Welcome to my scheduling site. I currently offer weekday and weekend classes and workshops both in person and online via Zoom. In addition to classes and workshops, I also offer 1-to-1 sessions (either you come to my home studio or house call) and small group (up to four people) Build Your Own (Customized) Retreats of varying lengths.
I have studied many traditional styles of yoga and martial arts and well as various types of somatic movement. I am also certified in the hands on technique of Shiatsu. While grounded in years of study and technique, much of my teaching style evolved from observing my own and other bodies in different types of movement and watching how tension and breathing patterns create and continually influence posture. I teach from an anatomically functional and somatic perspective. I believe we respond to one another's nervous system in an important way and that bodies (more than words) teach other bodies. Languaging in my classes and my dialogue with students comes from my senses not from my head.
I view self-care as an increasingly necessary part of one's life so that students can begin to feel not only in control of but also responsible for their health. I am interested in helping people understand their own habits and patterns as they consistently show up in their breathing, their movement and their behavior. With this information, people can make changes based on their own feedback and experience. My classes are clinic-style - responsive to the group, organic and spontaneous – so that each person in class gets the personalized information he or she needs. That said, I also work with themes and can provide a mixed modality session that addresses specific areas of the body or injuries and can offer sessions geared toward people in different sports as well as general full body self care and rebalancing of parts.
Most of my classes mix in and are influenced by different modalities but the cornerstones in Yamuna® Body Rolling (YBR) and Qigong, I use principles, techniques and tools from chiropractic and rolfing and other hands-on modalities as well as from Chinese medicine, somatic movement systems, yoga and qigong. Regardless of modality, built-in to all classes is the focus on the breath, on moving slowly and with awareness, and on sensing the flow of subtle energy so that students can tap into the potential for self-healing.
Yamuna Body Rolling is an intelligent self-care modality based on embodied anatomy and the use of different sized balls that allows students to rehab themselves. The feedback from the balls and routines lets students discover and become aware of holding patterns or ways that they have been overdoing or under doing in certain areas. YBR can help to reawaken many of the basic developmental and movement patterns that help keep bodies sustainable. These neuromuscular patterns get disrupted through trauma, injuries and even through exercise and sports that are deemed healthy. This leads to a cycle of compensations, imbalances and then maybe even more injuries.
YBR enhances and clarifies physical movement so the body can meet any daily living activity, exercise or sport in a healthy way. Self-adjusting, self-traction, creating space in joints, (not) hanging in ligaments, finding the sitting bones, waking up the whole line of a muscle chain and activating or relaxing muscle groups can all be beautifully illustrated with the feedback from the balls so that the whole body can begin to understand how to find safe and healthy movement.
The power of YBR as a self-care modality lies in how the routines and feedback from the balls offer a slow and organic way for one to unwind, rehab and recover at one's own pace so that any issues have the opportunity to shift and change. When people work on themselves it opens up the possibility of discovering and becoming aware of holding patterns and begin to undo them.
The purpose of the routines and exercises in YBR classes is to help students begin to move as an integrated whole being - more efficiently, with fewer compensations and more sustainability and aim to:
- stimulate bone and reverse the impact of usage over time
- provide traction to keep joints functioning properly
- release muscle tension to alleviate overall stress
- increase awareness of compensations to reorganize the nervous system
- help the body regain balance and operate more efficiently
- help you gain an embodied understanding of your own anatomy so that you can customize your self care and other practices
For information on Yamuna Body Rolling and the use of therapy balls and other modalities that show up in my classes, please visit any of the links below or email me
Yamuna Body Rolling Official Website
Yamuna Body Rolling Official Facebook Page
The In Bed with Yamuna Overview:
Self-Care for Massage Therapists
Understanding Myofascial Release
Therapy Balls Growing in Popularity - Fox News
NIH Research Article Body Rolling
Redefining Self-Myofascial Release
Qigong is one of the softer martial arts, a little more active than Tai Chi but less rigorous than Kung Fu. Like many of the ancient practices, it is considered both an art and a science. It is increasingly becoming popular as a way for people to manage modern dis eases (such as stress, insomnia, autoimmune issues, hypertension, etc.). The subtle practice can stimulate or soothe where and how one needs it throughout the whole body and asks participants to reconnect the parts,, to synchronizer breathing and to be present and aware
Foundational movements, breath, and flow as well as philosophy and Chinese Medicine theory as preventive and for health and longevity come into each class. No experience is necessary and in general classes offer a slow but energizing basic flow that is done standing (though many movements can be modified to be done in a chair)
Qigong may be one of the earliest systems of energy work so I like to combine the teaching with other basic energy principles and try to weave in information to help students understand energy in an everyday way in order to bring a little more ease and flow into daily life. Moving the concept of energy from the esoteric and solely spiritual realms to the mundane helps people develop a grounded, embodied and integrated practice. The understanding of energy as everything may also help students work with and navigate the world from a more subtle perspective and enable them to grow into their innate abilities...remembering that sensitivity is a strength not a limitation.
For information on Qigong and the style that shows up in my classes, please visit any of the links below:
20 Minute Morning Qi Gong Exercise by Lee Holden
Lee Holden's 20-Minute Evening Qigong Routine
3 Keys to Improve Physical Mobility Using Qigong Principles
For some other of my sustainable movement, somatics and experiential anatomy teachers, check out the links below
Tune Up Fitness Official Website
Tune Up Fitness Official Facebook Page
Self-Myofascial Techniques for Pain relief
MovNat Article on How Crawling Informs Walking
Nutritious Movement - Katy Bowman
Bonnie Bainbridge-Cohen: The Role of Organs in Movement
For meditation teachers that I study with, check out the following links
Build Your Own Retreat. Currently, I offer extended weekend and weeklong retreats that are designed for small groups o be both intimate and not overly structured or busy. I cook vegetarian meals and participants stay in the retreat space, sharing a room and or in a private room, sharing a bathroom. The retreat space in Landrum, which is in the foothills of SC, There are ample mountain views and waterfall hikes nearby or within driving distance. The home itself is spacious inside and out and super quiet and dark at night. People can build their own retreats, meaning everything from creating the group of up to four participants, and designing the content, and offering suggestions for the menu. Or, individuals can join in a group that is already forming with content and menu loosely in place.
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