This workshop is especially designed for elementary and middle-school teachers, special needs teachers, O.T.s, other allied and licensed mental health professionals, yoga therapists and yoga instructors who would like to learn how to incorporate Sensory-Enhanced Yoga® into the classroom and general school setting to help students manage symptoms of stress and/or unresolved trauma so they can maintain a calm, focused state of alertness conducive to learning. The course is being co-created by Megan Hennessey, M.Ed., RYT, Dr. Erin O’Neill, OTD, OTR/L RYT-200, and Lynn Stoller, M.S. OTR/L, C-IAYT, RYT 500/E-RYT 200, YACEP and will present the science/evidence base, theoretical model, guidelines for practice as well as the specific yoga forms, movements, breathing, and meditation techniques to implement the program. Participants will be taught both mat and chair versions of the program, as well as strategies for teaching the program to groups of students with mixed mobility levels. The workshop is highly experiential and includes a detailed manual. Yoga experience is not required. (Learn more)

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 co-developing and will co-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.

Dr. Erin O’Neill, OTD, OTR/L RYT-200

Dr. Erin O’Neill is an Occupational Therapist for Cambridge Public Schools in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Erin’s professional interest has been working with children with histories of complex trauma including environmental, physical, and mental trauma. Her interest first developed during a clinical placement at an adolescent inpatient mental health facility at the University of Massachusetts. Since that time she has received training in children’s yoga through Balansana Yoga, completed her 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training with Renee LeBlanc, and continued her education in the area of Sensory Integration. Erin holds an Advanced Practice Certificate in Neuroscience. She graduated with her Occupational Therapy Doctorate (OTD) from Thomas Jefferson University with a focus on the Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) of yoga programs in school settings. Erin has practiced yoga and mindfulness for more than fifteen years and integrates yoga and mindfulness into intervention sessions with her students with sensory processing disorders, ADHD, behavioral disorders, and trauma histories. Erin is co-developing and will co-lead the Institute’s S.M.Y.L.E.™ program: Sensory and Mindfulness-based Yoga for Learning Environments.

Sensory-Enhanced, Mindfulness-Based Yoga for Learning Environments (Lexington October 3-4)

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