Restorative Yoga Training and Retreat

Friday, May 20, 6pm - 9pm

Saturday, May 21, 10am - 4pm

Sunday, May 22, 11am - 3pm

Brooke has been teaching the original Ananda® Yoga "Chakra Sequence" since 2006, from which the Balancing Sequence arose. It is a Restorative Yoga routine that is ideal for recapturing emotional balance, and can be further modified for personal mood management. We will learn how.

Composed of alternating and gentle forward bends and backward bends, restful twists and mild inversions, we both interiorize and expand our sense of awareness with ease and calm joy. In the Balancing Sequence, each form leads to the next in an almost effortless and internal choreography, relieving both anxiety and depression. 

We will practice this sequence on the first evening of the training retreat. Self-regulation and trauma-recovery techniques from Sensory-Enhanced Yoga®, an evidence-based sequence for reducing the effects of post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury, will enhance the restorative effects. Plan to sleep well that night! 

We will discuss alternative forms to this sequence on Saturday, making this an accessible Yoga experience. If you have accessibility needs that are not being met, please inform Brooke as soon as possible!

We will return to this practice on Sunday afternoon, adding Yoga nidra and other self-regulating practices that we discussed. Mini Restorative Yoga sessions will be interspersed throughout the weekend, with the goal of resting as much as possible, to create a retreat-type atmosphere. Learning happens best, after all, when the mind is calm, receptive and at ease.

A unique feature of this practice is that we use only blankets as props. This ensures precise lift, fill and fall of the musculoskeletal system for nuanced comfort per each individual's needs.

This approach is satisfying and healing for the over-achiever, Type A personalities, the people pleaser, the empath and the highly sensitive person. It offers a wealth of resources for those with complex post traumatic stress and sexual trauma survivors.

The Balancing Sequence weekend includes practice, lively discussions and insightful Q&A, how to find comfort in each form, plus the effect of each form on the autonomic nervous system:

Child's form or Balasana, for floor and chair

Mountain Brook, with variations

Supported Side Twist and an alternative

Cobbler's form or Baddha konasana (a supreme form)

Supported Bridge or Matsyasana

Legs Up The Wall

Crocodile or Makrasana

Relaxation Form or Savasana 

Learn a simple meditation technique that includes a mantra, mudra, visualization and breath. These ancient practices are in the lineage of Kriya Yoga of Paramhansa Yogananda.

Learn a simple body scan meditation useful for a Yoga Nidra practice, depression and anxiety relief.

Learn marmas for calming the nerves, the science of relaxation, mysticism and much more!

Rest deeply.

Learn how to become well rested. 

Find ways to become physically comfortable and mentally aware. Pass that along to others.

Learn and understand therapeutic sequencing to relieve common emotional issues.

Consider Yoga's guiding principles, bring into your own life silence, affirmations, ethics, personal values and other subtle elements for effective relaxation and deep well being.

Promote calmness in yourself and others.

Learn how to create a sense of security in any environment.

Learn how to expertly guide relaxation.

Set up and modify forms ("poses") for individual needs with sensitivity.

Identify and address special problems quickly and safely.

Develop intuition and an eye for alignment, breath and body language.

Experience and lead practice sessions.

Yoga teachers and health care providers may be interested in learning and teaching Restorative Yoga for many reasons, among them:

Restorative yoga and meditation is safe for all stages of life and can be comfortably adapted for most physiques;

Restorative Yoga is a loving and kind practice, which appeals to compassionate care providers because it is so nurturing to offer and to receive;

Teachers can physically sustain teaching these gentler practices over a long career;

The atmosphere is calming for the teacher and the student;

Students and teachers everywhere are requesting that gentle, more passive, regenerative self-care practices - which are natural and effortless gateways to meditation - be made more readily available.

We Will Address:

• Fundamental Restorative Yoga Poses

• Creating Safe and Calming Environments

• Personal Practice and Self-Care

• Teaching Theory

• Alignment

• Assisting

• Adjustments

• Modifications for Accessibility

• Solutions for Common Complaints

• Physical and Energetic Benefits

• Contraindications

•Sequencing

• Props

• Cueing

• Tone

• Pacing

• The Power of Silence

• Sequences for Balancing Chakras

• Anxiety Relief

• Depression Relief and more

•Yoga Nidra

• Meditation

• Creating and Holding Trauma- Sensitive, Trauma-Informed Space for Self-Regulation

• Rest

Because this is an abbreviated training retreat modeled on a longer, 30+ hour training, we may not go into great depth and detail on some subjects. Every training is different depending on the needs of the participants. In this way, it becomes a trauma-informed Yoga Therapy training and retreat, tailored and caring to best benefit those present.

