Pelvic Awareness and Connection with Patricia Videgain
In-Studio Monthly Series
Saturdays, 2:30-4pm
2025 Series: January 4, February 22, March 29
Single Class: $30
Or drop in with your class card!
***Please note: Please pre-register for these sessions! The classes will be canceled if less than five students are signed up 24 hours before class starts***
The goal of this monthly class is to learn about and connect to the pelvic space. Students will be given time and opportunity to experience, reclaim and embody the pelvic region, the female organs and the rhythms of the female cycle.
Each of the five classes will be a mix of lecture, discussion, asana and movement practice.
The classes will cover:
- Exploration of the functional, somatic, and experiential anatomy of the pelvic region.
- Exercises for self-discovery, flexibility, strengthening, and coordination of the pelvic region.
- Guidelines for practicing yoga asana with pelvic alignment in mind, informing and creating connection with the organic body.
We each hold native, embodied wisdom. This wisdom reveals itself when we allow the natural genius of our bodies to show the way for practice and connection. Experiential Anatomy, Developmental Movement, and Iyengar Yoga can be vehicles to understand, connect to, reclaim and integrate the territory of the pelvis.
Patricia 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/
BACK CARE BASICS SERIES
with Ede Thurrell
Wednesdays, 10-11:30am
Trial Class: February 26
Try it out for just $5!! For students brand new to the studio, use the code BRANDNEW
Returning students pay $20
Series: March 12, 19, April 2, 9, 16
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.
Intermediate Back Care Series with Jon Musgrave
Saturdays 10:30a–12p
December 21, 28, January 4, 11, 18, February 8, 15
Next Series: March 1, 22, 29, April 12, 19
Full Series: $130
Single Class: $30
Or drop in with your class card!
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 their practice. There will also be some focus on inversions. This Intermediate series is not for new beginners.
Jon Musgrave, LMT, is a therapeutic yoga teacher and bodyworker. He is a founding member of Samamkaya Yoga, and has been on the teaching faculty since 2019. Jon has studied Iyengar yoga since 2011, and has found this approach to yoga to be an essential part of healing and managing his own scoliosis and back issues. He has studied and apprenticed extensively with Deborah Wolk since 2014, and is certified as a Yoga for Scoliosis Teacher Trainer by Elise Browning Miller. His other primary teachers are Genny Kapuler and Jaki Nett, and he has studied in workshops on various topics with many other senior Iyengar teachers and specialists in yoga therapeutics and anatomy. Jon has an active bodywork practice, specializing in helping clients manage issues around scoliosis, injuries, chronic pain, and trauma using deep massage, neurofascial techniques, and biodynamic craniosacral therapy. A former conductor and tuba player, Jon fell in love with anatomy while studying the Alexander Technique in college, and is particularly interested in helping students embody their own anatomy, and correct and clarify vague or incorrect ideas we have about our structure. Visit jmbodywork.com to find out more about his bodywork practice.
Adjustments, Modifications and Verbal Instructions
with Deborah Wolk
Online only in 2025
Wednesdays, 2:15-4:15pm
Online Dates: 1/15, 2/19, 3/19, 4/23, 5/14, 6/25, 9/10, 10/15, 11/12, 12/17
One class for: $40 teachers, $30 Samamkaya Teaching Assistants, $20 Students
Sign up for IN-PERSON CLASSES here
Sign up for ONLINE CLASSES here
Any 3 classes for Teachers/Assistants/Students: $105/80/54
Any 6 classes for Teachers/Assistants/Students $180/150/100
Any 12 classes for Teachers/Assistants/Students $300/275/170
This course is approved as an IAYT CE Course! Take any 6 classes (12 hours) + one 1 hour mentoring session for $240
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:
January 23
February 20
March 20
April 24 – Fusions Forum hosted by TOPS
May 22
Free or by donation
Sign Up Here!
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.
