Friday, September 28, 2018

Featured Video: Ann Swanson's Accessible Balance Sequence

Ann Swanson designed this sequence to help people with balance problems work on improving their balance and prevent falls.




Ann Swanson, M.S., C-IAYT, E-RYT500, LMT is a mind-body science educator and author of Science of Yoga. She holds a Master of Science in yoga therapy from Maryland University of Integrative Health, where she is now an adjunct faculty member. Ann applies cutting-edge research practically to yoga while maintaining the heart of the tradition. In her private practice, she makes yoga therapy, qigong, and mindfulness meditation accessible and convenient in an online format, helping people worldwide manage pain, arthritis, and stress effectively. For more about Ann, head to AnnSwansonWellness.com

This post was edited by Nina Zolotow, co-editor of the Accessible Yoga blog and Editor in Chief of Yoga for Healthy Aging.

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Tuesday, September 25, 2018

A Call to Action

by Laura Land
It started as a calling to create a home. I spent a year between India and Rwanda and experienced an in-the-field crash course on the nonprofit world. My eyes were opened to the challenges as I soaked in the Rwandan culture and read book after book on the failure of aid in Africa and the history of Rwanda. It was a lot to take in.

It was 2008/2009 and the US economy was crashing. I was not engaged in that psychological drama. I was teaching yoga to genocide survivors and trying to understand a culture outside my own. I was resting, reading, writing, and taking in the African sun. It was hot and I grew still. Little seeds were forming.

By the time I returned home in 2009, New York had become foreign to me. April was dark, and the rains chilled my climatized body to the bone. I looked for shelter in a new neighborhood, a place I could stay awhile. I was tired of traveling and wanted deeply to nest. One place kept calling and that was Harlem. For no conscious reason, I was obsessed. I walked the streets in wonder of each sound and color, my senses heightened from my long New York absence and my twice-daily meditations. I saw a neighborhood growing. I heard countless hellos. I settled in.

All that time away had wound me up. I was ready to pop into my new existence. Having no first-hand experience of the crash, I was immune to it. I was told no one was spending and everything was closing. Filled with excitement and purpose, I gave talks on the Rwanda experience and the power of yoga, to not only heal communities, but also to prevent atrocities like the ones we saw there. I wanted to serve my own home, Harlem, but I had to get to know my neighbors first.

What I had learned from Rwanda was just to be in one place, in and of a community and let the work arise. Long term, sustainable work takes time and that’s what I gave it. I opened a studio, Land Yoga, and started teaching not just at the studio, but everywhere; in the parks, the schools, non-profits, clinics, where ever they would let me. I think I knew one day the time would come to start my own non-profit. But it wouldn’t come from me, it would come from the work that needed to be done.

That time finally came calling in summer 2014. I was on my annual pilgrimage to India, sweating, but the streets were really burning in Ferguson, Missouri. And then the tragedy of Eric Garner. My yoga studio had been open three years. I now knew it was time to establish a non-profit. These moments were signals to me that I could wait no longer–Three and a Half Acres Yoga was born.

The mission of Three and a Half Acres Yoga is to empower communities, starting with Harlem, by using the physical and philosophical facets of the Ashtanga Yoga tradition to nurture, heal, and activate residents. Our programs respond directly to the issues and needs of our populations and draw on all eight limbs of yoga to increase the individual and communal capacity of our residents to envision a more peaceful, just, and interconnected existence.

Launching in early 2015, we began programs in partnership with other local community based organizations: the Ali Forney Center and Harlem United. Ali Forney supports homeless LGBTQ youth, helping them to become more independent as they move from adolescence to adulthood. Harlem United provides access to quality HIV/AIDS care for all, regardless of race, socioeconomic status, or sexual orientation. Our Harlem United program has become a great success, growing to well-attended twice-weekly Ashtanga Yoga sessions. Focusing on breath work and mindfulness, our students report drastic reduction in their stress levels. We have witnessed participants take ownership of the program and their space, coming more prepared each week to be present. In April, world famous yoga photographer, Robert Sturman, took photos of our yogis in poses across Harlem. Their pride in their program, and confidence in themselves, was evident. When we passed a church infamous for discrimination, they linked arms in peace and solidarity. Robert snapped a photo that quickly went viral. Clearly we are changing lives by building confidence in our youth and teaching them the habit of taking a breath inside adversity. They are empowered to defuse conflict.