May 20 - 22, 2022 at True Self Yoga, Olympia, Washington

General components are similar to any training, including:

Group check-ins;

Introduction to the forms;

Brief practice sessions;

Exploring the poses or sequence, modifications, variations, contraindications;

Partner student teaching;

Relaxation and meditation;

Short breaks and lunch breaks;

Q & A + special skills and techniques, including yogic subtle anatomy, developing intuition for expert adjustments;

Discussion of personal insights and experiences;

Guided relaxation.

Final day may include a Certificate Ceremony for Graduates

Farewell

J O Y

Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Units for RYTs will reflect all training hours that the student completes. Please record your hours. This is based on the honor system. Please be ethical.

Join a private, active and intimate Restorative Yoga Training Facebook group upon registration. Please request the link via email at [email protected]should you like to join.

If Yoga teachers feel the need for extra support, especially because this weekend training is relatively short, individual training sessions are available at the rate of $50/hour, up to two hours, within one month of the training end date. Yoga Therapy consultation rates of $120/hour apply thereafter.

Required materials

*This style of Restorative Yoga uses only blankets as props. Please bring three blankets minimum (and up to eight, made of cotton or wool) and other props such as blocks or bolsters, if you would like to practice with them. You will be given a link to purchase blankets once you have registered, upon request. Very brief modifications will be offered for using other props, such as bolsters and blocks. This training focuses on the use of blankets as props. Eight blankets is a generous number, and useful. Please bring towels or sheets if you do not have blankets.

Bring a Yoga mat, water and a light snack or lunch, if you like. We will have breaks.

Please bring a camera, a pen and notebook and an audio recording device, if you like. Ideally, the classes will be recorded and the recordings will be made available through the course page. The course comes with a six month enrollment period, during which time you will have access to all the videos and handouts through the course portal.

Suggested Reading:

Relax and Renew by Judith Lasater PhD PT

Yoga for Emotional Balance by Bo Forbes PhD

The Woman's Book of Yoga & Health by Linda Sparrowe

Restorative Ananda Yoga Asana and Affirmation Cards by The Ananda School of Yoga and Meditation

Receive:

An Online Restorative Yoga Manual and Recorded Videos in an online portal. There may be an expiration date to access this training, to be determined.

A Recommended Resources and Reading List

A Certificate of Completion, which can be used to satisfy Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Credits

Ongoing Teaching Support

Brooke loves talking about yoga! She is available for one fifteen minute phone consult within one month of the end date of the training and offers ongoing email support within reason! 

Brooke West (they/she) is a Certified Yoga Therapist recognized by the International Association of Yoga Therapy. She is a yoga therapy researcher; lecturer; founder of a yoga studio and co-founder and co-director of an innovative yoga and wellness cooperative in San Luis Obispo County, California.

She has refined her signature teaching style over seventeen years of teaching therapeutic Yoga in person and online, locally and nationally, in yoga teacher trainings, workshops and retreats. She has been an invited lecturer at international yoga and mental health conferences. Yoga therapy for behavioral health and reframing madness as a catalyst for spiritual and global transformation is her specialty. She identifies as queer, visibly and invisibly disabled, non-binary in most circumstances, neurodivergent like most folks and a grateful member of the LGBTQ+ community in recovery. Decolonizing the mind and body by daring folks to rest is her preferred method of social justice activism.

Brooke has successfully served many demographics in many different settings with Restorative Yoga, including seriously impaired students with emotional, mental, behavioral, physical and spiritual dis-ease, in person, online, in jails, hospitals, mental health and substance abuse outpatient programs, senior care facilities, gyms, yoga studios and residential schools for at-risk youth. She has helped launch a handful of yoga studios along the west coast and co-founded the Yoga West Cooperative in San Luis Obispo County, California, a women-owned, values-driven healing center.

Trauma-sensitive, therapeutic Restorative Yoga, Yoga nidra, Vedic meditation and Yoga's ethical practices have been the foundation of her yoga therapy teaching and personal lifestyle since 2005.

Find out more about Brooke at https://www.brookewestyoga.com/site/about.

[email protected]

IG @BrookeWestYoga

facebook.com/brookewestrestorativeyoga