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Please Note These Labor Day Schedule Changes:
On Monday, September 2, Back Care with Eva Lev is cancelled.
Deborah Wolk will teach one All-Levels Back Care class 6-7:30 in lieu of her Back Care Basics and Intermediate Yoga & Scoliosis class. All are welcome!
In response to the changing climate around the COVID pandemic, we are shifting to a mask-optional policy for many of our in-studio classes. Some teachers will opt to continue requiring masks in their classes, and these classes will be marked on our weekly schedule. Thank you for your understanding as we continue to navigate keeping our community healthy.
Pune Belts Back in Stock!
We have 6ft and 12ft belts available on our online store!
Purchase Here!
Mouse over schedule for instructor and class details. Students must register in advance for all classes.
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Mon
- Back Care
Back Care
For all types of back problems, pain and postural problems including scoliosis. Come lengthen your spine and move out of the habitual behaviors that are making your back hurt! All levels welcome including those new to yoga and beginners. with Joni WellnessJoni Wellness has been practicing and teaching yoga since 1970, with special expertise in hands-on assists, yoga therapeutics, Back Care, Pre-Natal, is a trainer of The Great Yoga Wall, and more. She served as a Doula (childbirth support), Hospice volunteer, Nutrition, Health and Life Coach, and Massage Therapist of the Joffrey Ballet and to elite athletes and dancers. She has been immersed in studying the Iyengar Yoga method since 1988, and received her first Iyengar Yoga teaching certificate in the 90's. She was certified as a Jr-I Iyengar Yoga Instructor in 2009.
Joni was Deborah Wolk’s first yoga teacher, way back when. In 2023, she received two total hip replacement surgeries and is loving being a “beginning” yoga student again, re-activating the intelligence gained from a long yoga life. She especially enjoys passing on the game changing yoga poses and tips that brought her out of back pain and maintain her back pain free. If you saw x-rays of her spine, you wouldn’t understand how she couldn’t be in pain, and she attributes being virtually pain-free to the specifics of Iyengar Yoga along with an understanding of spiritual healing. Her approach to bringing Sama, evenness, and symmetry includes use of peripheral references such as the floor, walls, and chairs, which reverbs to a more even posture and spine, as well as creative visualization. www.joniwellness.com
12:00 pm to 1:30 pm Please register at least 1 hour in advance on our online store! Face masks are optional for this class. - Virtual Back Care
Virtual Back Care
This is a live, interactive virtual class to take from home! For all types of back issue, pain and postural problems including scoliosis. Log on to lengthen your spine and move out of the habitual behaviors that are making your back hurt! All levels welcome including those new to yoga and beginners. All students must sign up in advance. with Stacy JoyceStacy Joyce had mild childhood scoliosis that progressed rapidly as a teenager. At 16 years old, she had a spinal fusion from T5-L3 with Harrington rods, and wore a brace for months while healing. Two years after her surgeries, she tried her first yoga class in 1996, which she credits for uniting her back to her body.
Stacy studied International Business and Spanish, and traveled abroad extensively during college. After graduation she was in the Peace Corps Honduras for two years. Upon returning to the States, she moved to New York City, and worked office jobs until that was not physically manageable anymore. Even while attending four yoga classes per week, she wasn’t able to counter the long hours of sitting, and decided to enroll in yoga teacher training. Stacy received her 500-hr certification from YogaWorks in 2012. During her 300-hr training, she met Deborah Wolk while attending her Scoliosis workshop, and Stacy’s trajectory for practicing and teaching yoga fundamentally changed. Until that point, she did not know how to practice in a way that took her scoliosis or spinal fusion into consideration. In 2020, Stacy completed Elise Miller’s Yoga for Scoliosis Teacher Trainer program.
Stacy loves to share her knowledge, and believes that consistency in our practice comes from having a deep understanding of our WHY? Stacy’s yoga practice has brought her a strong sense of agency through the waves of life, and a community of fulfilling friendships. She welcomes lots of questions, as she is constantly asking them herself as a lifelong student.
