Review the Lineup- November 6-9, 2026

 

The Anatomy of Yoga: Science, Synergy and Practice

With Tess O'Hern, C-IAYT

November 6 at 8:00–9:00 AM PST (California)/11:00 AM–12:00 PM (New York)/4:00–5:00 PM (London)

This presentation explores how yogic practices impact and support the interconnected systems of the human body. Together, we’ll uncover the science behind how yoga supports the entire body.

This interactive session examines the complex, symbiotic relationships between body systems and demonstrates how targeted practices—including asana, pranayama, and meditation—can optimize overall physiological function.

We will demystify common anatomical misconceptions in popular yoga instruction, grounding our exploration in current evidence-informed research. By taking an anatomical lens, participants will deepen their understanding of body mechanics and gain actionable insights to enhance posture, breathing, and daily vitality.

Tess O’Hern holds a doctorate in Physical Therapy and worked as a physical therapist, Therapy Manager, and Chief Therapist for California Children’s Services in Los Angeles and Orange Counties for 23 years. She received her Clinical Yoga Therapist Certification from Loyola Marymount University in 2012 and her C-IAYT credential in 2017. Tess is co-founder and co-director of the AlcheMe Yoga Therapy Program in Irvine, California, and currently serves as a volunteer on the International Association of Yoga Therapists Accreditation Committee. 

 

The Science and Research on Yoga for Sleep and Insomnia

With Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, PHD

November 6 at 9:15–10:45 AM PST (California) / 12:15–1:45 PM (New York)/ 5:15–6:45 PM (London)

There is an increasing recognition and knowledge about the value of sleep in both physiology, psychology and human performance.  There is emerging evidence of the negative impact of restricting one’s duration of night-time sleep, which is an increasing trend in modern society.  Furthermore, there is also an increasing burden and prevalence of sleep disturbances and disorders, especially chronic insomnia, which is believed to be strongly influenced by stress and arousal. 

Behavioral treatments for insomnia have been well-validated and there is strong research evidence demonstrating the high effectiveness of yoga for alleviating stress and arousal.  However, these approaches, which are free of the side effects and other complications with sleeping pills, are not well known and poorly implemented.  This lecture will describe the characteristics and importance of sleep to mental and physical health and performance and the underlying characteristics of insomnia, and will overview the well-known behavioral treatments for insomnia and the research demonstrating the efficacy of yoga for sleep quality and insomnia.

Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, Ph.D., is a Corresponding Member of the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, retiring as Associate Professor of Medicine, and is Director of Research for the Kundalini Research Institute. He has conducted scientific research on the efficacy of yoga for mental health since 2001. He chairs the scientific program committee for the International Association of Yoga Therapists’ annual conference, serves as editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Yoga Therapy, and is chief editor of the medical textbook The Principles and Practice of Yoga in Health Care. 

 

Your Practice Is Your Mirror: How Your Nervous System, Design, and Self-Trust Shape the Way You Serve

With Joy Miyatake, C-IAYT

November 6 at 11:00 AM–12:00 PM PST (California)/2:00–3:00 PM (New York)/ 7:00–8:00 PM (London)

This session is for anyone curious about how yoga heals beyond the mat: yoga therapists, yoga teachers, healers, coaches, caregivers, leaders, and individuals on a personal healing path. In this experiential and reflective presentation, Joy Miyatake, Certified Yoga Therapist and Human Design Strategist, will explore how the way we show up in our lives often mirrors our nervous system patterns, self-trust, boundaries, and relationship to visibility, service, and receiving.

Participants will learn how patterns such as overgiving, overexplaining, people-pleasing, hiding, burnout, and mistrusting one’s own inner knowing can be understood not as personal failures, but as intelligent adaptations of the nervous system. Through the lens of yoga therapy, somatic awareness, and Human Design-informed self-inquiry, this session invites participants to recognize the deeper patterns shaping how they make decisions, relate to others, hold space, and honor their own needs.

Key takeaways include a clearer understanding of how self-awareness supports healing, how the nervous system influences relationships and life choices, and how self-trust becomes a pathway to embodied presence.

Aligned with the theme How Yoga Heals, this session demonstrates that yoga heals not only through techniques, postures, or protocols, but through the practitioner’s and participant’s willingness to meet themselves with honesty, compassion, and clarity.

