These are workshops from our catalog of classes. Schedule with us directly with the dates and times you prefer.

Mindbody Tools for Mental Health

Yoga for Anxiety & Stress
This class expands what we commonly think of as yoga and teaches the mental training that’s at the core of yoga. Recognize your automatic reactions, soothe the stress response, and become more resourced and resilient to respond to life's challenges. Shift the body and brain's experience of stress with techniques like breath control, mindful attention, physical movement, progressive relaxation, and healthy lifestyle habits. This class may include reflection time, as well.

Yoga for Caregivers

The caregiving role may be a part of our identity for most of our lives. We raise children, support partners, aging parents, and animals. We may even be caregiving in our jobs. Learn yoga-based techniques to give ourselves care from the inside out. This class will have mat-based postures, self-kindness & mindfulness exercises, and body-based relaxation. This class is a way to care for yourself.

Uplifting Yoga

Uplifting Yoga is a blend of mood-boosting postures and mindfulness exercises to cultivate mental stress relief. Moving our bodies can create changes in our minds: building resilience, endurance, and balance. Add new skills to your toolkit to balance mid-winter blues and rediscover joy from the inside out.

Yoga for the Body & Mind

When we move our bodies in new ways and strengthen previously weak muscles, there is an effect on our minds. We feel more resilient, like we can handle more difficulties, and we trust ourselves more. This class is for people who can sit down on the floor and can go onto all fours. We will include an introduction to meditation in this class.

Breathwork for Stress Relief

The often-forgotten breath is a major indicator of how stressed out we are moment-to-moment. By regulating the breath, we gain control over autonomic nervous system functions, like the hormone release that happens when we are distressed. Train the breath to return to baseline that can be used in daily life. The instructor will also teach observation techniques so that you can manage your stress levels physiologically whether you are at the grocery store, in traffic, or presenting in front of a group.

Meditation for Mood Boost

Meditation is a practice that anyone can do. Essentially meditation is training the attention and what’s on our mind. Our emotional life is a part of this experience of self-observation. Learn exercises to cultivate a meditation practice that accepts of all the moods of this moment. Each of us experiences hardships that we need to hold, notice and let go of. Please bring a pen and paper. Class may be done in a chair or seated on the floor.

Meditation for Anxiety

Meditation is a practice anyone can do. And if you are feeling anxious, it may be harder to sit still and be with the body and the mind. In this class, we will give you tools to begin meditation when anxiety is a part of your experience. Non-judgement, open attention, and self-inquiry will all be a part of the class. This is a virtual class that requires your full attention to get the benefits of the practice. Please bring a pen and paper. Class may be done in a chair or on the floor on a cushion.

Mindfulness for Stress Management

Drawing from ancient mindfulness practices and modern scientific research, this class offers a unique blend of time-tested techniques and contemporary strategies tailored to meet the challenges of today's workplace. Mindfulness is a way of paying attention on purpose in the present moment, non-judgmentally. This simple to capacity, that we all have, can help you manage distraction, recover quickly from emotional ups and downs and find compassion and connection with others. This class is highly customizable based on the needs of the group. For instance, in the case of major organizational changes we can focus on safety amidst change. For teams, we can focus on interpersonal mindfulness tools.

Befriending Anxiety and Stress
The voice of anxiety and stress can tell us stories that we come to believe. With tools of mindfulness and yoga, we can begin to witness these opinions and view them as mental events. By practicing breathing techniques, awareness exercises, postures, and engaging in discussion, we can find a new kind of perception. We can begin to rewire our stress response and live better with stress and anxiety. The outside circumstances may not change, but our perspective can.

Introduction to Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

An introduction to the powerful protocol has been changing lives of patients at the Stress Reduction Clinic at UMass and now around the world since the late 1970s. How can we manage stress by using our own bodies? Learn the correlation between wellbeing, mindfulness, and attention. This workshop will introduce tools like mindful movement and meditation to those who are brand new. It is also the introductory workshop for a 12 week series of MBSR workshops for organizations that want a research-based protocol to create lasting stress resilience among small teams.

Soundbath

Come for an immersive sound bath experience. In this class, no need to do anything. Lay down and receive the healing of sonic resonance moving through your body. Sound has the power to heal and transform emotions, physical sensations, and even the body. With sound waves we can bring our brain wave pattern into a more coherent state facilitating the body’s natural ability to heal. (Due to the specific set up and large instruments required, this is at a special price; please inquire)

Mindfulness for Mental & Emotional Well-being

GLAD Technique 

Establish a daily practice of noticing what we are grateful for, what we learned, accomplished, and delighted in. This short practice encourages us to create a sense of optimism and positivity in our lives. Worksheet provided. Can be combined with Mindfulness introductory workshops.

