Events + Workshops

Yoga for Unity: Flow of Empowerment

July 18 — 8:00 AM – 9:30 AM — FREE

Join Firefly Yoga & Lift Yoga + Body for another FREE event in cultivating unity in our world. Last month we honored Black lives lost during our 108 sun salutations. Now we are focusing on where we stand right now in the present. Now is the time to move forward with grace and intention. This 90 minute all levels practice is focused on empowering ourselves and our neighbors as we do the challenging work required for this movement. Now is the time to lean into the discomfort of change, open ourselves to possibilities of growth, and support each other in taking action. We’ll be gathering on the lawn behind the Alpharetta Community Center at 175 Roswell Street.

Yoga Teacher Training Info Session

July 25 — 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM — FREE

Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training

August 22 – 23 — 8:00 AM – 7:00 PM — $350
1-hour lunch break on both days

Prerequisite: 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training

This intensive 20-hour prenatal yoga teacher training will give the yoga teacher confidence, wisdom and prowess to teach, guide and mentor prenatal yoga students in EVERY phase of their pregnancies. In this training we will cover:

• Extensive prenatal anatomy and physiology including uterine ligaments, pelvic floor, placenta presentations and fetal presentations
• The trimesters and trimester specific considerations
• Optimal fetal positioning Indications/contraindications
• Prenatal class sequencing
• Modifications
• Incorporating a prenatal student into a traditional yoga class
• Prop usage Yoga for labor and delivery
• Proper pelvic floor activation

Senior & Chair Yoga

with Paige Dunford

September 19 – 20 — $150
Saturday: 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM (with 1-hour Lunch)
Sunday: 8:00 AM – 11:00 AM

This workshop is a guide to bringing yoga to people in older bodies. We’ll examine how aging affects the body, and how we can modify the practice to suit the needs of a unique aging body. We’ll gain an understanding of common neurological and physiological ailments that coincide with aging, and explore ways to safely facilitate a yoga practice for people experiencing these ailments. We will utilize the chair as a foundation for the practice, and as a prop to aid in many different styles of yoga.

Learning Objectives:

• Gain understanding in a variety of changes that coincide with aging.
• Learn ways to modify the practice to suit aging bodies.
• Gain knowledge about ways the practice of yoga can be a therapeutic tool to increase quality of life.
• Become equipped in teaching a practice entirely from a chair.
• Learn how to utilize the chair as an invaluable prop in all styles of classes.​

​​One year of yoga experience or 200 YTT recommended to benefit the most from this training.

Teaching Trauma Sensitive Yoga

with Kim Saunders

October 17 — $95
12:00 PM – 5:00 PM

This training consists of lecture, discussion, group activities, practice teaching, and trauma-informed yoga, breathing, and relaxation exercises, that can be useful not only for trauma, but tension and stress as well.

Over half of the US population reports having experienced at least one traumatic event in their lifetime, and approximately 7.7 million American adults suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) every year (Emerson & Hopper 2011, p.3). For many people, traumatic experiences overwhelm their ability to cope, leading to complex and devastating symptomatology that manifests mentally, emotionally, and physiologically – often for months or years after the trauma occurred.

Research demonstrates that traumatic events can leave an imprint on the cells and tissues of the body, leading to dysregulation and imbalances in nervous system function that manifest as symptoms of trauma. Due to trauma’s effects on the nervous system, an individual experiencing symptoms of trauma may be constantly on alert, chronically depressed or fatigued, have chronic pain, feel numb or dissociative, have biorhythm disturbances (such as sleep and metabolic issues), adopt unhealthy coping mechanisms, and more. Yoga, as a physical and mental practice that invites individuals to reconnect with their bodies, can facilitate healing through providing a conduit for the safe, controlled release of traumatic energy held in the body (Van der Kolk, 2014).

Topics Covered:

• Understanding PTSD and Complex Trauma.
• Using Yoga as an effective method for healing trauma stored in the body.
• Experience TRE – Tension & Trauma Releasing Exercises.
• Appropriate language for teaching a Trauma Informed Class.
• How to design a Trauma Sensitive Yoga Class.

*This training is a professional development training and is not intended as an intervention for personal healing/processing personal trauma. Talking about trauma, and the principles and practice of trauma-informed yoga may be triggering. The training is not intended for those currently in crisis.

Works Cited:

• Emerson D and Hopper E. 2011. Overcoming Trauma Through Yoga: Reclaiming Your Body. North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, CA and The Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute, Inc., Boston, MA.
• Van der Kolk, B. 2014. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Viking.