Our next step is to begin work with our local law enforcement. Over the past six months I have frequented New York Police Department’s 28th precinct–meeting with the commanding officer and sitting in on role call. Being allowed that kind of access is unusual and not something I take lightly. I have really enjoyed observing the culture and have been especially impressed with the desires of the officers to practice yoga. This burgeoning program is already garnering excitement and anticipation from the officers, as well as myself.

As both projects come into their own humble authority, grow in presence and mindfulness, the way we must when we practice yoga, police and youth will have the opportunity to come together in practice. It is my hope that this commitment, to the “simple” act of breathing together, will spark new bonds and understanding and bring our mission statement to life.

Together with the Three and a Half Acres Yoga team, I envision a world where the power of yoga is made available to all—regardless of age, race, gender, class, etc.—to provide the tools and momentum for positive change in individual participants and the communities they create. We will accomplish this by employing the numerous facets of yoga to build confidence and determination, create space for reflection and understanding, and improve critical life coping skills in the individuals we engage. We see yoga as a tool for dissolving biases and providing a safe space, a home, to heal neighbors, resolve conflict, and build community.


Lara Land is a teacher with two decades yoga experience. She has worked all over the world teaching yoga and mindful living and developing programs to heal and empower. In 2008-2009 Lara spent three months in Rwanda bringing yoga as healing to survivors, and from there went to India where she worked with HIV positive children bringing yoga and meditation to their treatment room.

In June 2011 Lara opened Land Yoga in Harlem. In 2015 she founded non-profit, Three and a Half Acres Yoga to inspire community healing and activism through yoga. Lara is the founder of SOULFest NYC a wellness festival which highlights diversity in fitness. She leads retreats worldwide, is a public speaker, spiritual coach, and writer with contributions to the Health Magazine, Apartment Therapy and the Huffington Post. Lara just released her first book, My Bliss Book, a daily planner + online coaching program.



This post was edited by Patrice Priya Wagner, co-editor of the Accessible Yoga Blog and a member of Accessible Yoga’s Board of Directors.

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Friday, September 21, 2018

Featured Video: Remi's Bed Sun Salutation




Remi began practicing yoga in 2006 in search of a way to help chronic pain and fatigue due to fibromyalgia. She jumped right in and started her yoga experience taking Hot Power Vinyasa classes several times a week. Several years later she discovered Yin and Restorative classes and it was like coming home, where she found her calling and a desire to share the practice and become a teacher.

Remi’s passions in yoga are diversity and inclusion—making the practice available to anybody regardless of size, shape, or ability. She focuses on teaching adaptive classes, offering many props and modifications to bring the practice to where you are in the moment. Her specialties include: Slow Flow, Yin, Restorative, Yoga Nidra, Adaptive, and Trauma Informed classes. She hopes that you leave her classes feeling rested, renewed, and most of all included. For more information, go to remiyoga.com.



This post was edited by Nina Zolotow, co-editor of the Accessible Yoga blog and Editor in Chief of Yoga for Healthy Aging.


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Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Teaching Yoga to Children With Special Needs

by Cheryl Albright
The term “special needs” covers a wide range of physical, neurological, and mental/behavioral health conditions. Some examples include developmental disabilities (autism, cerebral palsy, down syndrome), neurological impairments (traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease), and mental/behavioral health conditions (chemical addiction, oppositional defiant disorder, childhood trauma). According to the World Health Organization, over 1 billion people worldwide have a disability and, of course, many of those are children.

Unfortunately, these children are being stressed to the max every day in our school systems. For example, children are asked to sit much longer than in the past. And some states in the US have taken away any specialized diplomas so children with special needs are expected to take the same tests as typical peers. Finally, children with special needs are often the victims of bullying.

Why not give these kids a great coping tool? Yoga is an amazing tool or treatment modality for children with special needs because although it starts as therapy for these children yoga turns into a social activity and a way to fully be involved in their communities, as the children can take classes with their peers or family members. Many therapists, such as occupational and physical therapists, are now using yoga in their treatments for individuals with special needs. Licensed mental health professionals are using “mindfulness” techniques (which typically include breathing and meditation) in their practices.

Parents of these children are reporting amazing benefits from yoga-based therapy for their children including better sleep patterns, decreased anxiety, improved ability to relax and self soothe, improved digestion, decreased meltdowns or tantrums, improved self-confidence, increased strength and endurance, improved coordination, and the list goes on.

When teaching yoga to children with special needs, I’ve found that many limbs and yoga practices are useful. I teach them in the following order:

Mantras. Singing or chanting mantras keeps kids engaged and calm. Because many children with special needs have difficulty with coordination and motor planning combining singing with movement can help improve these two skills. So we also add combine hand movements, which can be anything as simple as clapping or crossing at the midline, with the singing for increased “imitation skills.”

