Workshops

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Lower Back Therapeutics with Liz Owen
In Studio and Online!

November 16-17
Saturday 2:30-4:30pm
Sunday 2-4pm
Full Weekend: $60*/$70
One Workshop: $35*/$40
*early bird if registered by November 4

Saturday: LOWER BACK THERAPEUTICS – CARE FOR YOUR SACRUM

This session will combine some of the work from our previous workshops while also exploring new therapeutic movements for your sacrum. Its aim is to provide you with a toolbox of techniques to relieve your lower back pain due to sacroiliac joint and sacral band issues. Students of any skill level – including beginners – will benefit, attendance in prior workshops is not required.

During our time together you will learn:

  • Gentle, safe movements to soothe, balance and strengthen your sacroiliac joints and sacral band, while respecting your body’s particular conditions and limitations.

  • How to explore the messages that your sacroiliac joints present to you, in order to gain understanding of how to create sacral spine health.

  • Techniques to change your emotional responses to sacral pain.

Sunday: LOWER BACK THERAPEUTICS – CARE FOR YOUR LUMBAR SPINE

This session will combine some of the work from previous workshops while also exploring new therapeutic movements for your lumbar spine. Its aim is to provide you with a toolbox of techniques to relieve your lower back pain due to lumbar musculature issues, trauma, and vertebra and disk conditions.  Students of any skill level – including beginners – will benefit, attendance in prior workshops is not required.

During our time together you will learn:

  • Gentle, safe movements to soothe, balance and strengthen your lumbar spine, while respecting your body’s particular conditions and limitations.

  • How to explore the messages that your lumbar presents to you, in order to gain understanding of how to create lower back health.

  • Techniques to change your emotional responses to lumbar pain.

Liz Owen learned lower back therapeutics over a 25-year period immersed in Iyengar yoga. During this time, she studied with senior Iyengar teachers in the U.S., and both B.K.S. and Geeta Iyengar. Her expertise of lower back health and yoga philosophy brings both Eastern and Western wisdom to bear on creating a healthy lower back and will bring mindfulness and depth to your journey of maintaining lower back health in daily life.

Liz Owen E-RYT500, C-IAYT is an inspiring and passionate yoga teacher and teacher trainer. She combines physical and energetic alignments with meditative action to create an innovative and transformative class experience. She has taught since 1990 and is known for her light-hearted teaching style as well as for the depth of her knowledge. Liz has studied Iyengar, vinyasa, classical hatha yoga and meditation for over 30 years, and has studied with masters of various traditions, including Thich Nhat Hanh, B.K.S. Iyengar, Patricia Walden, Dharma Mittra, Erich Schiffmann, Rod Stryker, T.K.V. Desikachar, and Vasant Lad.  Classes are dynamic and challenging, yet always respectful of students’ individual abilities and needs. Liz draws inspiration from the deep well of yogic philosophy and brings broadness into each class experience. Currently she teaches weekly classes in Arlington and Cambridge, Massachusetts and is on the faculty of Wellesley College. Liz teaches workshops nationally and leads retreats in the U.S. and Mexico. She has presented workshops at Sivananda Ashram Bahamas, Kripalu Center for Yoga and Wellness, Yoga Journal Boston Conferences, Yoga Alliance Leadership Conferences, and the Montreal International Symposium on Therapeutic Yoga 2015. She is co-author of two NIH-funded studies at Boston University School of Medicine studying yoga as a modality for improving depression and anxiety, and is co-author of Yoga for a Healthy Lower Back, Shambhala Publications.www.LizOwenYoga.com

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In-Studio and Online! YOGA FOR SCOLIOSIS:  Beginners · Teacher Training Part II and Continuing Education 
with Elise Browning Miller

Yoga for Scoliosis Beginners

Friday, December 6, 68pm
*$65 early bird / $70 in advance / $75 drop in
Sign up here for IN-STUDIO
Sign up here for VIRTUAL
*early bird if registered by November 18

New to Yoga?  Want to get started addressing your Scoliosis with Yoga?  Come to this 2 hour session with Elise Browning Miller, especially for those new to this practice.  Elise is the author of the booklet and DVD Yoga For Scoliosis, and is world famous for her workshops and Teacher Training for Yoga for Scoliosis and Yoga for Back Care.  Most of the teachers at Samamkaya have trained with her and we all love her! 

Yoga for Scoliosis: Teacher Training Part II and Continuing Education

Saturday, December 7, 9:30am‒12pm & 2–4:30pmSunday, December 8, 9:30‒12pm & 2–4:30pm
*$330 early bird if registered by November 18/ $360 in advance
Sign up here for IN-PERSON
Sign up here for VIRTUAL

Many members of Samamkaya’s faculty have completed Elise Browning Miller’s 20 hour course program and we highly recommend it for teachers and students alike. The Yoga for Scoliosis Teacher’s Training is the first teacher’s training program designed specifically to train yoga teachers on how to work with students who have scoliosis. This course may lead you to do the coursework and practicum for a Yoga for Scoliosis Trainer Certification.

Samamkaya is proud to present Yoga for Scoliosis Teacher Training Part II and Continuing Education.  Anyone may attend this workshop.  If you want to take Part II towards certification you must have taken Part I with Elise Browning Miller at another time.  This particular course is also appropriate for those who have already done the Teacher Training with Elise in full but who would like to prepare or receive support for their practicum, or those who are certified trainers who would like to learn more.

Samamkaya is the ideal location for this workshop.  Well stocked with props and outfitted with a 20 station rope wall, the workshop will be limited to 20 students.  Questions that have come up in teaching will be addressed in an intimate and supportive environment.  This workshop will continue beyond Part II into more techniques and real life solutions than Part II at other locations.

During this course teacher trainees will learn:

  •       The anatomy and physiology of scoliosis.
  •       The common scoliotic patterns.
  •       Patterns of injury and pain with scoliosis,
  •       Yoga Asana to address scoliotic patterns which will help reduce progression, pain and discomfort, and perhaps even the curve(s) themselves.
  •       About other patterns that often accompany scoliosis; such as hip and shoulder problems, neck problems, and disorientation.
  •       How to give verbal and hands-on adjustments to your students with scoliosis.
  •       How to use Yoga Props to specifically address scoliotic patterns and related issues.
  •       Addressing psychological aspects of scoliosis.
  •       How to work with your own students with scoliosis

Elise Browning Miller, M.A. in Therapeutic Recreation from UNC-CH, is a Certified Senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher who has been teaching yoga throughout the US and internationally for over 30 years. A founding director of California Yoga Center in Mountain View, CA, Elise has successfully used yoga to minimize the effects of her own scoliosis. She has published numerous articles on scoliosis and other yoga related subjects in Yoga Journal and other national magazines. Elise has studied on numerous occasions with the Iyengars in India and specializes in Scoliosis, lower/upper back problems and sports related injuries. She recently launched her new book “Yoga for Scoliosis – A Path for Students & Teachers”, and has produced her own DVD and booklets, “Yoga for Scoliosis”, “Yoga for Back Care” and her “Yoga: Anytime, Anywhere book”. Her joyous personality and ease of communication endear her to students with a teaching style that is down-to-earth, precise and nurturing.

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Honoring the Pause with Eliza Bishop & Justin Kirkwood
In-Studio and Online!

Friday, December 13 6-8pm
$45 early bird if registered by December 2/$50
Click here to sign up for the in-studio workshop
Click her to sign up for the virtual workshop

Everyone is welcome in this two-hour workshop, which will meet you where you are at in your evening and life. It is an invitation into a non-judgmental space where we can all slow down, breathe gently, move with awareness, and sit, just as we are, alone-together.

Eliza will guide gentle postures from Iyengar Yoga and Tibetan Healing Relaxation that transform our often agitated and anxious minds, full of endless to-do lists, into a more spacious and calm state, where we can offer ourselves healing, greater well-being, and bring about clarity and confidence. She will also offer multiple adaptations for how to sit in a chair, on the floor, and with taking the support of the wall and props for those with back pain, scoliosis, knee issues, neck pain, and other situations.

Justin will offer insights into the ways we view ourselves, habits, and identities and lead a meditation to guide us into an experience of the freedom that is present when we let them go. Through looking more deeply at the impermanence of these states, there is a relief and ease that occurs which, with practice, we can access at any time.

Eliza Bishop was introduced to Iyengar Yoga in 2002 while completing her academic degree at Carnegie Mellon University. Grateful for the relief from chronic back pain, Eliza grew to appreciate the insight yoga offers into the connections between physical, mental, and emotional patterns and its value as a tool for developing the mind. She completed her Iyengar Yoga Teacher Training in London and has been happily teaching and hosting annual retreats in Europe and North America since 2008, with numerous extended trips to India to study with living lineage masters. In tandem, she’s also undertaken a path of Buddhist study, retreats, and daily practice. She regularly facilitates sharing these incredible treasures of practicing stabilizing one’s mind, and living with an open heart, free from bias. Utilizing the rich practice of Kum Nye, Tibetan Healing Yoga, she helps people contact the inner resources for self-healing, embodied presence, and greater well-being, at their own pace.  She’s certified through the Nyingma Institute in Berkeley, CA: https://kumnyeteachertrainingberkeley.com/kum-nye-teachers/  Eliza also gives lectures, virtual webinars, and works as a writer (with a deep love for poetry), and an editor, and proofreader for various heart projects, including the Namchak Translation Committee. Everybody is always welcome into her classes, workshops, or to request virtual private sessions: www.elizabishop.com as we all ultimately belong to the same family.