Stacy moved to North Carolina in 2023 with her husband and son. You can learn more about Stacy at www.spinalfusionyoga.com
12:30 pm to 1:45 pm Please pre-register more than 30 minutes in advance at our online store! - Adaptive Yoga Series with Various 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm In-Person and Online. Please email info@samamkayabackcare.com to register Face masks are required for this class.
- Back Care Basics
Back Care Basics
For all types of back problems, pain and postural problems including scoliosis. This class moves a bit slower, and step by step in comparison to the Back Care Classes. with Deborah Wolk Deborah Wolk, C-IAYT, has been teaching and working with students with back issues, scoliosis, and other injuries for over 17 years. Her yoga practice working with her own scoliosis informs the work she does to help others. Deborah met Bobbie Fultz in 2000—her first Yoga & Scoliosis teacher. She later met Elise Browning Miller and was certified as a Yoga for Scoliosis Trainer through Elise’s training program in 2005. Her primary teacher is Genny Kapuler, whose class she assisted for 10 years, and she has also studied extensively with Kevin Gardiner in NYC (now in Budapest) and Donald Moyer in Berkeley, among others. In 2007, Deborah travelled to India to study with the Iyengar family and spent most afternoons observing the medical classes there. Also in 2007, she co-founded Yoga Union Center for Backcare & Scoliosis and co-directed it for 8 years. In January 2015, Deborah founded Samamkaya Yoga Back Care & Scoliosis Collective. Samamkaya is a democratically run workers cooperative and is devoted exclusively to scoliosis, back care, teacher education in therapeutics, and adaptive yoga for students with disabilities and nervous system disorders. Deborah's teachings are based in the principles of Iyengar style yoga and Body Mind Centering (BMC) techniques. She is warm and funny and her teachings are subtle yet explained at a level everyone can understand. Deborah teaches workshops, retreats, and teacher trainings on Back Care & Scoliosis in New York City, across the US, and around the world, and has a thriving private practice. To learn more about Deborah, make an appointment for a private lesson or see a schedule of classes please visit www.dwolkyoga.com . An autobiographical piece/ The NY Times Article/ Deborah Teaches 1 pose 3 ways/ A review of Deborah’s class/ An Interview with Deborah Wolk/ Emily Gould’s Article 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm Please register at least 1 hour in advance on our online store! Face masks are optional for this class. - Intermediate Yoga & Scoliosis
Intermediate Yoga & Scoliosis
For students with mature yoga practice or who have been taking the Yoga & Scoliosis or Back Care class on a regular basis for a minimum of 1 year. All poses will be modified with props and awareness techniques so each student can move along with his/her practice. There will also be some focus on inversions. The Intermediate class is not for new beginners. with Deborah Wolk Deborah Wolk, C-IAYT, has been teaching and working with students with back issues, scoliosis, and other injuries for over 17 years. Her yoga practice working with her own scoliosis informs the work she does to help others. Deborah met Bobbie Fultz in 2000—her first Yoga & Scoliosis teacher. She later met Elise Browning Miller and was certified as a Yoga for Scoliosis Trainer through Elise’s training program in 2005. Her primary teacher is Genny Kapuler, whose class she assisted for 10 years, and she has also studied extensively with Kevin Gardiner in NYC (now in Budapest) and Donald Moyer in Berkeley, among others. In 2007, Deborah travelled to India to study with the Iyengar family and spent most afternoons observing the medical classes there. Also in 2007, she co-founded Yoga Union Center for Backcare & Scoliosis and co-directed it for 8 years. In January 2015, Deborah founded Samamkaya Yoga Back Care & Scoliosis Collective. Samamkaya is a democratically run workers cooperative and is devoted exclusively to scoliosis, back care, teacher education in therapeutics, and adaptive yoga for students with disabilities and nervous system disorders. Deborah's teachings are based in the principles of Iyengar style yoga and Body Mind Centering (BMC) techniques. She is warm and funny and her teachings are subtle yet explained at a level everyone can understand. Deborah teaches workshops, retreats, and teacher trainings on Back Care & Scoliosis in New York City, across the US, and around the world, and has a thriving private practice. To learn more about Deborah, make an appointment for a private lesson or see a schedule of classes please visit www.dwolkyoga.com . An autobiographical piece/ The NY Times Article/ Deborah Teaches 1 pose 3 ways/ A review of Deborah’s class/ An Interview with Deborah Wolk/ Emily Gould’s Article 6:45 pm to 8:15 pm Please register at least 1 hour in advance on our online store! Face masks are optional for this class.