Breath Practices. Breathing exercises or pranayama help calm the mind and stimulate the Rest and Digest response. And, according to research by Dr. Sundar Balasubramanian, breath practices also increase saliva, which contains molecules that decrease inflammation and increase neuro growth factor proteins that promote new nerve growth.

Physical Postures. 
The physical postures strengthen muscles, increase flexibility, and improve balance.

Because not all children are ready for traditional poses, we often need to help them work towards them. So, we break the poses down in ways to prepare them for the full pose. For example, we will start with teaching them to stand on one foot to move toward Tree pose. Or, if the child is non-ambulatory, we will have them do a pose in a supine position. We also teach eye exercises that are performed in some lineages to help promote skills need for reading and writing.

Meditation. Meditation and guided relaxation help calm the body and the mind. What is mediation? Sitting or any comfortable position, with a single point focus, for a period of time. Isn’t that what we ask our children to do every day at school. So, if they could focus on the teacher and remain still, they can learn.

Affirmations.The last and perhaps most important tool is giving these children a positive affirmation stated at the end of a session. It may be the only positive thing they here all day. Children with special needs are often reminded that they are not able to do the same activities as their peers. So just a simple reminder that they are peace, love, and light can make their day.

I, myself, have been teaching Yoga for The Special Child® for 9 years. I have found this method to be more effective at helping children with special needs than traditional occupational therapy methods. And I strongly feel that yoga for children with special needs should be included in the therapy vocabulary just as occupational, speech, or physical therapy is now.

Cheryl Albright, the creator of Soul To Soul Yoga, grew up with an older brother with autism and an aunt with Down syndrome. She began working with children with special needs through Rotary Camp Onsewaya at the age of 14. Cheryl has now been an occupational therapist for 15 years and has been teaching Yoga for the Special Child® for 9 years. In 2014, Cheryl completed her Registered Yoga Teacher training. And in 2017, she completed advanced training in adapting Hatha Yoga with those diagnosed with scleroderma and became a Certified Yoga Therapist. Cheryl is also an Accessible Yoga Ambassador. Recently, Cheryl began providing continuing education on yoga in therapy settings in the state of Florida.

For more information about Cheryl’s programs, visit soultosoulyogasrq.comEmail Cheryl, or follow her on Facebook Instagram Twitter LinkedIn

This post was edited by Nina Zolotow, co-editor of the Accessible Yoga blog and Editor in Chief of Yoga for Healthy Aging.

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Friday, September 14, 2018

Featured Video: Arturo Peal’s Wall Sun Salutation



Arturo Peal is an anatomy nerd, acupuncturist, and yoga teacher based in New Orleans. You can find out more about him at therapeuticyogatraining.com

This post was edited by Nina Zolotow, co-editor of the Accessible Yoga blog and Editor in Chief of Yoga for Healthy Aging.


° FOLLOW Accessible Yoga on FacebookTwitterInstagram, and YouTube.

° REGISTER here for our next conference.

° DONATE here to help us bring yoga to people who don’t have access or have been underserved, such as people with disabilities, chronic illnesses, children with special needs, and anyone who doesn’t feel comfortable in a regular yoga class.

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Interview with Liz Oppedijk: Chair Yoga for All


Accessible Yoga Blog: Where do you teach? Who is the population?

Liz: I live in the city of St. Albans in the UK, and I teach mainly in and around the county of Hertfordshire, as well as in North London (St Albans is located about 20 miles north of London). In my regular outreach class at a local YMCA, my students range from 35 to 80 years old, and most have one or more conditions: Parkinson’s, MS, stroke, arthritis, amputated limbs, diabetes, back problems, knee issues. I also teach weekly classes in local nursing and retirement homes (called residential care homes in the UK), where my students are mostly elderly (60s to 100+ years old) and are either wheelchair bound or use some form of assistance to get around.


Accessible Yoga Blog: Can you share an experience that stands out?

Liz: My specialty is chair yoga, which many people are not familiar with, and I recently had a video made to show what chair yoga is all about. My YMCA class kindly agreed to take part, and I was astounded by the comments they made when being interviewed by the videographer. Although they often tell me that they enjoy the classes, it was amazing to hear how much chair yoga has actually helped them, in particular with mobility issues. This is truly gratifying to me as a teacher. Just to give an example, one student who had a stroke and was in hospital for a number of months, thought she would never move her arm again, but now she can move her hand, elbow, and arm and is able to do what she wants in her daily life, and she participates fully in every yoga class at her own level of flexibility. Just this week, a new student with asthma and thyroid issues told me that she loves the chair yoga: her whole body feels aglow with warmth at the end of class. It’s a real privilege to bring the healing power of yoga to my students.

