Community Days 2022

Using the yamas and niyamas to be the foundation of building your ethical business.  Practicing yamas and niyamas in marketing, advertising and student care are the keys to success.  We will examine our own behavior and work through scenarios to determine right action and clear decision-making in business.  All yoga teachers and yoga therapist are […]

Lecture on the relationship between Purusha, Prakriti, & Prana and how to use this model for healing in the context of Yoga Therapy. Using the elements, the senses and types of mind, we’ll explore moving from illness to health, healing & beyond.

Group discussions on the IAYT Scope of Practice in Yoga Therapy.  Explore in detail how each part of the Scope of Practice must be grounded in Yoga Philosophy.  We will also discuss the new IAYT policy for touch; providing clear instructions for waivers & practices around touch.

Yoga arrived in the west in a different form than it had taken in India.  The cultural context, the language, the oral tradition, the ritual and the ancient texts were stripped away.  In this workshop we will explore how we can be true to Mother India and to the origins of yoga.  We will give […]

The student-teacher relationship is sacred.  We will have a discussion and group learning around the importance of self-care, daily reflection on actions, relationship with mentor, and using an outside source used to see yourself more clearly.  We will also discuss how to help our clients have more compliance and adherence to their daily practices and […]

This workshop will provide an overview of how to work as a yoga therapist in the area of grief counseling.  A hospice Chaplain and yoga therapist will walk us through what is helpful and unhelpful with respect to helping our students through their grief process.  In this workshop we’ll focus on a case study, biomedical […]

Review the IAYT Code of Ethics, policies for forming a complaint and how to protect yourself and your business.  We will also discuss the Optimal State Code of Conduct and how to become curious when we get into ethical dilemmas in our life and business.  It is this curiosity and willingness to shine a light […]

Lecture on the Samkhya model, including the tanmatras, rajas, tamas and sattva guna.  Explore the similarities and differences of sister schools; Samkhya Philosophy and yoga.  We will also demonstrate how Samkhya is the foundation of the system of healing for both yoga and Ayurveda.

Yoga Therapy can offer deep healing to those whom identify as GSM (LGBTQIA+) and great care must be taken to understand this population in order to provide them with a safe and trusted space to process their experience. In this Community Day, you will be educated about the intricacies of both gender identity and sexual […]

Non-violent Communication as outlined by Marshall Rosenberg and friends is the heart of the Optimal State Yoga Therapy School.  We cannot have trust without honestly.  We each work to identify our own needs and make requests of others.  We do this in our personal lives and professional lives.  This workshop is for anyone that has […]

Lecture on the definition of healing the symptoms vs. getting to the root cause of the suffering.  There are times when the client is weak and we must first soothe and pacify the symptoms before they can work towards pulling up the roots of the problem.  There are other times we must dive in and […]

Looking at sattva from a holistic perspective. Exploring the practices around the experience pertaining to sattva, states of mind leading to sattva, how to get there using yoga philosophy and what the experience of sattva feels like from the inside out.  We will also tie in information about the parasympathetic nervous system, the Vagus Nerve, […]

Lecture and group discussion on group yoga therapy in a community setting.  First, we will differentiate yoga therapy from therapeutic yoga classes.  We will demonstrate how to create and administer a personal assessment of each client in the small group, and track each person’s progress.  We will also give examples of how to set up […]

Lecture on the panca maya model as described in the Upanishads and also the secular version given by TKV Desikachar for more public settings like hospitals and public schools.  We will be assessing ourselves and practicing on one another.  We will also do group activities to demonstrate how balance and imbalance shows up on each […]

Cultural competence in yoga therapy involves understanding and appropriately responding to the unique combination of cultural variables and the full range of dimensions of diversity that the professional and client/patient/family bring to interactions.  To understand CC we must become aware of factors, including but not limited to age, disability, ethnicity, gender identity (encompasses gender expression), […]

Race-based traumatic stress injury can be a consequence of emotional pain that a person may feel after encounters with racism, which can be understood in terms of racial harassment or hostility, racial discrimination or avoidance and/or discriminatory harassment, aversive hostility, and even unconscious racism, known and unknown personal prejudice. How encounters with racism are experienced […]

The ancient Upanishads give us a beautiful method for looking deeply into the 5 layers of the human system.  The text asks us to reflect on the wings, head, tail and torso of the bird model and how they correspond to our human system.  This model can become a deep object of meditation for all […]

Factors Contributing to Pain Pain Management Self-Awareness.pdf Pancamaya model ANS Chart PNS SNS Chart Wheel-of-Suffering Wheel-of-Healing Trajectory-of-Life 5 Layers-Map 5 Vayu-Map