Tue
- Back Care
Back Care
For all types of back problems, pain and postural problems including scoliosis. Come lengthen your spine and move out of the habitual behaviors that are making your back hurt! All levels welcome including those new to yoga and beginners. with Andreas WirzAndi Wirz is a native of Switzerland. He found his way to yoga through dance and creative movement. He has been studying and teaching the Iyengar method for the last 20 years. Teachers that have influenced him most are Kevin Gardiner, Robin Janis, Donald Moyer and Genny Kapuler. He also studies yoga with the BMC ® approach with Roxlyn Moret and travels every summer with her to Switzerland to teach workshops. Andreas holds a physical education diploma from the University of Basel, Switzerland. He moved to NYC to pursue a career as a modern dancer. He performed with many modern dance companies and spent half a year in Japan performing with the Swiss mime group "Mummenschanz". More about Andi A review of Andi's class. 10:00 am to 11:30 am Please register at least 1 hour in advance on our online store! Face masks are optional for this class. Face masks are optional for this class.
- Virtual Back Care
Virtual Back Care
This is a live, interactive virtual class to take from home! For all types of back issue, pain and postural problems including scoliosis. Log on to lengthen your spine and move out of the habitual behaviors that are making your back hurt! All levels welcome including those new to yoga and beginners. All students must sign up in advance. with Julie BrandweinJulie Brandwein, MSPT, LMT, came to yoga seeking help from a back injury and found her way into her first Iyengar yoga class with Kevin Gardiner in 1992. In this technique she found the answer she was looking for to heal her body, and began a lifelong study and practice of Yoga.She has extensive training in Iyengar Yoga, in addition to studies in the Alexander Technique, Somatics and Pilates. She has taught yoga since 1997 both here and abroad. She has earned her Masters in Physical Therapy from Columbia University, completed training at the Swedish Institute of Massage and has certification in a Pilates for Rehab Professionals training from Polestar Pilates, Inc. Licensed in both physical therapy and massage therapy, Julie has worked in a variety of clinical specialities, including pediatrics, orthopedics, sports injury and dance injury.Her massage training includes myofascial unwinding, integrative deep-tissue massage and neuromuscular repatterning. She has a private practice in Manhattan and Brooklyn offering services in therapeutic bodywork, stress-reduction massage, and yoga privates. For more information, you may contact Julie at j.yogi@hotmail.com or call 347-832-7973 10:00 am to 11:15 am Please pre-register more than 30 minutes in advance at our online store!
- Virtual Spinal Fusions & Scoliosis
Spinal Fusions & Scoliosis
This is a live, interactive virtual class to take from home! Because of the contraindications with Harrington Rods and other instrumentation, being in a general class—even one focused on scoliosis or back problems—can be frustrating. This class covers all the principles and poses of the Yoga & Scoliosis classes but without twists, convex forward bending, back bending. The practice will help strengthen muscles around the fusion in an aligned manner, bring stability to hypermobile joints or open up very stiff areas—without destabilizing the body or the instrumentation itself. with Jen Gorman Jen Gorman is a scoliosis and spinal fusion patient, advocate, and teacher. Jen was diagnosed with scoliosis at the age of eleven. Less than a year later she underwent spinal fusion surgery where bone from her right iliac crest fused her thoracic vertebrae (T3-T10) secured by a Harington rod. Jen danced professionally in high school and then attended the University of Notre Dame where she studied accounting. She became a Certified Public Accountant and then quickly returned to dancing professionally. Although these experiences differed significantly physically, her back was sensitive regardless of whether she sat all day or danced all day. She frequently experienced a certain level of discomfort and pain. Jen began practicing yoga to balance her body from the many hours of dancing. She discovered that yoga combined with other methods of cross training