Justin Kirkwood’s path has led him to see that what we call “comfort” is largely a matter of perspective and that with the right tools, we can all access it at any time. Many of these tools require training to make them useful yet some are almost instantaneous in their ability to shift our perspectives and free us from beliefs and behaviors that keep us down. After spending many years in India and training in Buddhist monastic settings, he was instructed to deeply consider how to communicate these ideas and methods to a western audience. He now works as a member of the Namchak Translation Committee https://namchakpublishing.comand a teacher of meditation and Buddhist philosophy at the Namchak Foundation, with on-going in person and virtual courses and monthly talks:  https://www.namchak.org/about/teachers/

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Spinal Rejuvenation for a Positive Mind State with Susan Elena Esquivel
Hybrid Workshop In-Studio and Online

February 1-2, 2024
Saturday 9:30am – 12pm and 2:30-4:30pm EST
Sunday 10am-12pm ET
Full Weekend: $140 in Advance | $130*
Saturday All Day: $100 in Advance | $90*
Saturday Morning Only: $60 in Advance | $55*
Saturday Afternoon Only: $50 in Advance | $45*
Sunday Morning Only: $50 in Advance | $45*
*Early Bird if Registered by January 13

“So, spine is one dimension of you, which determines which direction you go. How your spine is functioning; how the energies in your spine are functioning right now determines almost everything about where you go.” ~ Sadhguru

Yoga is a form of mind-body centering that involves a combination of muscular activity and an internally directed awareness of the self, the breath, and energy. We heavily rely on our spine to support us through life. From a physical point of view the spinal column is an important channel for all the bodily stimuli that are transferred via the nerves to the brain. It is part of our central nervous system along with the brain. But also on a spiritual level, the spine is the source of all our energy. The spine is the axis for the human body, which acts as a connecting link between Earth and Heaven. A properly aligned spine promotes emotional stability. Often, the muscles of the spine, neck, shoulders, hips and the knees tend to be an areas where many people experience tightness, hold tension or have pain or injury at some time in their life. This workshop will give you an understanding of how spinal alignment and the breath can relieve tension and create a positive mind state. For all students with spinal imbalances, stiffness or injuries to knees, shoulders or hips as well as those who wish to maintain the health of their joints and release stress and anxiety.

Session 1: Earth Element: In Iyengar yoga we always begin with the foundation, Muladhara or Root Chakra. Gravity will draw feet into the floor, giving us the anchor that we need to live in the world. Yet it is counteracted by our tendency to expand and grow upward toward the sun. As BKS Iyengar states, “in Tadasana we stand with our feet firmly on the earth and our head in heaven.” Participants will first learn how to properly align the feet and lower body. We will take a closer look at the muscles, ligaments and bones of the legs while exploring flexion and extension of the knees. We will explore how this alignment is aided by using the breath and quieting the mind.

Session 2: Water Element: The Water element is associated with the 2nd chakra, Svadhisthana, located between the belly button and pubic bone. This element governs fluidity, purification, nourishment, and controls the movement of energy, fluids and the physical body. As the gravity passes through our body from the head to the knees and the feet, the sacrum acts as a pivotal center for the flow of energy in opposite directions. In yoga, the sacrum is considered a sacred bone, because it literally connects the lower half of our body to the upper half. It is seen as a place of transformation, where the union of upper and lower, of the divine and the human occurs. Pain or stiffness in the knees or groin stiffness and sciatica may originate in the hips. Participants will learn how to correct pelvic misalignment and how movement and safe releasing twists combine to create freedom and more stability.

Session 3: Air Element: The Air element is associated with the Anahata or fourth chakra, located at the center of the heart. The Air element is gentle, uplifting, nurturing, healing, freeing and balancing. Yoga is self-empowering; the student is their own healer. Yoga engages the student in the healing process; by playing an active role in their journey toward health. Healing comes from within, instead of from an outside source. When the individual has a positive mind-state healing happens more quickly and is longer lasting. Whereas if the mind-state is negative, healing may be delayed. In this session, focusing on the upper body, we will explore how movement supported backbends and restorative postures allow us to release layers of tension in the body and mind helping us to move out of physical and mental pain patterns creating physical freedom and a positive mind-state.

Susan Elena Esquivel is a Certified Iyengar Teacher (CIYT) at the Intermediate Junior II Level and a Certified Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT). She is on the Iyengar Faculty at Down Under Yoga in Boston and is the director/owner of the Yogashala at Yoga with Susan Elena in Western Massachusetts. Her teaching is a reflection of her focused practice and studies over many years. She is known for precision while taking a playful approach with skillful sequencing to all levels of study allowing each student to go deeper into the understanding of Iyengar yoga. Susan Elena has served on the Iyengar Yoga Association of New England Board since 2015.

Susan Elena is very fortunate to have built strong mentoring relationships with some of the most highly respected senior Iyengar teachers. The four senior teachers she is deeply indebted to and influenced by are Elise Browning Miller, Peentz Dubble, Patricia Walden and Gulnaaz Dashti. Currently, she continues her weekly studies and mentorship with Certified Advanced Senior Teacher Patricia Walden as well as an ongoing apprenticeship with Elise Browning Miller to further her knowledge of scoliosis and back care. She travels to Pune, India to regularly to work with the Iyengars and Gulnaaz Dashti

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WORKSHOP PRE-REGISTRATION & CANCELLATION POLICY

It is strongly recommended that you pre-register for workshops. If you pre-register for a workshop, you must cancel either 1 week or 48 hours in advance (depending on the workshop), in order to be refunded for that workshop less a 20% administrative fee. Cancellation deadlines can be found below the workshop descriptions above.

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.

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