BACK CARE BASICS SERIES
with Ede Thurrell
Wednesdays, 10-11:30am
Series: September 10, 17, 24, October 1, 8
Full Series: $115
One Class: $30*
Sign up today!
*Or drop in on your class card
This series will cover the basic skills you need to participate in the Back Care and Back Care Basics classes. With other new beginners to Back Care Classes at Samamkaya Yoga Back Care & Scoliosis Collective, instructor Ede Thurrell will teach you many of the basic actions, help you find your alignment and learn prop adjustments appropriate for your scoliosis, herniated disc(s), kyphosis, lordosis, spondylolisthesis, lumbar or neck pain… or any other back problem. Learning these skills through a series will help you make a commitment to your yoga practice and help you integrate smoothly into the Back Care classes.
Ede Thurrell was first introduced to yoga as a teenager by a dance teacher. Her first training was with Cyndi Lee at Om Yoga, and years later with Alison West at Yoga Union. In between, she has learned from and taught for Baby Om, Unnata Aerial Yoga, MELT method, and currently from her teacher Deborah Wolk regarding Yoga for Back Care & Scoliosis. With a background as a professional dancer, she has been honored to share her fascination with the inherent wisdom of the body for over 15 years with all kinds of people—from dancers and athletes to older people to parents with small children. Ede hopes to offer her classes as tools for healing and self knowledge that meet the student where they are.
Yoga, Philosophy & Asana
with Bobbie Fultz
Sundays, 10am-12pm
October 5, November 2, December 14, January 11
One Class Only: $45
Full Series: $160
“To the yogi, the body is a laboratory for life, a field of experimentation and perpetual research”. B.K.S. Iyengar
Asana is the entry point for most of us into the yoga experience in our western culture. Then we find out Patanjali has more to say about that in his 196 sutras, that there are another 7 limbs to include. And those “terse aphorisms” called sutras open the door to an entire “cosmology” or world view that is interwoven into everything about yoga. More information, more details, the more that keeps on giving.
Samamkaya is offering a 4-part hybrid/collaboration of topical lecture by Bobbie Fultz in Santa Fe, NM and asana practicum with Deborah Wolk and Jon Musgrave in NYC. The four parts will each focus on one aspect of the larger interwoven fabric of the yogic philosophy that can inform and enrich our practice of this ancient topic in our contemporary life. Each session includes what that specific topic has to do with an asana approach and the scoliosis body.
October 5: 3 Gunas – Qualities of nature
November 2: 7 Kosas – Subtle sheaths of physical bodies
December 14: 5 Prana Vayus – Energy Pathways
January 11: 5 Elements – Physical body, sense perception
What can these topics add to your yoga practice? Asana practice can get stuck in a mechanical habit of technique. The scoliosis body is especially susceptible to instability, sensitive to changes in the hormonal system, the aging process, emotional and life stresses. Unfolding this kind of subtle information available for inclusion in how you relate to your practice, think about your body and its struggles, can be stimulating and a breath of freshness.
Bobbie Fultz, CIYT, has been teaching yoga since 1991. Her primary life interest before that was in visual and theatrical arts. 35 years of attempting to create an illusion and concept of reality with line/color/light changed over to the next 35 years seeking the inner light of consciousness in the reality of Being with Patanjali Yoga and Vedanta Upanisads.
Bobbie is grateful to have had the opportunity of study with the Iyengar family and several of the first group of foreigners who trained at RIMYI referred to as “senior teachers”. And 18 years of Vedanta with Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati at Arsha Vidya Gurukulam continues that question of Being.
50 years of life drawing from live models has given Bobbie a quick, sharp eye and curiosity about individual anatomy which dovetails nicely in an asana class.
Bobbie no longer travels to teach. She receives students at her home studio Yoga Vidya in Santa Fe, NM.
Adjustments, Modifications and Verbal Instructions
with Deborah Wolk
Online only in 2025
Wednesdays, 2:15-4:15pm
Online Dates: 9/10, 10/15, 11/12, 12/17
One class for: $40 teachers, $30 Samamkaya Teaching Assistants, $20 Students
Any 3 classes for Teachers/Assistants/Students: $105/80/54
Students with scoliosis have very specific needs with the nervous system, proprioceptive system and with pain patterns. One must avoid muddled information. Using prop set-ups, hand on adjustments and verbal instructions, Deborah Wolk will guide you in how to better teach your students with scoliosis.
This class is appropriate for all yoga teachers and for students with scoliosis. Teachers of other modalities (Pilates, personal training, etc.) may attend as teachers with Deborah’s permission. This class is not recommended for brand new beginners to yoga.
Fusions Support Group with Martha Carter
MONTHLY on Thursdays, 4:00-5:30 pm on ZOOM:
September 25
October 23
November 20
December 11 – FUSION FORUM hosted by TOPS
Free or by donation
Samamkaya Yoga is pleased to offer a support group for people with spinal fusions for scoliosis (or those considering a spinal fusion for their scoliosis). This group, led by Martha Carter, is designed to encourage participants to safely explore the emotional toll and experiences related to their fusion in an environment with other participants who share their experience. Whether you were a teen when your spinal was fused or an older adult or somewhere in between, discussions within this group will draw out personal reflections, identify successful ways to self-heal, and evolve to reflect the needs of the group.
Please join Martha as she seeks to encourage health and healing through group interaction—free of the shame and stigma associated with scoliosis and related surgeries.
Martha Carter
As a therapeutic movement specialist for scoliosis and spinal fusions, Martha teaches Gentle Yoga and Scoliosis Wellness classes, workshops, and retreats for all ages and abilities in Canada, the US, and internationally. She is a certified teacher of Yoga for Scoliosis, based on the techniques developed by acclaimed Iyengar teacher, Elise Browning Miller. She has also studied (and continues to enjoy explorations in) Pilates for Scoliosis, Essential Somatics, Energy Medicine, and Trauma Release techniques, which she weaves into all her classes to help participants with pain relief while enhancing their movement potential. Martha is the founder and director of the Twisted Outreach Project for Back Care and Scoliosis (TOPS), a Canadian-based non-profit that provides a range of holistic and creative approaches to working with back care and scoliosis. (https://www.
CLASS SERIES PRE-REGISTRATION & CANCELLATION POLICY
It is strongly recommended that you pre-register for workshops and series. If you pre-register for a series, you must cancel 48 hours in advance in order to be refunded for that class series less a 20% administrative fee.
Please cancel via email (info@samamkayabackcare.com) or call 646.964.5772. Even if we receive the message later, we will go by the time stamp and refund your money if appropriate. If you are ill or there is an immediate family medical emergency, we will of course waive the fee. However, please email us as early as possible, and before the workshop begins, to waive the fee or arrange a credit.