allowed her to manage and all together avoid pain. Eventually, she found her way into a yoga for scoliosis class and then a yoga for spinal fusions class in New York City. These classes brought to light an even deeper understanding of her body as well as the effects of scoliosis and her spinal fusion. Jen has studied yoga with and assisted classes for Elise Miller Browning, Allison West, and Deborah Wolk. She is a Teacher Trainer with Elise Miller Browning’s Yoga for Scoliosis Program and also holds the following certifications: NASM Certified Personal Trainer, Functional Movement Systems I and II, as well as TRX Suspension. Learn more about Jen at www.scoliosisandbackcare.com or email her at info@scoliosisandbackcare.com. 6:00 pm to 7:15 pm Please pre-register more than 30 minutes in advance at our online store! No class 12/31 - Back Care
Back Care
For all types of back problems, pain and postural problems including scoliosis. Come lengthen your spine and move out of the habitual behaviors that are making your back hurt! All levels welcome including those new to yoga and beginners. with Ashlee WillamanAshlee Willaman is an 8-time marathoner, ultramarathoner, an RRCA Certified Run Coach, and a 500 RYT. She began practicing yoga as part of her dance training at the age of 13, just around the same time she was diagnosed with scoliosis. She learned that yoga kept her back pain at bay and stuck with the practice for the next 20 years. She received her 500 RYT certification from YogaWorks in 2012 and attended a Yoga For Scoliosis Teacher Training Workshop with Elise Miller in October 2014. Having always been a mover and a shaker, when Ashlee stopped dancing she started running and found that she was drawn to long distance running. In 2012 she founded Run Like a Yogi to help athletes infuse training cycles with yoga and meditation. Her alignment-based classes focus on restoring balance to the body in order to avoid injury and recover faster. She teaches at various locations throughout NYC, is a running coach for Hot Bird Running and is on the coaching staff as a yoga instructor for Team Continuum, a charity that provides immediate and vital non-medical assistance to cancer patients and their families when the diagnosis results in disruption, hardship a and uncertainty in everyday lives. www.runlikeayogi.com 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm Please register at least 1 hour in advance on our online store! Face masks are optional for this class.
Wed
- Back Care
Back Care
For all types of back problems, pain and postural problems including scoliosis. Come lengthen your spine and move out of the habitual behaviors that are making your back hurt! All levels welcome including those new to yoga and beginners. with Jon MusgraveJon Musgrave is a yoga teacher, manager, and founding member of Samamkaya Yoga, and has been bodyworker with a practice in Union Square since 2012. As a professional conductor and tuba player, Jon was drawn to bodywork and yoga to help manage the chronic pain and other body issues he was experiencing while making music. He uses his experiences in all the aspects of his life to help people feel more at peace in their bodies.
Jon has studied Iyengar yoga since 2011, and has focused primarily on yoga for back care and scoliosis. He was recently certified as a Teacher Trainer in Elise Browning Miller's Yoga for Scoliosis program, and he apprenticed extensively with Deborah Wolk for 5 years. His other primary teachers are Jaki Nett and Genny Kapuler, and he has also studied extensively with Julie Brandwein, Debby Green, and Wendy Baranello. He has also studied in workshops on various topics in yoga, therapeutics, and anatomy with Karin Stephan, Sri H. S. Arun, Susan-Elena Esquivel, Bobby Clennell, Rita Manos-Lewis, and Cator Shachoy. Jon has been on the Samamkaya faculty since 2019.
In addition to massage, Jon is a long-time student of the Alexander Technique, and continues to study the technique and how it applies to yoga with Witold Fitz-Simon. He has a Certification in Therapeutic Massage from the Finger Lakes School of Massage, and has continued to study extensively, with advanced training in working with trans clients and other members of the Q community, and clients with chronic pain and trauma issues. Visit jmbodywork.com to find out more about his bodywork practice.
