Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Teaching Yoga in Recovery, Safe Space

Today I taught a class of 16 women in substance abuse recovery. We begin the class with a check-in; physical, emotional, spiritual. The ladies were all over the map. People shared themselves and I, as I often am, was moved. I was moved by the openness, the resistance, the heaviness, the power of the practice. The teaching theme was to choose a spot to focus of for the entire practice, bringing safe, healing energy to the spot and moving out the shit that needs to go in order to heal. There was a lot of chaos and resistance when I got there. They have made the yoga class mandatory at the center. I asked the ladies to tune in to a hell spot that keeps them into their disease and really feel into what it does to their body and spirit. Then I asked them to use deep breaths and exhales to move that shit right out as it is ready to go. I shared that my intention was to create a safe space for them in recovery to begin to feel and be in their bodies. In order for energy (prana) to move, it needs to feel safe. This is THE priority. The energy shifted so dramatically, it blew me away.

Forrest Yoga with Karuna O'Donnell

FORREST YOGA
with Karuna O’Donnell , EdM, RYT
at Akasha Studio in JP                

Where:  Akasha Studio, 14 Meehan St. Floor 2, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 (near Doyle’s)
Times:  Sundays- 11am- 12:30pm & Tuesdays 6pm- 7:30pm   $13 drop in

Forrest Yoga honors and celebrates the beauty of life and the power of Spirit. It is an inspiring yoga practice that builds flexibility, intelligence and strength while helping deepen the relationship with your authentic self. Accessing your intuition - the voice of your Spirit - builds personal strength and ushers integrity into your daily interactions with all beings. Forrest Yoga challenges you to heal, grow and welcome your Spirit home.

Karuna holds a Master’s Degree in Education from Harvard University and is in her second year of mentorship with Forrest Yoga Guardian, Heidi Sormaz, PhD. Teaching Forrest Yoga to people in recovery and healing is her deepest passion and greatest honor.
Contact- karunaodonnell@gmail.com  info@akashastudiojp.com or call339.532.7500

I’ve been practicing Forrest Yoga with Karuna for close to a year now and I can honestly say it has done wonders for me. I started practicing while going through an especially tumultuous and stressful time in my life. Karuna takes her experience of nearly two decades along with her training in trauma sensitive yoga and carefully adjusts the practice to the needs of the student. Her classes are conducted professionally and at a steady pace. She puts a lot of planning and preparation into her classes and is careful not to go beyond the ability of the students. I cannot recommend this class highly enough and don’t know where I’d be right now without it.”  -Joshua L.

“Karuna is a wonderful yoga teacher. She is very attentive, present, and giving. I am always amazed at how restored I feel after 75 minutes in her presence. I was completely new to Forrest yoga when I took my first class with Karuna, and I am hooked. Karuna is extremely sensitive to injuries, pregnancies, tightness, etc, and always asks about issues and tailors class for each person, regardless of if it is your first yoga class or your 5000th. It's sweaty, challenging, shaky, and possible. It's the best mind-body experience out there, so far as I'm concerned. I love Forrest yoga, but I love Karuna yoga most of all.”                                                                                                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                                         -Anna H.