Joy Miyatake is a Certified Yoga Therapist, Human Design Strategist, and founder of Joyful Presence®. She helps leaders, practitioners, and purpose-driven entrepreneurs return to self-trust through body-based trauma support, nervous system regulation, and Human Design-informed strategy. Her work bridges somatic wisdom, energetic alignment, and practical clarity so clients can move, lead, and create from a place of grounded presence.

 

Leadership and Resilience from Embodied Practice: Individual Healing for Collective Liberation

With Reggie Hubbard, E-RYT 500

November 6 at 12:45–2:15 PM PST (California)/3:45–5:15 PM (New York)/8:45–10:15 PM (London)

The complexity and uncertainty of the times we are living in require a depth and diversity of practice to help us metabolize grief, adversity, and change—both individually and collectively.

Drawing from his lived experience as an activist, yoga and meditation practitioner, stroke survivor, and sonic practitioner, Reggie will guide participants into deeper inquiry around nourishment, fearless authenticity, service, and the relationship between individual healing and collective liberation.

Reggie Hubbard is the founder and Chief Serving Officer of Active Peace. His work brings together community, well-being, meditation, movement, sound, and engaged citizenship. He holds the E-RYT 500 and YACEP credentials through Yoga Alliance and has completed more than 1,000 hours of study with teachers including Sri Dharma Mittra, Rod Stryker, Amy Ippoliti, and Faith Hunter. He is also a graduate of the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program led by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. 

 

The Neuro-Yoga Psychology Model: The Science Behind How Yoga Heals

With M. Mala Cunningham, Ph.D., C-IAYT

November 6 at 2:30–4:00 PM PST (California)/5:30–7:00 PM (New York)/10:30 PM–12:00 AM (London)

What I'll Teach:

Participants will be provided an overview of the Neuro-Yoga Psychology Model — a framework that maps the eight limbs of yoga (yamas, niyamas, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, samadhi) to their psychological and neurological correlates. Participants will learn how each limb engages specific brain structures and regulatory pathways, especially the vagus nerve, and will experience these concepts firsthand through elements of a Neuro-Yoga Hatha practice.

Who It's For:

Yoga teachers, medical professionals, mental health clinicians, somatic therapists, and yoga therapists who want an evidence-informed framework for using yoga as a nervous-system regulation tool for mental and physical health.

Key Takeaways:

• How the 8-limbed path maps onto brain function and nervous system regulation (the Neuro-Yoga Psychology Model)

• The vagus nerve's role in yoga's healing effects, and which specific yoga practices stimulate, calm, and regulate it

• How to sequence a Neuro-Yoga Hatha practice for healing physically, mentally, and emotionally.

• How to bridge yogic philosophy and neuroscience in yoga classes and clinical settings.

Relation to "How Yoga Heals":

This session relates to the conference theme by offering an evidence-based model for each of the eight limbs of yoga, paired with experiential practice showing the impact of Neuro-Yoga Hatha on reshaping neural pathways and regulating the autonomic nervous system. The Neuro-Yoga Psychology Model gives practitioners a bridge between ancient philosophy (the eight limbs) and modern neuroscience, showing why and how yoga heals — not just that it does.

Mala Cunningham, Ph.D. is a licensed psychotherapist in private practice in Charlottesville, Va. She is also an author, educator, yoga therapist and entrepreneur. She is an international speaker and trainer and is an innovator in the field of Integrative Medicine and Neuro-Yoga Psychology™. Dr. Mala previously served on the faculty at the University of Virginia in both the nursing and medical school and is currently a retreat facilitator in mind-body medicine for nursing students. She’s the founder and director of several certification programs including Cardiac Medical Yoga; Neuroscience and Yoga; and The Neuroscience of Mental Health. Her book on Neuroscience, Yoga, and Psychology was newly release in June, 2026.

 

Beyond the Mat: The Yoga Sutras as a Therapeutic Framework

With Cathryn Wilson, M.A., APCC, C-IAYT, E-RYT 500

 November 7 at 8:00–9:00 AM PST (California)/11:00 AM–12:00 PM (New York)/4:00–5:00 PM (London)

The Yoga Sutras are often introduced as a philosophical text or guide to meditation, yet they also offer a remarkably sophisticated framework for understanding the human experience of suffering.