12:30 pm to 2:00 pm Please register at least one hour in advance on our online store! Face masks are optional for this class. - Virtual Back Care
Virtual Back Care
This is a live, interactive virtual class to take from home! For all types of back issue, pain and postural problems including scoliosis. Log on to lengthen your spine and move out of the habitual behaviors that are making your back hurt! All levels welcome including those new to yoga and beginners. All students must sign up in advance. with Joni WellnessJoni Wellness has been practicing and teaching yoga since 1970, with special expertise in hands-on assists, yoga therapeutics, Back Care, Pre-Natal, is a trainer of The Great Yoga Wall, and more. She served as a Doula (childbirth support), Hospice volunteer, Nutrition, Health and Life Coach, and Massage Therapist of the Joffrey Ballet and to elite athletes and dancers. She has been immersed in studying the Iyengar Yoga method since 1988, and received her first Iyengar Yoga teaching certificate in the 90's. She was certified as a Jr-I Iyengar Yoga Instructor in 2009.
Joni was Deborah Wolk’s first yoga teacher, way back when. In 2023, she received two total hip replacement surgeries and is loving being a “beginning” yoga student again, re-activating the intelligence gained from a long yoga life. She especially enjoys passing on the game changing yoga poses and tips that brought her out of back pain and maintain her back pain free. If you saw x-rays of her spine, you wouldn’t understand how she couldn’t be in pain, and she attributes being virtually pain-free to the specifics of Iyengar Yoga along with an understanding of spiritual healing. Her approach to bringing Sama, evenness, and symmetry includes use of peripheral references such as the floor, walls, and chairs, which reverbs to a more even posture and spine, as well as creative visualization. www.joniwellness.com
5:30 pm to 6:45 pm Please pre-register more than 30 minutes in advance at our online store! - Back Care Basics
Back Care Basics
For all types of back problems, pain and postural problems including scoliosis. This class moves a bit slower, and step by step in comparison to the Back Care Classes. with Wendy BaranelloWendy Baranello (Santoshi), C-IAYT, has been teaching yoga to various populations in New York City for over 20 years. She has touched countless students in a variety of venues; The YMCA system for 20 years, at Integral Yoga, teaching meditation in the CUNY system, and Hatha Yoga at Marymount Manhattan College. She taught yoga at GMHC for several years for people with AIDS, and at the Mind, Body and Spirit program at Rutger’s Church. Wendy was a teacher at Yoga Union Center for Backcare and Scoliosis since its inception. Passionately committed to personal empowerment and social justice, Wendy sees a connection between her work as a Yoga Teacher and Union Organizer for the New York Hotel Trades Council as two sides of the same coin. She feels that the yoga mat is where yoga begins—a place where we can examine our feelings and observe our impulses in a non -judgemental and loving way. We then bring our yoga practice off the mat and into the world to take responsibility for healing ourselves and the planet. Wendy was certified by Integral Yoga in NYC in 1994 to teach various aspects and levels of yoga, pranayama, and meditation. That same year, she began her study of Iyengar Yoga with Brooke Meyers at the New York City Iyengar Institute . Wendy has studied with Senior Level Iyengar Teacher Elise Miller since 2002, and completed her yoga for Scoliosis training in 2004, again in 2008, and regularly assists Elise in her teacher training. Wendy also studies with Senior level Iyengar teacher Joan White who she met in 2003, and is enrolled in Ms. White’s teacher training program. In addition to her yoga certifications Wendy has a certification in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction from Jon Kabitt Zinn and Saki Santorelli, of the Omega Institute. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications from Farleigh Dickenson University. 6:45 pm to 8:15 pm Please register at least 1 hour in advance on our online store! *Full Vaccination and Face Masks Required in this class
Thu
- Yoga & Scoliosis
Yoga & Scoliosis
For students with a lateral/rotational curvature(s) of the spine. The focus is on extension and working with issues affecting people with scoliosis such as balance, proprioception, strength and reducing compensatory patterns. All levels welcome including those new to yoga. with Deborah Wolk Deborah Wolk, C-IAYT, has been teaching and working with students with back issues, scoliosis, and other injuries for over 17 years. Her yoga practice working with her own scoliosis informs the work she does to help others. Deborah met Bobbie Fultz in 2000—her first Yoga & Scoliosis teacher. She later met Elise Browning Miller and was certified as a Yoga for Scoliosis Trainer through Elise’s training program in 2005. Her primary teacher is Genny Kapuler, whose class she assisted