Accessible Yoga Blog: Why do you teach this group or this population? What made you choose this specific group?

Liz: My journey to teaching people with various conditions and disabilities has been a long one. It began when I became very ill at the age of 50, diagnosed with cancer and other serious health problems. These illnesses were shocking and traumatic, and they changed the course of my life. I’m very fortunate that I’m in full remission, thanks in no small part to my discovery of yoga. In many ways, my journey to recovery continues as I still live with osteoporosis: I remain in danger of broken bones and heart problems. At no point, however, have I seen myself as someone who is incapable or unable to fulfill my dream: to bring yoga to people of all abilities, especially those with serious physical and mental challenges. The fact is that most of my students had never tried yoga before and believed that it wasn’t for them, put off by the mat, the media image of yoga, or other preconceived notions. Through chair yoga, I am proud to be able to bring yoga and its myriad benefits to those who might not otherwise dare to try it. I am grateful every day to see in my students’ faces and bodies, and hear in their words, the positive effects of yoga on their lives: they are all true yogis!

Accessible Yoga Blog: What are you excited to do next with your students?

Liz: I have several yoga projects on the go at the moment. I am now training others to teach chair yoga, so that my teachers can bring this fully accessible yoga to even more people. As part of my own ongoing training, I am completing a special course on back care and yoga, and I am adapting the Healthy Back Programme to the chair. In addition, I am developing a series of chair yoga classes to be run with a local outreach dementia group, for those with dementia and their carers. One of my other dreams is to bring more yoga to carers, empowering them to take the time to care for themselves and therefore helping them to better care for others. Long may the “yoga for all” journey continue!


Liz Oppedijk (RYT-500, E-LVCTT, MSc) came to yoga in her fifties, following serious illness and injury. Through yoga, her recovery became a transformation. But she was left with a question: how to bring the practice of yoga to people for whom the mat is a barrier? She found her answer in Lakshmi Voelker Chair Yoga. Since training with Lakshmi, Liz has taught chair yoga to people with varied abilities, including those with Parkinson’s, MS, stroke, and cancer, as well as those with dementia, learning disabilities and their carers. Her commitment to accessible yoga led her to establish Accessible Chair Yoga CIC (ACY), a non-profit social enterprise. ACY is dedicated to bringing yoga to everyone, regardless of age, ability, or physical or mental condition, in particular to UK nursing homes, by training others to teach chair yoga and by sponsoring research into yoga’s effectiveness in the social care sector.


This post was edited by Patrice Priya Wagner, co-editor of the Accessible Yoga Blog and a member of Accessible Yoga’s Board of Directors.


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° DONATE here to help us bring yoga to people who don’t have access or have been underserved, such as people with disabilities, chronic illnesses, children with special needs, and anyone who doesn’t feel comfortable in a regular yoga class.


Tuesday, September 4, 2018

The Beginning of a Movement

by Sam Rudra Swartz
In September of 2015 about 250 yoga teachers and students gathered in downtown Santa Barbara, California for the first Accessible Yoga Conference to share ways in which the practices of yoga and especially hatha yoga can be made accessible to all populations, no matter what their physical limitations may be.

It all started in 2007 when Rev. Jivana Heyman, then the Director of Teacher Training at the Integral Yoga Institute of San Francisco, had a regular group of experienced and earnest yoga students in his adaptive yoga class. He felt that these dedicated and serious students should be able to become yoga teachers themselves and share their practices. It was decided that Integral Yoga would offer an Accessible Yoga Teacher Training so these students, who could not necessarily practice in a mainstream class, would be able to teach a basic level class and would know how to modify the asanas for students with physical limitations. On their own and with the guidance of Rev. Jivana, these students had already learned how to make the necessary modifications for their individual practices. Now not only would these students be able to teach a regular basic hatha class, but from their own personal experience they would be able to teach many others with physical limitations.

When Rev. Jivana and his family moved to Santa Barbara in 2015, he noticed there were several yoga teachers offering classes to very specialized groups of students. One shining example was Cheri Clampett, who offered her Therapeutic Yoga Program at the Cancer Center of Santa Barbara. More and more, Jivana noticed there was a large number of teachers adapting yoga for diverse populations and he felt that there should be a forum to support these teachers. So he gathered together teachers and former students, myself included, together along with new colleagues in Santa Barbara, and we began the planning for the first Accessible Yoga Conference.

