Jennifer Slater

Therapeutic yoga

 

“It is the teachers foremost duty to give you back your intelligence, to return to you your heart, to encourage you to access yourself. They do this by being who they really are and by being completely honest and compassionate with you”

CHANGE

Jennifer has been a dedicated student and teacher of yoga since the early 90′s. Her primary inspiration comes from her ongoing work with Tias and Surya Little and her teaching is a reflection of their focus on mindfulness in asana, anatomy, and wisdom training. She is a Prajna senior teacher, has assisted Tias at numerous trainings. Additional influence in teaching comes from in-depth study of Iyengar Yoga as well as in the Iyengar / Ashtanga system, her initial inspiration.
-for more information on this practice go to my teacher Tias Little’s website http://www.prajnayoga.net/

Therapeutic Yoga
In order for authentic change to be possible, self awareness – a concentration on present moment experience – and self acceptance is paramount. I integrate modern therapy techniques and Yoga (including physical postures, breathing and guided mediation) to aid my clients in being present throughout the session. I believe our bodies have a rich potential to act as a vehicle for self awareness, to focus in on how the body reacts to thought and emotion patterns. Yoga and counseling are powerful tools in becoming more aware, more accepting and feeling more in control of life and the choices we make.
Therapeutic yoga sessions are offered privately by appointment. You will learn specific techniques and yoga poses to support healing of injuries and/or chronic illness. The first session will include an evaluation and information about your condition from a yoga perspective. You will also be given initial exercises which are designed to address your issues. Follow up sessions will allow you to work with your instructor to refine your understanding and performance of the exercises as well as adding to your program as you progress.

Yoga Therapy – HOW
Yoga is a tool used to integrate physical, mental, and emotional states of our being human. Utilizing the physical movements or postures of yoga in conjunction with breathing in a safe counseling environment helps to relieve tension, provide insight, and clarity in a calm and productive way. I build counseling sessions that include time for restorative yoga postures, meditation, and discussion. The integration of yoga practice and counseling leads to more holistic understanding of the felt needs of our sensations. The skills learned become tools used in every situation life brings: relationship, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, career, developmental changes, self identity, trauma or abuse.

Sessions are designed to benefit the client and can include somatic therapy, yoga, talk therapy, touch, and nutrition. Each session is designed by the client.

BENEFITS

Yoga Therapy – privates, schedule, pricing

INDIVIDUAL YOGA INSTRUCTION
These sessions focus on yoga asanas (poses) as a tool for healing energetic, emotional and spiritual blocks. We will work on many levels (physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, professional, nutritional, etc.) in order to give you recommendations to facilitate your healing and growth process suggesting movements, meditations and affirmations to add to your daily practice.

RESTROATIVE YOGA THERAPY
I often refer to restorative yoga poses as “active relaxation.” By supporting the body with props, we alternately stimulate and relax the body to move toward balance. Some poses have an overall benefit. Others target an individual part, such as the kidneys or immune system. All create specific physiological responses which are beneficial to health and can reduce the effects of stress-related disease. Rejuvenating the body and mind as each yoga asana observes and releases each cell. In general, restorative poses are for those times when you feel weak, fatigued, or stressed from your daily activities. They are especially beneficial for times when ill, or recovering from illness or injury.

Trauma Sensitive yoga provides a safe opportunity to challenge yourself through gentle yoga and in doing so transform the relationship to the body. We will work to create a balance between an acceptance of internal sensation and emotions that can provide us with a sense of empowerment to create change in our lives. Yoga attends to the body and the breath, attends to stillness. It allows you to feel everything you feel, to tolerate every sensation, and to live and move with it. For anyone that has experienced trauma, a body-based practice like yoga can be a lifesaving healing technique. By releasing held tension, paying attention to the present, and regulating the nervous system, a somatic approach helps ease the feelings of helplessness, fear, arousal, and disconnection that can arise for trauma patients.Yoga in conjunction with working with a person who has special training in trauma therapy is essential.
In order to get the body functioning normally, it’s helpful to understand exactly what happens physically when we are under stress. When the body feels threatened, it shifts into the “fight or flight” response, the evolutionary reaction that gets us ready to fight the proverbial tiger at our backs. As the body goes on red alert for danger, the heart rate increases, blood pressure rises, and stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline flood the body. Because a common outcome of trauma is hyperarousal a gentle, trauma-sensitive yoga practice offers the opportunity to experience a change in mental states. The simple act of moving the body can create a major sense of accomplishment for people whose bodies have been frozen or numbed by their experiences a somatic approach can radically alter the body’s physiology: “It can rewire your brain stem, and change the fear system in your brain. It can regulate the balance between the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous systems and activate the cranial nerves so your body doesn’t respond to everything as if it’s getting hurt (van der Kolk).”