for 10 years, and she has also studied extensively with Kevin Gardiner in NYC (now in Budapest) and Donald Moyer in Berkeley, among others. In 2007, Deborah travelled to India to study with the Iyengar family and spent most afternoons observing the medical classes there. Also in 2007, she co-founded Yoga Union Center for Backcare & Scoliosis and co-directed it for 8 years. In January 2015, Deborah founded Samamkaya Yoga Back Care & Scoliosis Collective. Samamkaya is a democratically run workers cooperative and is devoted exclusively to scoliosis, back care, teacher education in therapeutics, and adaptive yoga for students with disabilities and nervous system disorders. Deborah's teachings are based in the principles of Iyengar style yoga and Body Mind Centering (BMC) techniques. She is warm and funny and her teachings are subtle yet explained at a level everyone can understand. Deborah teaches workshops, retreats, and teacher trainings on Back Care & Scoliosis in New York City, across the US, and around the world, and has a thriving private practice. To learn more about Deborah, make an appointment for a private lesson or see a schedule of classes please visit www.dwolkyoga.com . An autobiographical piece/ The NY Times Article/ Deborah Teaches 1 pose 3 ways/ A review of Deborah’s class/ An Interview with Deborah Wolk/ Emily Gould’s Article 10:00 am to 11:30 am Please register at least 1 hour in advance on our online store! Face masks are required for this class. - Virtual Back Care
Virtual Back Care
This is a live, interactive virtual class to take from home! For all types of back issue, pain and postural problems including scoliosis. Log on to lengthen your spine and move out of the habitual behaviors that are making your back hurt! All levels welcome including those new to yoga and beginners. All students must sign up in advance. with Patricia VidegainPatricia Videgain has been teaching yoga since 2002, experiential anatomy since 2010 and somatic meditation since 2017. She is committed to teach others how to use yoga, movement, breathing and meditation as a tool for inspiration and transformation. Teaching yoga is a great source of contentment for her. Her students are her greatest teachers.
Patricia is a Yoga Alliance 500 hr + YACEP Provider, Certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher, IAYT Certified Yoga Therapist, Body-Mind Centering Association Member and 2020 Graduate from Leslie Howard’s Pelvic Floor Yoga Teacher Training. Patricia was also a long-time assistant and sub for Deborah Wolk’s Yoga for Scoliosis Class at Samamkaya Yoga.
Learn more about Patricia at http://bodyhaiku.com/ 11:00 am to 12:15 pm - Virtual Intermediate Yoga & Scoliosis
Virtual Intermediate Yoga & Scoliosis
This is a live, interactive virtual class to take from home! For students with an established yoga for scoliosis practice who have props at home. All poses will be modified with props and awareness techniques so each student can move along with his/her practice. There will also be some focus on inversions. The Intermediate class is not for new beginners. with Deborah Wolk Deborah Wolk, C-IAYT, has been teaching and working with students with back issues, scoliosis, and other injuries for over 17 years. Her yoga practice working with her own scoliosis informs the work she does to help others. Deborah met Bobbie Fultz in 2000—her first Yoga & Scoliosis teacher. She later met Elise Browning Miller and was certified as a Yoga for Scoliosis Trainer through Elise’s training program in 2005. Her primary teacher is Genny Kapuler, whose class she assisted for 10 years, and she has also studied extensively with Kevin Gardiner in NYC (now in Budapest) and Donald Moyer in Berkeley, among others. In 2007, Deborah travelled to India to study with the Iyengar family and spent most afternoons observing the medical classes there. Also in 2007, she co-founded Yoga Union Center for Backcare & Scoliosis and co-directed it for 8 years. In January 2015, Deborah founded Samamkaya Yoga Back Care & Scoliosis Collective. Samamkaya is a democratically run workers cooperative and is devoted exclusively to scoliosis, back care, teacher education in therapeutics, and adaptive yoga for students with disabilities and nervous system disorders. Deborah's teachings are based in the principles of Iyengar style yoga and Body Mind Centering (BMC) techniques. She is warm and funny and her teachings are subtle yet explained at a level everyone can understand. Deborah teaches workshops, retreats, and teacher trainings on Back Care & Scoliosis in New York City, across the US, and around the world, and has a thriving private practice. To learn more about Deborah, make an appointment for a private lesson or see a schedule of classes please visit www.dwolkyoga.com . An autobiographical piece/ The NY Times Article/ Deborah Teaches 1 pose 3 ways/ A review of Deborah’s class/ An Interview with Deborah Wolk/ Emily Gould’s Article 12:30 pm to 2:00 pm Please pre-register more than 30 minutes in advance at our online store!
