Welcome!
What happens when you commit to understanding yourself in order to change unhelpful patterns?
Heightened self awareness that informs choices
that lead to inner peace!
There is a safe and secret garden waiting for you where you can learn to
- relax your body
- soothe your nerves and
- quiet your mind
This will allow you to think clearly so that you can understand why you do what you do and get clear about what needs to change and how YOU can change it.
You will be better able to make the best choices about your health, your relationships, your lifes' purpose, and what to do next.
Know what you want but can't get there?
Know what you don't want but keep getting more of it?
Come on in!
Yoga
Wonder how you can practice Yoga if you are experiencing extreme emotions and behaviors? Or, if you are not flexible, can’t get down on the floor, no longer young and slim, don’t have an hour and half to go to class or can’t afford it?
According to Patanjali, author of the Hindu classic,
Yoga Sutras c 5th century ce,
“The purpose of Yoga is to quiet the mind”.
If you can sit still and quietly and focus on your breath, you are “doing Yoga”.
All of my courses and individual coaching reflect the stages of practice in Pantajali's Eight Limbs of Yoga.
"Even a little bit of practice can make a difference." - Eddie Stern
Ayurveda
Ayurveda and Yoga were originally always taught together. Yoga teaches how to quiet the mind, Ayurveda teaches how to live the healthiest for a long time using the following practices:
- Cultivate a radical devotion to self care
- Align thoughts and actions with constitution (strengths, challenges, symptoms)
- Live in balance with nature and the five elements (earth, water, fire, air, space)
- Tend the "inner garden" with the seasons and stage of life
- Use food as medicine
"Be gentle with yourself, there are many forces at play here".
-Sarah Guglielmi
IFS Informed Psychotherapy
Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a non-pathologising model that supports the acceptance of all parts of you and the healing of parts that carry burdens from the past. Understanding your inner world in this way frees you to move forward in your life with safety, confidence and joy.
"The world is full of suffering, and it is also full of the overcoming of it."
- Helen Keller
"Everything you are experiencing is normal based on what you've been through."
- Lisa Najavits
Practice-Patience-Progress
In my virtual School and individual coaching you can learn short, safe and simple practices that can begin to soften the obstacles that keep your body tense, your nerves on edge and your mind racing and ruminating.
You aren't doing anything wrong!
You're human. Even if past, painful experiences have coalesced into deep seated, unhelpful patterns of thinking and behaving, it doesn't have to stay that way.
Softening obstacles with awareness and understanding will spill over into your daily life - What would life be like if you were calmer, more in the present moment? More aware of the wisdom of your body? More responsive, less reactive? In psychology, we call this the ability to self regulate. Yoga and Ayurveda describe this state as "joyous", "full of contentment" and "delight " - Sukha in sanskrit.
"Like a skillful gardener, may the Lord of life disentangle me from the binding forces of my physical, psychological and spiritual obstacles."
Excerpt from Mahamitrujaya Mantra
Hi, I'm Carolyn
I know personally how hard it can be to bring unconscious processes into awareness so that they do not hold you back. I, and many other people, have been able to change, and you can too! I'm not saying it will be quick or easy. I'm not saying my suggestions are the only way. I am hoping you will trust me enough to give this school a try.
I am offering to teach you everything I know about making the most of a personal Yoga practice, or Sadhana, living an Ayurvedic Lifestyle and the very leading edges of the DIY stratagies Western psychology has to offer (psycho-education and brain science). I've been practicing and teaching Yoga for over 45 years and I'm an Ayurvedic Yoga Specialist. I have a Master's degree in East/West Psychology, a license in Addiction Counceling (LADC1) and I'm a Certified Trauma Profressional. I'm a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a gardener, a cook and a hiker. Click button below to read my full bio.
Relaxation the Yoga way
Yoga teaches the importance of mastering deep relaxation as one of the very first steps. It's different from relaxing with a good book or watching tv. It's different from being in nature, however, I do get a lot of joy out of gardening and hiking and looking at the photos from last summers' garden!
Relaxation the Yoga way is devoted time spent in quiet stillness. It is one of the foundation practices you will find in this spring semester of my on-line school and it will prepare you for the next level of practices. I'll be adding more courses in a step wise fashion, so be sure to sign up for my email list if you want to stay updated. (see below)
Click the button below for a free minicourse that includes a pre-practice checklist, a guide for Sankalpa (setting intention), and a 5 minute guided practice for mastering the Yoga Complete Breath. This is one of the many Pranayama techniques in traditional Yoga.
This free minicourse can be completed in about 20 minutes. Many people experience a state of peaceful calm with this practice - even the first time. And this is just the beginning of what is in store for you if you take a personal practice seriously!
The dragonfly symbolizes change - the kind of change that has it's source in mental and emotional maturity and the understanding of a deeper meaning of life. Dragonfly also symbolizes living in the moment and living life to the fullest.
Be like dragonfly!
Photo by Dustin Humes
Frequently asked questions
- Will I need a Yoga mat? No, Each of the practices included in my courses can be done sitting in a chair or lying on your bed or the floor unless otherwise noted.
- Will I have to get down on the floor? No, you'll be able to practice while sitting in a chair, or lying on your bed unless otherwise noted.
- What if I am not flexible? Doesn't matter.
- What if it "doesn't work"? Sometimes, for some people living with the effects of trauma, even closing the eyes than can be scarey. This does not mean you are doing it wrong or that you can't do it. It means you need to keep your eyes open, or you need a different practice. It's the practicing regularly that will make a difference.
- Can I get a refund if I am not happy with my purchase? If you are unsatisfied with your purchase, reach out to us to see if your purchase is eligible for a refund.