What Does a Session Cost?

SINGLE PRIVATE LESSONS (sliding scale is based on income and need, prices start at higher amount and go down from there)
60 minutes – $85-150 Sliding Scale
90 minutes – $100-250 Sliding Scale

Semi-Private sessions up to 4 people

60 minutes –

° $100/hour for 2 people
° $250/hour for private group— (3-5 people)

 Corporate Yoga & Special Programs

Corporate or small-group classes or workshops are also available. Got an office full of cool folks who want quality and down-to-earth yoga instruction in the work place? Contact me for a quote on a custom program.
Payment Plans are available for all long term Private Instruction Packages.

Regain strength, flexibility, calm, and courage in the safety of one on one instruction. Sequencing is custom taylored to your physical needs and goals to help you feel confident and at home in your body once again. Every recovery is a process that takes its own time. We recommend beginning with this three month commitment.

BEGINNER’S PACKAGE – 6, 60 minute Private Lessons – $495
If you feel more confident and comfortable learning the basics of yoga in the privacy and pace of a private lesson, this is for you. Sequencing taylored to your body type and constitution help prepare you for group classes. (once a week is recommended)

TUNE UP PACKAGE – 12 – 60 minute Private Lessons (1 time a month) – $985
Once a month private instruction compliments your group class rhythm and helps your weekly practice benefits bloom and grow. A great way to get your questions answered, develop a home practice, and/or address those challenging areas in your practice.

SUPERVISION/CONSULTATION FOR YOGA TEACHERS AND BODY WORKERS
These sessions are for healers needing support in their work with clients. You can address issues around transference and counter transference with clients and students as well as any other emotional, professional or personal challenges that you are facing.

Fee is $95 to $150 sliding scale for a one hour session.

Lokah Samasta Sukino Bhavantu
~May all beings everywhere be happy and free from suffering~

Jennifer has been practicing yoga and holistic healing for as long as she can remember. Over the years she has explored the wisdom of yoga as therapy, alignment and therapeutics of Iyengar, and the power and breath of Ashtanga Vinyasa. Since 2000 she has been under the guidance of her primary teacher Tias Little and Prajna Yoga structuring her daily mental and asana practice to focus on wisdom of insight into alignment, restorative healing, conditioning of the nervous system, breath, and the fine line of listening to the body’s response of daily emotional and physical awareness. The key to this teaching is that the purpose of the yoga path is not to get outside of or away from one’s relationships in the world. She specializes in yoga therapeutics with an understanding that nervous system regulation is the key to unlocking held patterns in the body and mind to show hidden traumatic stress patterns. Jennifer has studied anatomy and physiology, cranial sacral therapy, somatic awareness, holistic nutrition therapy, trauma release for yoga therapy, and Zen meditation mindfulness training to create possibilities consciously and lovingly. Jennifer is a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner, certified to work with trauma, stress, and its debilitating symptoms. She has a Masters degree in Somatic Psychology and also has training in Hakomi, Body Mind Centering, Mindfulness, Interpersonal Neurobiology and other body/mind disciplines. She encourages personal introspection, skillful action, and reflection, believing that what we cultivate on the mat is preparatory for how one is in our daily lives. “There’s no such thing as the perfect pose. A pose is never over, never done. And therein lies the true meaning of practice — to be at ease with the fact that a pose never arrives and it never ends, not until our last breath.”

back to top