Sensory-Enhanced Yoga® for Self-Regulation is designed especially for registered yoga instructors who wish to incorporate evidence-based, trauma-sensitive yoga techniques into their yoga classes to help those who have high anxiety or have experienced trauma to better self-regulate their own nervous systems and energy levels to better meet life’s challenges. If you are a certified yoga therapist please fill out the form for health professionals as you will also be able to use the material presented in this course to address core issues of PTSD and promote healing from the condition. The 2-day workshop includes several paired teaching practices and a larger group experiential lab. (Learn more)

Purchase of the book is required for this course and will be distributed to participants at the workshop location. If you already own the book, you will need to bring it to the workshop in order to be refunded the book cost that was added to the registration fee.

INSTRUCTORS:

Lynn Stoller, M.S. OTR/L, C-IAYT, RYT 500/E-RYT 200, YACEP

 Lynn is the Founding President of the Sensory-Enhanced Yoga® Institute.  She has a special interest in war-related sensory processing disorders and yoga as a treatment modality.  Lynn has trained yoga instructors and health professionals in sensory-based yoga techniques for combat stress and PTSD since 2008. Lynn is associate investigator and first author of the Iraq yoga study, “Effects of Sensory-Enhanced Yoga on Symptoms of Combat Stress in Deployed Military Personnel” (Stoller et al, Jan/Feb 2012 AJOT) for which she was honored with the 2013 AOTA Cordelia Myers Writer’s Award.  Her program, “Sensory-Enhanced Yoga® for Self-Regulation & Trauma Healing” evolved from the highly successful treatment protocol used in the study, which Lynn co-developed. Lynn was a highly influential faculty member of two pioneering veteran/military yoga organizations, Yoga Warriors (2008-2011) and Warriors at Ease (2011-2016), and continues to serve as a mentor to students within Warriors at Ease. Lynn is also an occupational therapist at Cotting School in Lexington, MA, where she first discovered the healing power of yoga for adolescents and young adults who have anxiety, ADHD, sensory modulation disorders, and related ANS disorders.  Lynn is a 300-hr. and 800-hr. graduate of the Integrative Yoga Therapy program, a Level 2 iRest® practitioner, and is an IAYT-certified yoga therapist. She has been teaching therapeutic yoga classes for veterans in her local community for several years, and has been an invited guest speaker for professional groups and veterans organizations.

Megan Hennessey, M.Ed., RYT

Megan was introduced to mindfulness-based practices after experiencing severe bouts of anxiety from the immense pressure she put on herself as a Division 1 athlete and high academic achiever at Boston College.  Through regular practice of meditation, hypnosis, and mindful awareness, Megan learned to not let anxieties take control of her life.  These practices enabled her to graduate from Boston College with a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and Human Development followed by a Master’s degree in Severe Special Education. For the past four years, Megan has taught a classroom of students who have moderate to severe special needs (and high anxiety) at Cotting School, Lexington, MA.  She quickly gained a reputation for her talent of structuring her classroom for promoting effective learning through sensory-based, mindfulness strategies and meditation practices.   She has presented talks and written articles on the topic and has inspired many of her colleagues at Cotting School to adopt her techniques.   She taught her students invaluable tools that help them quiet their minds, improve their level of self-awareness, and be more present to learn in the classroom.  Megan is also a passionate yogi and has completed yoga and meditation workshops around the world including Kripalu Center, Hariharalaya Yoga Retreat Center in Cambodia, The Sanctuary in Thailand, as well as a 200-hour yoga training at Embrace Energy Yoga School in Thailand.  Megan completed Jon Kabat Zinn’s 8-week course on Mindfulness-based Stressed Reduction in June 2017.  Megan is developing and will lead the Institute’s S.M.Y.L.E.™ program: Sensory and Mindfulness-based Yoga for Learning Environments. She also co-teaches yoga classes for veterans at Open Spirit, Edwards Church, Framingham, MA.

Sensory-Enhanced Yoga® for Self-Regulation for Yoga Instructors (Lexington September 12-13)