The keynote speaker for the first conference was Matthew Sanford, author of the book Waking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence. Matthew became a paraplegic at the age of 13 from a car accident that took the lives of his sister and father. He learned yoga at age 25 while in graduate school in Santa Barbara. At the opening of the conference, during his keynote speech, Matthew mentioned that we are not just getting together for a conference to share ideas but that we are really taking part in the beginning of a movement—The Accessible Yoga Movement. What did that mean?

Several Accessible Yoga Conferences later, we have all seen exactly what that means. More and more teachers who are doing incredible work with diverse populations are coming forward and asking to present their experiences at the conferences while others are coming to support this work. Many teachers and students, both accessible and not, are signing up to be Accessible Yoga Ambassadors (a program offered through the Accessible Yoga Organization) so that they can help expand accessible yoga in their communities. Ambassadors are located all over the world and are committed to bringing yoga to underserved communities of all kinds. What we all have in common is the belief in and the support of the Accessible Yoga Mission Statement:

Accessible Yoga is dedicated to sharing the benefits of Yoga with anyone who currently does not have access to these practices, and with communities that have been excluded or underserved. All people, regardless of ability or background, deserve equal access to the ancient teachings of Yoga, which offer individual empowerment and spiritual awakening. By building a strong network and advocating for a diverse Yoga culture that is inclusive and welcoming, we are sharing Yoga with all.

Everyone who is involved in this movement is dedicated to learning and deepening their practice of the teachings of yoga, which, in turn, deepens their commitment to sharing yoga with all. We understand the benefits of yoga and are inspired as well as wish to inspire others to practice, knowing we are all on a similar journey and the physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual benefits from a complete yoga practice are infinite. We come together at our conferences to share our experiences, to learn and support one another, and to network. As Rev. Jivana has said many times, “If you have a body and a mind you can practice yoga,” a paraphrasing of the Accessible Yoga’s Mission Statement.

One of my favorite teachings from Swami Satchidananda, my guru, is that as practitioners or teachers of yoga we should not go out and proselytize, preach, or recruit people into yoga. He says that through our example, people will see the positive changes and benefits we have received. If they are then curious, they may ask about yoga and what we have done to create these changes. One of my students, a man who uses a wheelchair, came to me initially after striking up a conversation in a coffee shop with a fellow regular customer. He mentioned that he would like to take up yoga but could never imagine rolling into a studio and starting classes. He was pleasantly surprised to find out from his friend that “there is a yoga teacher in a wheelchair down the street at Integral Yoga.” He came by to meet me and we have been practicing together now for three years.

Many people that I have been blessed to meet through the Accessible Yoga Conferences have shared story after story about how they never imagined that they would be doing this type of work or that there was a need for people with physical limitation to practice yoga. Through their own practice, they were drawn to assist others. They were also inspired by others being drawn to them so that they could learn, having heard the benefits of practicing yoga. We have a growing online network with social media and hold two conferences per year (upcoming conferences are: October 2018 in Berlin May 2019 in St. Louis, and October 2019 in New York City,). We will continue to meet, share stories, ideas, and fellowship.

When I began using a wheelchair 11 years ago, I did not imagine that I would ever teach yoga or that I would meet so many people dedicated to sharing yoga with such diverse populations. But now we are all blessed to come together and continue to grow through the Accessible Yoga Movement.

Rev. Sam Rudra Swartz is an ordained interfaith minister and Integral Yoga Minister. He is certified as a Hatha Yoga, Meditation, and Raja Yoga Teacher. He received a Bachelor of Music in Brass Performance from Boston University’s College of Fine Arts Music School in 1996. He participated in the Integral Yoga Institute of San Francisco’s Accessible-Yoga Teacher Training, Raja Yoga Teacher Training in 2012 and the Meditation Teacher Training from Satchidananda Ashram Yogaville Virginia in 2011. In 2016 Rev. Rudra was ordained into the Integral Yoga Ministry and serves on the Accessible Yoga Board of Trustees as Treasurer.


This article originally appeared in Light on Light Magazine—International Day of Yoga Special Edition. It was edited by Nina Zolotow, co-editor of the Accessible Yoga Blog and Editor in Chief of Yoga for Healthy Aging. She made a few minor changes to the original article, including updates to the content and a few corrections to grammar.

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