Yoga Therapeutics at Desert Song
An Integrative Approach to Health
Yoga Therapeutics offers a holistic approach to health and wellness, integrating mind, body and spirit. Desert Song offers the following Yoga Therapies to our clients:
Integrative Yoga Therapy
Yoga Therapy uses the practice of yoga to improve one’s health and wellbeing. The approach is different from other therapies in that it looks at the individual from a holistic perspective, including lifestyle. Integrative yoga therapy observes all levels of the student, including: physical, energetic and spiritual bodies and mind, emotions and core beliefs. This is done with body awareness exercises, breath work, yoga postures, guided Integrated Movement Awarenessgery, relaxation and meditation. The session offers an individual health program, to practice between visits, suited specifically to the client’s health considerations.
The following teachers are available for private yoga therapy consultations.
Mary Beth Markus - LMT, CYI, E-RYT, Holistic Health Consultant
Meg Byerlein - BSN, CYI, E-RYT, Certified Anusara Instructor, Holistic Health Consultant
Deborah Kayatt - CYI, RYT, IYT
To schedule an appointment, please contact the center at 602.265.8222.
Integrative Movement Awareness
Integrative Movement Awareness is based on the teachings developed by Moshe Feldenkrais and
is for anyone who wants to reconnect with their natural abilities to move, think and feel with ease. Integrated Movement Awareness is a way of learning
to move with more ease and to carry less stress in your body. Unfortunately, functioning in our daily lives we establish patterns of movement that
we “think” are
the right and only way for us. However, our bodies have immense potential for movement. We are just not aware of it. Integrated Movement Awareness is learning through, and with,
your body about your self. Gentle movement and directed attention develop your self-awareness to put you back in touch with the fluid, easy movement
you once knew. The body’s
movements become more organized, beginning to reduce and eliminate pain.
In conditions of pain and limitation (back pain, overuse injury, aftereffects
of stroke), the role played by subconscious responses is often overlooked. Learning through Integrated Movement Awareness will bring you in touch with your power to change those
responses. By gently letting go of unnecessary or habitual movement patterns that nourish the pain and limitation you experience, you allow the body
to find its way to a more expanded, fluid and efficient range of motion.
Integrated Movement Awareness Group lessons - 60 minute session
The students are guided verbally through the movement sequences. Sequences are done mostly lying on the floor, but some involve sitting, standing or walking. Every lesson has a theme that develops step-by-step, allowing the body the opportunity to discover better organization for movement. The theme may be based on a functional activity such as bending and straightening, turning, rolling, reaching, etc. Or joint, muscle and postural relationships might be explored. Easy movement sequences gradually evolve into movements of greater range and complexity.
Integrated Movement Awareness Individual lessons - 90 minute session
These lessons are usually performed with the student lying on a table, sitting or standing, fully clothed in loose comfortable clothing. The integrative
process is custom-tailored to meet your unique needs. The practitioner guides the movement with non-invasive touch. Through this form of communication,
limitations are acknowledged and possibilities for movement explored. Passive in your body, yet active by observing, feeling and responding, the
student learns more about her/himself and the way she/he moves. The body is able to release areas of tension and trauma and open to its full potential
of movement. The practitioner then discovers alternatives and new possibilities of ease in posture and movement and learns how to integrate them
into her/his everyday life.
Judy Pyanowski - LMT, CYI, CPT is available for private consultation.
For more information
or to schedule an appointment, please contact the Center at 602.265.8222.
Integrated Movement Therapy for Children
It is well known that yoga has therapeutic value for adults, and the same is true for children. In a world
where demands on children are increasing and the incidence of autism is now one in every 150 children, yoga offers unique possibilities as a therapy
for developmental challenges. Integrated Movement Therapy (IMT), an approach developed at the Samarya Center in Seattle, attends to the needs of
the whole person. IMT has a healing focus that addresses these six core principles:
- Structure and continuity
- Language stimulation
- Physical stimulation
- Self-calming
- Social interaction
- Direct self-esteem building
Each session with a child incorporates all of these principles through relaxation techniques, breath awareness, and games using
yoga poses that stimulate physical, language and social development.
Every child is seen as a whole, perfect being, not participating in therapy to be “fixed,” but
to become more present to the divine essence that resides in each of us.
Mary Glover - MA Elem Ed, CYI, RY offers private consultations
for children at Desert Song.
For more information or to schedule an appointment, please contact the office at 602.265.8222.
Back to Top