Mindful Self-Compassion

How can we show ourselves more kindness in the face of difficult daily realities and a harsh inner critic? Compassion is a practice that can be learned. It begins with self-compassion. Learn mindful awareness techniques to befriend ourselves and make this journey a little easier. Self-compassion can strengthen your coping tools for the psychological stress we all experience. Class will include gentle movement, meditation and reflection to bring us into a deeper state of awareness.

Mindfulness & Self-Kindness for Resilience

What’s the secret to getting back up after falling down? When we are self-critical we are activating the threat defense system, becoming our own worst enemy. Alternatively, we can train the brain to acknowledge our own hardship, success and humanness. Learn techniques you can use personally and even at work. 60 minutes.

Mindfulness & Resilience

Stress is a feedback loop. That means we can have a stressful experience and continue to re-experience the stress throughout the day and the week unless we learn how to recover. It’s our relationship to the stressful events & the stress itself that matter. We need to return to baseline at regular intervals. But how? We teach a physiological approach using the body and the breath that you can use during your workday.

Mindfulness tools to turn down a busy mind

How to use mindfulness practices to deal with intrusive thoughts, circular and over-thinking. In many cases this critical voice can be very loud. We can learn to witness the “busy mind” and make choices that are more aligned with our wellbeing and values.

Workshops to Down Regulate and Sleep Better

Yoga & Sleep: The Magic Ingredients

Gain insight into how different aspects of yoga shift your body and mind from busy-ness to bed ready. Learn effective and realistic ways to wind down and feel ready for easy sleep. This workshop will include yoga postures, breathwork, relaxation, self-kindness and may include essential oils.

Healthy Sleep Habits

Learn new tricks to downshift before bed and turn off a busy brain. Reflect on your sleep habits and learn how the rhythms of night and day affect you. Practice a yoga-based sleep routine that includes physical postures, breathing & relaxation tools, and more.

Meditation for Type A’s

Yoga Nidra, or wakeful sleep, is a style of guided meditation that releases deeply held mental and physical stress. This technique is useful for insomnia: to get to sleep and stay asleep. Yoga Nidra has been shown to decrease stress in the homeless, victims of sexual assault, and soldiers. It is a recommended complementary and alternative treatment method for PTSD by the Department of Defense. It is great for workplaces where employees are going through company-wide changes, work overnight shifts, or have insomnia.

Yoga: How to practice yoga for stress relief

Learn how yoga can be a stress relieving practice through present moment focus, breathing, and physical movements through the full range. In turn, this can improve the body’s natural ability to heal. Using yoga’s ancient wisdom we will switch on the relaxation response and turn down the fight, flight, or freeze response. When yoga is practiced regularly, practitioners may feel an enhanced sense of resiliency to take on life’s challenges. And when one feels better, the effect spreads.

Daily Relaxation

Many of us experience the disease of busy-ness with no break until we collapse into bed at the end of the day. If we don’t learn how to return to a calm baseline, our stress may grow through the day and lead to long term, chronic stress. Learn body-based techniques to weave relaxation into the day.

Better Sleep Tonight: Brain-Based Relaxation

Experience deep relaxation with these mind-body techniques you can do at home. Yoga Nidra is a practice from India designed to systematically release tension, calm the mind, and improve rest while sleeping. Spend a few minutes moving the body to get it ready for stillness. Lie down for a guided practice. A pillow and blanket are recommended. We will provide a recording you can use at home.

Breathing for Resilience and Adaptability

Our stress response is mirrored in our breath. When we are stressed we hold our breath or breathe shallowly. Poor posture can also influence our pattern of breathing. Regulated breathing exercises can shift our inner wellbeing from anxious or depressed to a feeling of balance or calm.  

Stretch and MELT

Giving attention to the fascial network can decrease pain and improve range of motion in a way that stretching and weight lifting cannot. The MELT Method class re-hydrates the tissues making this class perfect for computer users, parents of young children, and those who have arthritis. We will begin and end with targeted stretching.

The MELT Method ® uses hard and soft rubber balls that fit into the palm of your hand to release tension in the connective tissue. The rolling and gliding techniques focus on pressure points in a targeted routine that creates real change within 1 hour. Participants with foot & ankle pain, wrist & finger pain may find relief in this class. Kits are available for purchase after the course for $25. This is a great class for everyone who experiences a limited range of motion, stiffness, or joint pain. Supplies provided.