Private Instruction

Originally, yoga was taught by one teacher directly to one student. The great ancient teachers understood the importance of individualizing each yoga experience to meet the needs of the student. Today, a private session allows for a more intimate view into your practice. You can start a new practice, deepen your practice or spend some time working with an injury or condition. When you work with a teacher one on one, the teacher is able to help you experience the benefits of yoga in a safe, personal way.

Private Yoga Therapy is an invaluable tool for students of all levels and experience. Private therapy provides the perfect setting to address your goals and work on areas of individual interest. Private Yoga Therapy can help you deepen your practice, gain confidence, answer questions and provide guidance. Beth can develop a home practice tailored to your individual needs.

Beth can also incorporate other modalities offering Reiki's healing touch, Sound Healing healing vibrations, Brain Gym(c) healing movement, and Thai Bodywork''s healing adjustments. All of this is combined with basic yoga therapy for an outstanding experience for you.

For new students
As a new student, you may be intimidated by the public classroom environment. Private classes allow Beth the opportunity to focus on you and make sure you are getting off to an appropriate start. Beth can also provide one on one therapy on an ongoing basis.

For more experienced students
Experienced students benefit from private therapy as well. You are able to have a deeper insight into specific postures or categories of postures that interest you. Private yoga therapy is the perfect learning environment. Beth can help you with posture alignment, modifications and can help you develop a balanced home practice. Private yoga therapy can also give the experienced student time to learn about yoga philosophy or other aspects of interest, such as meditation and breathing practices.

Therapeutic yoga session consultations
For those working with an injury or facing a health condition, therapeutic yoga sessions can help you do yoga safely and promote self-healing. Learn how to adapt yoga to your needs from Beth, specially trained teacher. Therapeutic yoga sessions can also help you manage health conditions and possibly reduce symptoms. From basic back care to stress reduction self care yoga therapy adapts the practice of yoga to meet the needs of people looking to manage and alleviate pain and suffering. If you are facing health challenges, Beth can help you manage your condition, reduce your symptoms and improve quality of life.

Rate $75/hour for Yoga Therapy, $30/half hour for Thai Bodywork. Inital sessions are general 1 1/2 hours moving to 1 hour thereafter.

From Beth's Editorial in V3 Magazine September 2015...

What IS Yoga Therapy?

Yoga Therapy is not the same as Yoga in the same way that Art Therapy is not the same as Art. When you think of art one gets a vision of a studio in which the artist creates and classes are lead. Likewise, when thinking of yoga one gets a vision of a studio where the yogi creates and yoga classes are lead. Art Therapy is using the tools of art in combination with psychology to bring healing to the individual. Similarly, Yoga Therapy uses the tools of yoga (poses, breathing and meditation) in combination with physical therapy and psychology to bring healing into the body.

A yoga therapist looks at ‘the issues in the tissues.' For example many people experiencing stress tense their body. Yoga therapist are trained to help relieve the tension and to guide the client to discovery of why this tension exists. It is through the combination of strengthening, lengthen and relaxing muscles, plus bringing mindful awareness to the issues that yoga therapy brings healing. Research in Yoga Therapy has experienced a “ three-fold increase in [the] number of publications seen in the last 10 years” (Jeter).

A typical private Yoga Therapy session consists of assessment of the physical body and breath, and an intake interview. Next the yoga therapist and the client together develop a home practice. During follow up visits the home practice is revised. The time spent in a yoga therapy session is not focused on ‘doing yoga' like one would in a yoga class, but on co-creating a custom practice that the client is then responsible for implementing. Group yoga therapy focuses on a common ailment such as Cancer or Fibromyalgia. These groups are typically very small. Home practices are still assigned to the group, which meets for a few sessions together.

The field of Yoga Therapy is brand new. Like all new fields the typical stages of development are first to accredit schools, next certify the graduates, and then turn this over to each of the 50 states to write licensing law. Yoga therapy has an organization, the International Association of Yoga Therapist (IAYT), that has begun accrediting schools. So far there are 23 worldwide. IAYT has also written a certification for individual yoga therapists (CYT) that mainly have graduated from the 23 accredited programs. They will begin accepting applications for certification next summer. Therefore as of the summer of 2016 this field will be ready for state licensure and at that point the acceptance of medical insurance will not be far behind.

Yoga Teachers (not therapists) register with Yoga Alliance (RYT) and teaching is where everyone in yoga starts. Later, after gaining a deeper knowledge, the teacher can become a therapist. It is the hope of this yoga therapist that medical professionals will eventually refer to Certified Yoga Therapists where appropriate.

Reference: Jeter, P. E., Slutsky, J., Singh, N., & Khalsa, S. B. S. (2015). Yoga as a Therapeutic Intervention: A Bibliometric Analysis of Published Research Studies from 1967 to 2013.   The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine .