centeredness, emotional strength and wellbeing.

Many people have an aversion to core exercises and automatically associate core strengthening with crunches and leg lifts. This workshop will explore the various ways one can include core strengthening into a home practice that is safe, accessible and even fun, without having to do a crunch. Participants will gain a greater awareness of the core muscles and how something as simple as shifting one’s awareness in a familiar pose, incorporating the breath, extending the hold, or altering the transition coming in and out of familiar poses can strengthen core muscles in an easeful way that still feels like yoga. This workshop is appropriate for all levels and participants should come prepared to do hatha.

Melanie Saraswati Takahashi, PhD, RYT-500, has been a dedicated practitioner of meditation and yoga for many years. Having a keen interest in spirituality and how it’s expressed cross-culturally, she received her Masters in Anthropology in 1996 and a Doctorate in Religious Studies in 2004. She taught at the University of Ottawa and was a full-time professor at Heritage College before moving to San Francisco. Saraswati has been teaching yoga since 2008 and became the Head of Teachers at Integral Yoga San Francisco in 2009. She is trained in Gentle, Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced levels of yoga. She encourages students to have an inward experience of the class by approaching yoga as a moving meditation that incorporates the breath. Saraswati is also a classically trained pianist and currently teaches piano full-time. She continues to research and publish in the discipline of anthropology which is her on-going passion.

Sevika Ford2019-12-30T11:26:42-08:00November 29th, 2019|Tags: yoga workshop|