I just returned from Washington state after spending a week finishing my IMT Advanced training with Molly Lannon Kenny.  I am one step closer to finishing my IMT program to become a certified Integrated Movement Therapist and accredited Yoga Therapist! I'm very excited about this venture.  While I was away, I received several very exciting news in regarding to my yoga and yoga therapy world.  

FIRST: I start teaching Baby and Me Yoga, Prenatal Yoga, and Yoga Playgroup at The Cobra Club in Bushwick starting next week (Wednesdays)! Check out my DROP-IN GROUP CLASSES CALENDAR.

SECOND: A couple of my mentors and IMT therapists are holding a Basics training for IMT, I'd like to share this info with you in case you are interested in furthering your yoga education and/or want to know what IMT is and what that means in the yoga therapy world.  Some info on the teachers for this workshop: Jaime is a clinical social worker, she received her Masters from Columbia University in social work and applies her IMT training through her work with sex traffic victims in NYC.  Bess is a yoga therapist at a NYC hospital advocating for patients while working adjunctly with PTs, OTs, and SLPs, she is also a birth doula.  
Integrated Movement Therapy® is the holistic therapy approach developed at The Samarya Center by Master’s degreed therapists who are also certified yoga teachers. It is an approach for people of all ages, from infancy to adulthood, using yoga’s philosophical, physical and spiritual framework in conjunction with conventional neurophysiological perspectives to address the unique challenges of people with special needs.  - Samarya Center, Seattle, WA (samaryacenter.org)
IMT BASICS!  Saturday, December 13, 2014!  10am-5pm
Location: 141 west 28th street, suite 300 buzzer 33 between 6/7 Ave. NY, NY 10001
Cost: $125 ($90 early registration if paid before November 22, 2014)
For More Information and to Register, please email us. (samaryanyc.gmail.com)
This seven-hour course introduces participants to the foundations of IMT, including:

• An overview of the evolution of IMT, including its roots in both yoga and traditional clinical fields
• The underlying philosophies of IMT, a holistic therapy approach that uses the physical, philosophical, and spiritual framework of yoga, along with conventional neurophysiological perspectives, to address a wide variety of challenges- from depression to Autism Spectrum Disorders. 
• The ingredients for an optimal learning environment
  
• A basic understanding of how neural pathways are built 
• The six core principles of IMT and how these provide a framework for working with anyone

IMT Basics is the foundation to learning about Integrated Movement Therapy®. It is appropriate for anyone who wants to learn about how to use yoga for healing, including therapists of all kinds, teachers, parents, and yoga teachers. IMT Basics is a pre-requisite for all IMT Level 1 Trainings.  You can click here to learn more about the Samarya Center and IMT trainings. 

THIRD: The Samarya Center in Seattle, WA, the mothership of Integrated Movement Therapy and trainings is having a fundraiser!  The Samarya Center is a 501(c)3 non-profit studio dedicated to help and support the ongoing education in holistic health and yoga philosophy.  The Samarya Center is so incredibly important to yoga and yoga therapy education through their work of meeting students where they are financially and challenged.  They are setting high standards for education in therapy training program and yoga teacher training for organizations such as International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) and Yoga Alliance. 
Since we've opened our new space on May 5th, 2014, The Samarya Center for Humankind (ness) has provided four clients with free ongoing therapy, seven clients with ongoing therapy at one quarter market rate, four Yoga Teacher Training scholarships, eight free community events, two new totally free volunteer based classes in the community for people who would not otherwise have access to yoga, free weekly yoga in the park all summer long with one free pass to our center for every student who attended, five monthly newsletters, six free satsangs,  two free 12 Step Yoga meetings, hundreds of classes and dozens of workshops for those walking through our doors (we never turn anyone away for lack of funds) and countless hours of community based service in the name of lovingkindness.  And in Molly's spare time, she has started the podcast series again, a bi-monthly conversation about yoga and everyday life where Molly shares her encyclopedic knowledge of all things yoga, spiritual and therapeutic with listeners all over the world. Absolutely free.  - Samarya Center, Seattle, WA (samaryacenter.org)

A couple of weeks ago I started teaching at Hosh Yoga, a non-profit yoga studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.  The environment of the studio had a sense of warmth that reminded me of Lotus Seed, the yoga studio in Portland where I received my 200 hour Teacher Training Certification.  As you enter the studio, you first encounter an open practice room where the sound of your voice echoes through the room.  Moving on the the reception and equipment storage area, you see evidence of care and contributions to the space from various teachers, students, and members.  You can experience the genuine sincerity and arrangement that only comes from a non-profit studio.  As I experience the space and variety of classes offered by my colleagues, I know the true value comes from the inner passion and strength of the teachers.  While blocks, bolsters, and blankets are available, classes are minimalistic, therefore requires focus and attention from the students.  The schedule is filled with classes of different levels and styles based on the teacher's discipline and personality, all classes are donations based ($10 suggested).  All teachers are on a volunteer status and does not gain financially from the classes, all class donations are contributed to the studio for outreach programs and studio maintenance.  I am able to offer a Vinyasa style Flow 1 class on Tuesdays at NOON.

Hosh Yoga is also affiliated with Hosh Kids, an organization that provides school-day and after-school programs while maintaining a studio presence that offers drop in yoga classes for kids.  For more information to bring Hosh Kids to your school or bring your kids to yoga, check out their website:  

Hosh Kids was inspired by the Hosh Yoga Youth Project started by Becca Broughton at PS 196 in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
Today Hosh Kids offers school-day and after school programs in:
Over 20 programs across NYC
Over 400 classes per month
Over 1000 children per week
Classes in yoga, dance, music, and more.
Yoga works for children!

• Develops physical awareness, strength and flexibility through the practice of dynamic sequences
• Mental concentration through quick-paced counting exercises and attention to details of postures
• Verbal/listening acuity through learning Sanskrit that has contains unusual sounds to Western ears
• Ability to translate abstract experience to concrete paper; each class, students recap their experience by drawing and labeling stick figures doing the sequences
• Respect and awareness for themselves and their peers through exercises that challenge them to work well together