Fri
- Virtual Back Care
Virtual Back Care
This is a live, interactive virtual class to take from home! For all types of back issue, pain and postural problems including scoliosis. Log on to lengthen your spine and move out of the habitual behaviors that are making your back hurt! All levels welcome including those new to yoga and beginners. All students must sign up in advance. with Jon MusgraveJon Musgrave is a yoga teacher, manager, and founding member of Samamkaya Yoga, and has been bodyworker with a practice in Union Square since 2012. As a professional conductor and tuba player, Jon was drawn to bodywork and yoga to help manage the chronic pain and other body issues he was experiencing while making music. He uses his experiences in all the aspects of his life to help people feel more at peace in their bodies.
Jon has studied Iyengar yoga since 2011, and has focused primarily on yoga for back care and scoliosis. He was recently certified as a Teacher Trainer in Elise Browning Miller's Yoga for Scoliosis program, and he apprenticed extensively with Deborah Wolk for 5 years. His other primary teachers are Jaki Nett and Genny Kapuler, and he has also studied extensively with Julie Brandwein, Debby Green, and Wendy Baranello. He has also studied in workshops on various topics in yoga, therapeutics, and anatomy with Karin Stephan, Sri H. S. Arun, Susan-Elena Esquivel, Bobby Clennell, Rita Manos-Lewis, and Cator Shachoy. Jon has been on the Samamkaya faculty since 2019.
In addition to massage, Jon is a long-time student of the Alexander Technique, and continues to study the technique and how it applies to yoga with Witold Fitz-Simon. He has a Certification in Therapeutic Massage from the Finger Lakes School of Massage, and has continued to study extensively, with advanced training in working with trans clients and other members of the Q community, and clients with chronic pain and trauma issues. Visit jmbodywork.com to find out more about his bodywork practice.
10:00 am to 11:15 am Please pre-register more than 30 minutes in advance at our online store! No class 1/1 - Back Care
Back Care
For all types of back problems, pain and postural problems including scoliosis. Come lengthen your spine and move out of the habitual behaviors that are making your back hurt! All levels welcome including those new to yoga and beginners. with Eva LevEva Lev’s passion for yoga was ignited in the late 80’s through years of study with Glenn Black as part of the summer staff at the Omega Institute in upstate NY. After settling in NYC, she continued her studies with Kevin Gardiner and many of the other senior teachers at the Iyengar Yoga Institute including the late Mary Dunn, Brook Myers, Genny Kapuler, Lara Brunn and Carrie Owerko. She began teaching in 1997 completing 200 hour certification from Integral Yoga and in 2001, the two year teacher training program directed by James Murphy at the Iyengar Institute of NY. For the past year she has been assisting Deborah Wolk’s Yoga & Scoliosis class and is on the teaching staff at YogaStudio6 in Long Island City, Queens where she currently resides. 10:00 am to 11:30 am Please register at least 2 hours in advance on our online store! Face masks are optional for this class.
- Virtual Back Care
Virtual Back Care
This is a live, interactive virtual class to take from home! For all types of back issue, pain and postural problems including scoliosis. Log on to lengthen your spine and move out of the habitual behaviors that are making your back hurt! All levels welcome including those new to yoga and beginners. All students must sign up in advance. with Patricia VidegainPatricia Videgain has been teaching yoga since 2002, experiential anatomy since 2010 and somatic meditation since 2017. She is committed to teach others how to use yoga, movement, breathing and meditation as a tool for inspiration and transformation. Teaching yoga is a great source of contentment for her. Her students are her greatest teachers.