In this session, Cathryn Wilson explores the Yoga Sutras through a therapeutic lens, examining how Patanjali’s teachings can help us understand patterns that contribute to psychological distress—and the practices that cultivate greater freedom, discernment, and resilience.

Participants will explore the kleshas as patterns shaping perception and behavior, abhyasa and vairagya as practices for working with habitual responses, and the Eight Limbs of Yoga as a multidimensional model for psychological and embodied well-being.

Rather than treating the Sutras as abstract philosophy, we will consider how these teachings can become practical tools for working with anxiety, reactivity, self-criticism, attachment, avoidance, and persistent mental patterns.

The session weaves together yogic philosophy, contemporary psychology, reflection, and embodied practice, offering an accessible way to begin applying the Sutras within our own lives and teaching.

Cathryn Wilson is a therapist, yoga therapist, trained Dance/Movement Therapist, and Director of Soma Yoga Institute. Her work explores the intersection of yoga philosophy, psychology, nervous-system regulation, and embodied approaches to healing. Cathryn holds a master’s degree in counseling and has studied Indian philosophy at the University of Hyderabad in India. 

 

Yoga for People in Addiction Recovery

With Robert Guilmette, C-IAYT, E-RYT 500

November 7 at 9:15–10:45 AM PST (California) / 12:15–1:45 PM (New York)/ 5:15–6:45 PM (London)

Yoga for People in Addiction Recovery explores ways Yoga can support people living with substance use disorder (SUD), especially during early recovery.

This session is for Yoga teachers, Yoga therapists, behavioral health professionals, and others who currently work with this population or are interested in doing so. It may also be useful for people who want to better understand how Yoga can support positive behavioral change.

We will look at:

• What a person may be experiencing in early recovery.

• What Yoga can help develop, including greater self-awareness, self-regulation, psychological flexibility, self-compassion, and agency.

• How we may need to teach Yoga differently in addiction treatment settings, with more attention to simplicity, choice, repetition, safety, and nervous-system regulation.

• A short practice that participants can experience and potentially adapt for this setting.

Drawing from growing research on Yoga and substance use disorder, along with Rob’s experience developing and teaching a Yoga curriculum in a residential treatment center, this session will explore how Yoga can be a practical and meaningful resource in the recovery process.

Rob Guilmette C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, has been teaching Yoga professionally since 2013 and is a certified Yoga Therapist. For more than a year, he has been teaching Yoga three times a week in a residential addiction treatment setting, where he has developed a curriculum designed specifically for people in recovery.

His approach draws from traditional Yoga teachings, with an emphasis on making Yoga practical and accessible for people from all walks of life.

Rob’s connection to this work is both professional and personal, shaped in part by his own early experiences with substance use and the role Yoga has played in helping him build a different way of living.

 

Tapping Into Chair Yoga and Your Nervous System for Living with Pain

With Susanne Murtha, C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, CPMC, NBC-HWC

November 7 at 11:00 AM–12:00 PM PST (California) / 2:00–3:00 PM (New York)/ 7:00–8:00 PM (London)

When we feel pain, there's a natural urge to do something about it — to figure out a cause and seek help. Often, we look outward before realizing what we can do for ourselves. This session leverages the many factors that influence our pain — turning them to our advantage.

This isn't just anecdotal — yoga is a recommended, evidence-supported approach for chronic pain, including low back and neck pain, validated by systematic review and endorsed by bodies including the American College of Physicians and the National Academies of Medicine. It's both low-risk and effective, and now recommended as a first-line, non-drug option.

We'll explore 8 mind-body-yoga strategies grounded in research and yogic wisdom, tailored to working with pain through chair yoga. We'll tap into your body's own healing capacity — the power of your mindset (Sankalpa); breathing, gestures, and grounded self-touch to reinforce the parasympathetic nervous system. Techniques we’ll draw from include Progressive Muscle Relaxation and alternating attention between tension and release; Somatic Tracking; Gate Control Theory; and knowing when to emphasize exteroception versus interoception.

Susanne brings 30 years of teaching experience to the practice of making yoga genuinely accessible for people managing pain. A Certified Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT) and Pain Management Coach, she has worked with hundreds of individuals managing pain. As a Senior Health Coach and subject matter expert in Mindfulness at Hinge Health, she developed articles and shared yoga-aligned audio experiences to support members with chronic pain. Her work is rooted in a personal commitment, born from watching her own mother navigate chronic pain, to help others build sustainable strategies for well-being and life satisfaction — a commitment she has carried through 18 years bringing yoga to rural, underserved communities in the Adirondacks. Her book, Chair Yoga: Practices for Living Well and Easing Pain, will be available in early Summer 2027. Contact Susanne at YogaHealsUs.com.

 

Experiential Anatomy as Therapy

With Leila Stuart, BA, LLB, RMT (retired), C-IAYT

November 7 at 12:45–2:15 PM PST (California) / 3:45–5:15 PM (New York)/ 8:45–10:15 PM (London)

Interoception is the perception, processing, and integration of inner sensations that inform us about our physical and emotional states. We sense anxiety in a shallow breath. We feel a knowingness that a certain movement is healing.

Sensory information motivates us to self-regulate — we need to feel what we want to heal. To change patterns of how we breathe, hold ourselves, move, or think, we need a clear felt sense of how they affect us. We can't repattern what we can't sense.

Yoga poses are healing, but we can get caught up in alignment, in getting it "right." We think our way through a pose instead of feeling it from the inside. And we miss the qualities the pose generates, like grounding, stability, or centering.

We learn these states by sensing ourselves in stillness and movement. Tracking sensation through a pose, we become conscious participants in feedback loops that refine and alter our responses, and ultimately direct neuroplastic changes. We come to know the "sensory signatures" of grounding, stability, and centering, and how to re-create them whenever we need them: on the mat, in a hard conversation, or when we need to stand up for ourselves.

In this workshop, we will use experiential anatomy, somatic inquiry, and yoga therapy principles to explore interoception as a doorway — into body wisdom, into less suffering,and into a deeper sense of Self. Practices will be drawn from my book, Experiential Anatomy, Therapeutic Applications of Embodied Movement and Awareness.

This session will be valuable for anyone with some yoga experience who wants to cultivate resilience and live in their body with greater ease. It is especially valuable for yoga teachers, therapists and any health professionals working therapeutically with the body. No anatomy background needed. Just willingness to feel.

Leila Stuart is a pioneer in embodied movement education with more than 35 years of experience teaching embodied movement and anatomy as yoga therapy. A retired clinical massage therapist and C-IAYT Yoga Therapist, she opened one of Canada’s first dedicated yoga therapy studios and taught a 300-hour yoga therapy training for 14 years. She is the author of Experiential Anatomy: Therapeutic Applications of Embodied Movement and Awareness and co-author with Donna Farhi of Pathways to a Centered Body. 

 

Perimenopause & Beyond: Strengthening Through the Transition

With Jess Trudeau, E-RYT 500

November 7 at 2:30–4:00 PM PST (California) / 5:30–7:00 PM (New York)/ 10:30 PM–12:00 AM (London) 

What happens to our bodies during perimenopause—and how can yoga help us meet these changes with strength and intention?

This introductory lecture and Yoga with Weights practice explores changes in muscle, bone, metabolism, and recovery during the menopause transition, along with current research surrounding resistance training for women in midlife and beyond.

Participants will explore how incorporating weights into yoga can support strength, bone health, balance, stability, and functional movement while maintaining the mindfulness, mobility, breath, and embodiment that make yoga unique.

Jess Trudeau, E-RYT 500, began practicing yoga in 1999. Her practice became an important foundation throughout motherhood and a serious illness with Guillain-Barré syndrome that temporarily left her paralyzed in 2016. Her teaching reflects a deep appreciation for the body’s capacity for resilience and transformation.

 

Meditation for Positive Mindset: Transform Healing to Thriving

With Megan McCarver, M.A., C-IAYT, E-RYT 500

November 8 at 8:00–9:00 AM PST (California) / 11:00 AM–12:00 PM (New York)/ 4:00–5:00 PM (London)

Join this welcoming one-hour online meditation experience designed to help transform a healing state of body-mind into a thriving state of being.

Through guided meditation, participants will learn three gentle practices designed to reduce stress, improve focus, and cultivate a more loving inner dialogue.

You’ll also explore personalized affirmations and practical techniques for shifting unhelpful thought patterns, strengthening resilience, and nurturing confidence, gratitude, and hope.

Megan McCarver, M.A., C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, is a yoga teacher and yoga therapist whose practice is rooted in the Krishnamacharya lineage and influenced by Buddhist traditions, Ayurveda, and Yoga lifestyle teachings. She offers private yoga therapy, medical-clinic groups, online meditation, retreats, mentorship, and professional education. 

Burnout to Breathing: Reclaiming the Intelligence of the Body and Breath

With Dr. Ela Manga, MBBCh, DCH, DipObst, CBP 

November 8 at 9:15–10:45 AM PST (California) / 12:15–1:45 PM (New York)/ 5:15–6:45 PM (London)

Burnout is often understood as the result of too much demand and too little recovery. In this session, Dr. Ela Manga explores burnout through a multidirectional lens—physiological, psychological, relational, and spiritual.

What changes when we understand the body as an intelligent system designed to support the flow of life?

From this perspective, breathing becomes a way of listening to and working with the intelligence of the body to support energy, regulation, resilience, and our capacity to engage with life.

Participants will experience these ideas within their own bodies and leave with a simple, accessible toolkit of breath and body practices for regulation, restoration, energy, and presence.

Dr. Ela Manga is an integrative medical doctor, author, speaker, and breathwork practitioner. She is founder and CEO of Breathwork Africa and author of BREATHE: Strategising Energy in the Age of Burnout and UMOYA: The Science and Wonder of Conscious Breathing. Her work brings together modern medicine, neuroscience, embodied practice, and ancient wisdom. 

 

Yoga Skills for Children’s Emotional Regulation

With Christine McArdle, MA, Author, E-RYT 500

November 8 at 11:00 AM–12:00 PM PST (California) / 2:00–3:00 PM (New York)/ 7:00–8:00 PM (London)

This experiential workshop explores practical, age-appropriate yoga tools that can support children in recognizing, expressing, and regulating emotions.

Participants will learn how simple movement, breathing practices, mindfulness, sensory awareness, and grounding techniques can help children develop greater body awareness, emotional resilience, and a sense of safety and calm.

The workshop includes an accessible introduction to the nervous system and emotional regulation alongside concrete practices that can be adapted for classrooms, therapeutic settings, yoga classes, and home.

Christine McArdle began practicing yoga while working as a first-year elementary school teacher in 1990. She quickly recognized the emotional balance, clarity, and strength yoga offered in navigating a demanding teaching career. Since then, the study and practice of yoga combined with the art and science of teaching have become her life’s work. 

 

Somatic Movement for Frozen Shoulder: A Nervous System & Fascia-Informed Approach

With Liz Heffernan, M.A., C-IAYT, E-RYT 500

November 8 at 12:45–2:15 PM PST (California) / 3:45–5:15 PM (New York)/ 8:45–10:15 PM (London)

Explore a gentle, pain-senistive approach to frozen shoulder through Somatic Movement, nervous-system regulation, and emerging fascia research.

Through discussion and mindful movement, you’ll discover techniques to reduce protective muscular holding, improve sensory awareness and motor control, and support greater comfort and ease of movement without forcing range of motion.

We’ll explore how movement needs may change through the freezing, frozen, and thawing stages while integrating Somatic Movement, gentle self-myofascial release, and supported restorative practices.

Participants will gain practical tools for supporting shoulder mobility, reducing chronic tension, and building greater confidence and ease in movement.

Please bring: a tennis ball or yoga therapy ball and two yoga blankets.

Liz Heffernan, M.A., E-RYT 500, C-IAYT, is an international yoga teacher and Certified Yoga Therapist with more than 30 years of teaching experience. A founding faculty member of Soma Yoga Institute, Liz specializes in Somatic Movement, Yoga Nidra, therapeutic Hatha Yoga, healthy aging, and nervous-system regulation. 

 

Meeting the Person, Not the Diagnosis: Lessons from Therapeutic Yoga in Cardiac & Cancer Care

With Becky Michalski, RN, BSN, C-IAYT

November 8 at 2:30–4:00 PM PST (California) / 5:30–7:00 PM (New York)/ 10:30 PM–12:00 AM (London)

A serious health diagnosis can change much more than the physical body. It can affect a person’s relationship with movement, energy, uncertainty, identity, and trust in their own body. In healthcare, the diagnosis often guides treatment. In yoga therapy, the diagnosis provides important information - but the person in front of us determines the practice.

Drawing from more than 20 years of nursing experience and years of teaching therapeutic yoga within cardiac rehabilitation and cancer recovery programs, this session explores how yoga can support the whole person through illness and recovery.

Designed for yoga therapists, yoga teachers, healthcare professionals, and others interested in bringing yoga into healthcare and community settings, we will explore practical ways to adapt movement, breath, rest, pacing, and language to an individual’s changing needs and capacity. Clinical examples will illustrate the importance of choice and agency, appropriate challenge, and meeting the individual rather than relying on diagnosis-based protocols alone.

Participants will also experience a short therapeutic practice incorporating gentle movement, breath awareness, and guided relaxation.

Through the lens of cardiac and cancer care, this session explores How Yoga Heals by helping people reconnect with their bodies, rebuild trust in their own experience, and discover supportive ways to move, breathe, rest, and participate in their healing.

Becky Michalski, RN, BSN, C-IAYT, is a registered nurse, Certified Yoga Therapist, and founder of Rooted Radiance Yoga Therapy. With more than 20 years of nursing experience, Becky brings together clinical understanding and the therapeutic practices of yoga to support whole-person well-being. Her work includes therapeutic yoga within cardiac rehabilitation and cancer recovery programs, as well as mentoring future yoga therapists. Her approach is compassion-centered and evidence-informed, offering gentle, accessible practices that help people reconnect with their bodies, build trust in their own experience, and create meaningful, sustainable change.

Intimate Inquiry: Whole Person Pelvic Care, Sexuality, and Women’s Fulfillment

With Cheri Ryba, C-IAYT, FME 3, Author

November9 at 8:00–9:00 AM PST (California) / 11:00 AM–12:00 PM (New York)/ 4:00–5:00 PM (London)

Cheri will explore how practitioners can support whole-person pelvic care while addressing shame, disconnection, trauma, agency, pleasure, and post-traumatic growth.

Accessible experiential practices will release common tension patterns, bring grounding, and enhance your delight in being alive. All of you is welcome here.

Gain insights around when to seek support or refer. All will benefit from the collective spirit of exploring: what would it mean for me to be fully embodied?

Cheri D. Ryba, C-IAYT, FME 3, is an author and yoga therapist with more than 20 years of experience in movement, self-inquiry, embodiment, yoga, and women’s intimate health. She is the author of Pelvic Yoga Therapy for the Whole Woman: A Professional Guide and has additional training as a Somatic Sexuality Healing Practitioner. 

 

The Body Knows: Movement, Trauma & the Intelligence of Healing

With Erica Hornthal, MA, LCPC, BC-DMT

November 9 at 9:15–10:45 AM PST (California) / 12:15–1:45 PM (New York)/ 5:15–6:45 PM (London)

What if healing doesn’t begin with changing your thoughts—but with changing how you move?

In this experiential 90-minute session, Erica Hornthal, “The Therapist Who Moves You,” explores how movement can become a pathway to emotional regulation, trauma recovery, and deeper self-awareness.

Drawing from dance/movement therapy, neuroscience, somatic psychology, and Kinesthetic Cognitive Therapy, participants will discover how the body communicates what the mind may not yet have words for.

Through accessible movement explorations, reflection, and practical therapeutic tools, participants will experience how qualities of movement can influence the way we think, feel, relate, and heal.

Erica Hornthal, MA, LCPC, BC-DMT, is a licensed clinical professional counselor, board-certified dance/movement therapist, and founder of Chicago Dance Therapy. She earned her MA in Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling from Columbia College Chicago and is creator of Kinesthetic Cognitive Therapy. Erica is the author of Body Aware, Body Talk, and The Movement Therapy Deck. 

 

Understanding Low Back Pain: A Functional, Therapeutic Yoga Approach

With Robin Rothenberg, C-IAYT

November 9 at 11:00 AM–12:00 PM PST (California) / 2:00–3:00 PM (New York)/ 7:00–8:00 PM (London)

Low back pain is one of the most common—and often misunderstood—conditions yoga teachers and movement professionals encounter.

In this practical and clinically informed session, Robin Rothenberg explores why backs hurt and how yoga professionals can move beyond generic “low back” practices toward a more individualized understanding of function.

Participants will explore the relationship between breathing, pelvic organization, stability and mobility, and common patterns of low back and sacroiliac discomfort.

