Ritual Vinyasa
This training teaches students how to teach Orthopedic Yoga Flow classes, as well as bring sacred ritual into any personal practice, no matter how much time can be devoted daily.
The word “vinyasa” means to connect. A “Vinyasa flow” class is one in which the poses are connected and move rhythmically from one to the next. This enables the joints to be bathed in synovial fluid, the internal, healing lubricant of the body. In this course, all levels of flow are taught so students will be able to teach in every situation, to all students. Students leave fully prepared to teach all levels of classes ranging from power style, sweaty and exhilarating classes, to gentle, slow therapeutic flows. The best part is, all students will graduate knowing how to support and protect their students, even those working with constraints or injuries. You will never have to say: “If this pose doesn’t work for you, feel free to come into Child’s Pose.”; because you will have the knowledge to modify those postures for those students to make it safe for them.
- An ability to teach informed, safe and inspiring yoga classes ranging from slow, gently and therapeutic to fast, sweaty and exhilarating; to students of all levels and all degrees of experience, in person and online.
- The knowledge needed to keep every student in your classes safe, and always moving towards optimal balance and alignment even if they are working with a restriction or injury
- A deep understanding of the physical and energetic anatomies
- A functional perspective of the joints move, take stress and are to be aligned with regards to yoga; and the ability to feel in in their own bodies and see it in their students.
- The ability to 'body read' which will allow participants to look at their students and know what adjustments that student needs to make where, and why, to bring student into better alignment, out of pain and away from the risk of injury.
- The experience and knowledge to create a unique yoga practice that is right for you; as well as to know when and how to modify that practice as appropriate.
- An in-depth understanding of the often misunderstood 'Fascia' of the body, and how it relates to yoga and orthopedics.
- Experience of offering therapeutic hands-on assists in a safe and effective manner
- An amazing, growth filled and fun experience within an outstanding community of people.
- A life-changing, transformative educational experience that will benefit participants and the lives of the people around them.
Earth
We begin with our Earth segment and explore our connections, to ourselves, our families’, our students, each other, our communities, our planet and our god. We begin to analyze what it means to be a teacher and the unique opportunities it affords. We will revel in the earthly qualities that allow us to ground down, reconnect and move forward from this stable foundation. In that effort will learn to develop self-care practices designed specifically for our unique bodies and our unique needs to connect and recharge. Moving further into this realm we will explore practices designed to fend off depression and learn how to guide students to find individualized daily practices custom tailored for their current needs. Guest teacher Chip Hartranft will help us to grow our roots all the way back to India with his History of Yoga Course, Ray Crist will I bring us into the Luminous Field and I will delve deeply into the anatomy of the spinal column.
Orthopedic Yoga Therapy Level 2 Syllabus Outline:
300 hour Advanced Teacher Training
- Plane or Direction of Movement: The Sagittal Plane
- Joint Movement: Flexion and Extension
- Energetics: Grounding Down
- TCM Lines: Stomach Meridian, Spleen Meridian, Bladder Meridian, Liver Meridian, Kidney Meridian
- Fascial Meridians: SFL, SBL and Deep Core
- Body Segments: Feet, Legs, Pelvic Floor
- Organs: those of elimination and digestion: stomach, intestines, colon
- Gland: Adrenals
- Plexus: Coccygeal
- Chakras: 1st and 2nd
- Koshas: Annamaya Kosha, the physical body
- Kleisha: Avidya, seperation, discernment
- Limbs of Yoga: Asana, Yama and Niyama
- Pranayama: Durga Breathe, Ujayi Breath
- Undoings: chest openers, erector releases, hip flexor work
- Stabilizations: Inner Spiral - Tuck Tail, Ribs Back, Rhomboid and Serratus balancing
- Sequences: Sun Salutes of all levels and types, Warrior 1 sequences
- Poses: Forward Folds, Standing Poses, Back Bends, Standing poses in the Sagittal Plane: especially balance poses like Tree and Dancer
- Themes: Grounding, nurturing, connecting, allowing ourselves to have our needs met and to take up space
- Mantras: any associated with first chakra
- Mudras: all those associated with the ring (Earth) finger Ayurveda: Kapha dispostion
Shadow Side:
- Energetic: Depression, Lethargy, Tamasic, Feeling Unsupported, Fear for survival, and any left over issues with family of origin especially parents
- Physical: Hyper or Hypo Kyphosis, Posterior tilt of the pelvis, Sciatica, Knee, Foot and Ankle Issues, constipation, weight issues
Water
Dates TBD June 2026 with Michelle Fleming
The energy of water is stabilization and flow. In RV: Water, we will work with the second and third Chakras, and the ancient traditional practice of Ayurveda to support our power center.
As we wade into the water element, we unlock the floodgates to creativity. In this segment we explore the movements of Moon Salute, a seductive, dance-like flow in the Coronal plane. We will discover the fluid nature of our bodies through Fascial Anatomy, Cardiac Yoga, and the gentle rhythmic practices of Restorative Arial Yoga. We will delve deeply into the anatomy of the shoulders and arms as we strive to find the ever-changing balance between too much and too little; our shoulder joint will be our guide as a means to understand the delicate balance of stability and mobility. We will work with the dual nature of the hips and pelvis as foundational pieces of our balance in the left and right sides of our physical form.
Focusing on the creative storehouse of Second Chakra and the flowing qualities of Pranomaya and Manomaya Koshas in our energetic explorations, we will examine sexuality, mothering, and our relationship to the divine feminine across all spectrums of gender expression. Our shadow side here is the martyr, while the energy of compassion lows with the water element, imbalance can lead to be energetically wrung out, bled dry, allowing our expressions of love in the world to pull us off-center and out of ourselves in our urgency to serve others. Our practices will balance the restorative, soft quality of restoration, and the transformative power of play to build strength and resilience.
Air
The energy of air is witnessing and holding space. In RV: Air, we will work with the fifth through seventh Chakras, and the ancient traditional practice of Pranayama to support our breath flow.
Ritual Vinyasa Air Syllabus Outline:
- Plane and direction of movement: Axial Extension
- Asanas: Inversions and Arm Balances
- Ayurveda: Prana and Apana, Vata disposition
- Energetics: Kundalini rising, merging with the divine, grounding down and rising up, samadhi
- TCM Lines: Conception Meridian, Cosmic Orbit
- Fascial Meridians: Deep core
- Body Segments: Neck, Head, Pelvic Floor, Psoas, and Deep Spinal Muscles
- Chakras: 5th-7th
- Pranayama: ALL, Starting with full relaxed exhalation
- Undoings: Yin Style Twists, Lizard, Lateral Rotator Balances, Brain Gym
- Stabilizations: Intra-spinal musculature balance, neck stability
- Strengthening Focus: Long Neck, Rooted Tail
- Sequences: Air Salute, Acro-Yoga
- Themes: Strength in the surrender, also yourself to be vulnerable, "If you never allow yourself to fall, you will never fly." "Troll shoes are heavy."
- Mudras: All of those associated with the index finger
Shadow Side
- Energetic: "Air head", "flighty", easily distracted
- Physical: Vertigo, Inner Ear Issues, TMJ
- Lesson to be learned: Rooting and staying true to oneself while extending upwards and outward
Locations
These trainings are offered in conjunction with our partnership studios, as well as through live and recorded online sessions.
Winthrop, MA
with Kathleen Coffey
of Be The Light Yoga Studio
Begins September 7th with a weeklong intensive!
Playa El Coco Rivas
Nicaragua