Patricia is a Yoga Alliance 500 hr + YACEP Provider, Certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher, IAYT Certified Yoga Therapist, Body-Mind Centering Association Member and 2020 Graduate from Leslie Howard’s Pelvic Floor Yoga Teacher Training. Patricia was also a long-time assistant and sub for Deborah Wolk’s Yoga for Scoliosis Class at Samamkaya Yoga.
Learn more about Patricia at http://bodyhaiku.com/ 6:30 pm to 7:45 pm Please pre-register more than 30 minutes in advance at our online store! No class on 1/1
Sat
- Back Care & ScoliosisFor students with a lateral/rotational curvature(s) of the spine. The focus is on extension and working with issues affecting people with scoliosis such as balance, proprioception, strength and reducing compensatory patterns. All levels welcome including those new to yoga. with Joni Wellness
Joni Wellness has been practicing and teaching yoga since 1970, with special expertise in hands-on assists, yoga therapeutics, Back Care, Pre-Natal, is a trainer of The Great Yoga Wall, and more. She served as a Doula (childbirth support), Hospice volunteer, Nutrition, Health and Life Coach, and Massage Therapist of the Joffrey Ballet and to elite athletes and dancers. She has been immersed in studying the Iyengar Yoga method since 1988, and received her first Iyengar Yoga teaching certificate in the 90's. She was certified as a Jr-I Iyengar Yoga Instructor in 2009.
Joni was Deborah Wolk’s first yoga teacher, way back when. In 2023, she received two total hip replacement surgeries and is loving being a “beginning” yoga student again, re-activating the intelligence gained from a long yoga life. She especially enjoys passing on the game changing yoga poses and tips that brought her out of back pain and maintain her back pain free. If you saw x-rays of her spine, you wouldn’t understand how she couldn’t be in pain, and she attributes being virtually pain-free to the specifics of Iyengar Yoga along with an understanding of spiritual healing. Her approach to bringing Sama, evenness, and symmetry includes use of peripheral references such as the floor, walls, and chairs, which reverbs to a more even posture and spine, as well as creative visualization. www.joniwellness.com
12:00 pm to 1:15 pm Please pre-register more than 30 minutes in advance at our online store! - Yoga & Scoliosis
Yoga & Scoliosis
For students with a lateral/rotational curvature(s) of the spine. The focus is on extension and working with issues affecting people with scoliosis such as balance, proprioception, strength and reducing compensatory patterns. All levels welcome including those new to yoga. with Jon MusgraveJon Musgrave is a yoga teacher, manager, and founding member of Samamkaya Yoga, and has been bodyworker with a practice in Union Square since 2012. As a professional conductor and tuba player, Jon was drawn to bodywork and yoga to help manage the chronic pain and other body issues he was experiencing while making music. He uses his experiences in all the aspects of his life to help people feel more at peace in their bodies.
Jon has studied Iyengar yoga since 2011, and has focused primarily on yoga for back care and scoliosis. He was recently certified as a Teacher Trainer in Elise Browning Miller's Yoga for Scoliosis program, and he apprenticed extensively with Deborah Wolk for 5 years. His other primary teachers are Jaki Nett and Genny Kapuler, and he has also studied extensively with Julie Brandwein, Debby Green, and Wendy Baranello. He has also studied in workshops on various topics in yoga, therapeutics, and anatomy with Karin Stephan, Sri H. S. Arun, Susan-Elena Esquivel, Bobby Clennell, Rita Manos-Lewis, and Cator Shachoy. Jon has been on the Samamkaya faculty since 2019.
In addition to massage, Jon is a long-time student of the Alexander Technique, and continues to study the technique and how it applies to yoga with Witold Fitz-Simon. He has a Certification in Therapeutic Massage from the Finger Lakes School of Massage, and has continued to study extensively, with advanced training in working with trans clients and other members of the Q community, and clients with chronic pain and trauma issues. Visit jmbodywork.com to find out more about his bodywork practice.
12:15 pm to 1:45 pm Please Register at least one hour in advance on our online store! Face masks are optional for this class.
Check out the New York Times article about Samamkaya: A Manhattan Yoga Studio for Bad Backs by Natalie Shutler