Robin will highlight the importance of distinguishing between bodies that need greater mobility and those that need greater stability, helping teachers avoid the common mistake of stretching areas that may actually require support.

Through accessible education and experiential practice, participants will gain practical movement and cueing strategies they can begin applying in yoga classes, private sessions, and their own practice, along with a clearer understanding of when symptoms warrant referral to a healthcare provider.

Robin Rothenberg, C-IAYT, is an internationally respected yoga therapist specializing in supporting people with respiratory, immune, and structural imbalances through yoga and therapeutic breathing practices. She is the author of Restoring Prana: A Guide to Pranayama and Healing Through the Breath and its companion, The Svadhyaya Breath Journal. Robin currently serves as interim board president of the International Association of Yoga Therapists. 

 

The Five Prana Vayus: Breathing, Energy & the Intelligence of the Body

With Peggy Profant, C-IAYT, E-RYT 500

November 9 at 12:45–2:15 PM PST (California) / 3:45–5:15 PM (New York)/ 8:45–10:15 PM (London)

The yogic tradition describes five primary movements of prana—the Prana Vayus—that organize the flow of energy throughout the body and influence breathing, digestion, elimination, circulation, expression, and integration.

In this experiential session, Peggy Profant explores the Vayus as a practical framework for understanding the relationship between breath, physiology, and embodied well-being.

Participants will explore Prana, Apana, Samana, Udana, and Vyana Vayu, learning how each directional movement can be experienced through breathing, posture, awareness, and gentle yoga practice.

Rather than approaching the Vayus only as an esoteric concept, Peggy will illuminate how this traditional model can help us observe patterns of effort, holding, depletion, grounding, expansion, and regulation within ourselves and our students.

Through discussion and guided practices, participants will experience ways of working with the five Vayus to support greater balance, vitality, ease, and self-awareness.

Peggy Profant, C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, is a Certified Yoga Therapist with the International Association of Yoga Therapists, a Certified Anusara Yoga Teacher, and a lead teacher trainer for Soma Yoga Institute since 2016. Her approach blends the ancient wisdom of yoga with biomechanically sound alignment to help students become more firmly anchored in their true, radiant self. 

 

Beyond Kegels: A Nervous System–First Approach to Pelvic Health

With Alicia Cuglietta, E-RYT 500, C-IAYT, TIYT

November 9 at 2:30–4:00 PM PST (California) / 5:30–7:00 PM (New York)/ 10:30 PM–12:00 AM (London)

Many clients with pelvic pain, persistent pelvic tension, or incontinence have tried strengthening, stretching, or isolated pelvic floor exercises with limited success. This workshop explores why the missing piece is often not another exercise, but a deeper understanding of how the nervous system influences pelvic floor function.

Designed for yoga therapists and health professionals, this experiential session presents a nervous system-informed approach to supporting pelvic health through yoga therapy. Participants will explore the relationship between stress physiology, protective muscle tension, persistent pain, breathing patterns, and pelvic floor function while learning practical strategies that can be integrated immediately into practice.

Grounded in pain science, trauma-informed care, and yoga therapy, this workshop combines discussion with experiential learning through breath, movement, and guided relaxation. Participants will leave with a whole-person framework for understanding pelvic floor dysfunction, along with practical tools to support clients experiencing pelvic pain, overactive pelvic floor dysfunction, incontinence, and related conditions.

By shifting the focus from simply treating muscles to understanding the relationship between the nervous system and pelvic floor function, attendees will leave with practical, compassionate strategies they can begin using immediately with the people they serve.

Alicia Cuglietta, C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, TIYT, is a yoga therapist specializing in pelvic health, women's health, chronic pain, anxiety, and nervous system regulation. For more than a decade, she has used trauma-informed yoga therapy to support individuals experiencing anxiety and persistent pain. Over the past five years, she has focused her work on helping women with pelvic floor dysfunction through individualized yoga therapy that integrates movement, breath, and guided relaxation.

Alicia is the creator and instructor of an IAYT-approved continuing education course on Yoga Nidra/NSDR for yoga professionals. She is passionate about translating pain science and yoga therapy into practical, accessible tools that empower practitioners to better serve their clients' unique needs.

Purchase the How Yoga Heals Series with Lifetime Access starting at only $47 here.