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News
There is a new FYTA YouTube Channel now featuring Roger Cole!
Board member and creative director Jeanne Wolfe created a beautiful YouTube Channel for FYTA- starting with the videos that she created during the Roger Cole weekend workshop this past March.
About Roger Cole
This was the fourth time that we hosted Roger and as always he offered us valuable information that we can pass on to our students. Roger Cole, PhD is an internationally recognized yoga teacher who was trained at the Iyengar Yoga Institutes in India and San Francisco. He is also a scientist educated at Stanford and the University of California. This combination of skills allowed him to conduct yoga research studies and author dozens of articles on yoga anatomy, physiology, teaching and practice. Roger has trained thousands worldwide and it was an honor to have him teach for FYTA.
Roger Cole Workshop in March 2019
On March 15-17th, Roger presented a weekend workshop on Yoga Injuries: Causes, Prevention and Adaptation. He taught us about the most common yoga injuries, how to avoid them and how to work with students who have them. The weekend topics covered injuries to the low back, knees, hamstrings, sacroiliac joint, shoulders, wrists and neck. This invaluable workshop is a must for all teachers, and we are fortunate that he allowed us to record excerpts of these teachings for our new YouTube Channel.
Roger Cole Workshop on new FYTA YouTube Channel
Please enjoy these Roger Cole Workshop videos and look for more from future FYTA semi-annual weekend workshops:
Explore our YouTube Channel
Celebrating the Life of April Farrell-Hasty
The family, friends, and members of The Florida Community of Mindfulness, Tampa, FL celebrated the life of April Farrell-Hasty on Saturday, November 17, 2018. April was a member of FYTA as a Yoga Alliance registered teacher. April also was an advocate and mentor for those with Sickle Cell Disease. She was born with the inherited illness that eventually causes blood cell death, lowers the healthy blood cell count and blocks the flow of that blood. This brings pain and frequent infections. Through her Sickle Cell outreach program, April mentored kids and their parents, helping them understand medical jargon and their lab results. She believed in the power of knowledge.
April loved yoga. She studied and practiced it for many years. April owned Peaceful Lotus, was a blogger and world traveler. She authored three books: “Yoga for Everyone”, “Your Yoga Journal” and “Your Yoga Journal for Teachers.”
April married her high school sweetheart, Ronald Hasty and had two children, Brytanni Hasty, and Ronald Hasty II. Her disease never kept her from being a wife, mother, daughter, and sister.
Those of us who knew April were fortunate. She shone with a bright spirit and a lot of grit. April loved life. She lived her 56 years fully and has left many friends, family members, students, and her loving dog, Dharma. Her Memorial service was profound, peaceful and uplifting. We’ll miss you very much, April. Your strength, wisdom, and courage touched those of us who knew you. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti. Peace.
Annie Okerlin presents Wounded Warrior adaptations
Watch some video as Annie Okerlin presents Wounded Warrior adaptations to Florida Yoga Teachers Association on October 12-14, 2018 at the Garden Club of St. Petersburg, Florida.
Annie Okerlin Workshop a Success
Yoga and Meditation Techniques for Trauma & Chronic Stress
Annie Okerlin and her Exalted Warrior Foundation taught Florida Yoga Teachers Association
Annie Okerlin and her Exalted Warrior Foundation taught adaptations to Florida Yoga Teachers Association on October 12-14, 2018 at the Garden Club of St. Petersburg, Florida.
Annie Okerlin began teaching in 1999 as a Certified Bikram Yoga Instructor. Annie knew what her path forward would be: sharing the benefits of yoga with others. Her students were from all walks of life including athletes and housewives. She’s worked with Shiva Rea, another yogini who gives back to so many. Annie knows that we all carry some sort of trauma. Injuries can be especially difficult in first responders and soldiers. In 2008 she founded the Exalted Warrior Foundation. Her energy and compassion led her to develop nation-wide programs to help the reintegration of service members back into civilian life.
Annie’s Exalted Warrior Foundation brings yogic healing to wounded veterans throughout the military population and within Veterans hospitals. Annie is one of the nation’s leading experts on Adaptive Yoga. Amputees, burn victims, those with traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, sufferers from PTSD, depression and moral injury are helped with yoga designed for them. Annie is also an iRest Yoga Nidra instructor. Peace and sense of security are essential in working with this population. iRest Yoga Nidra brings safety and trust.
Yoga teachers can help the wounded by learning how to create trust.
After several days of training, attendees split up into groups. We demonstrated what we’d learned from Annie. First of all, provide a safe environment. Assure yoga students that their space is peaceful and caring. For example, Annie said quietly, “Close your eyes. You are safe. I have my eyes open to watch over you.”
Learn to adapt teaching techniques to the needs of each student. For example, we considered how to best approach Wounded Warriors and First Responders. Annie shared suggestions and positive feedback for easing trauma, stress, and dealing with physical and emotional limitations. Practicing how to approach various situations made the importance of observation and patience all the more significant. We practiced, listened and learned. Each person will need a different, planned approach.
With renewed awareness of the power of yoga for healing body, mind, and spirit, we ended the weekend with Pranayama and Meditation iRest Yoga Nidra. Thank you so much, Annie Okerlin. You help so many. You made us more aware of the sacred trust and individualization all yoga students deserve from their teachers.
See a video showing highlights of this wonderful workshop on YouTube
Balasana is a Hatha yoga posture, and its name comes from the Sanskrit word ‘bala’ meaning ‘child’. In this pose, the body faces the floor in a fetal position. This is a beautiful and graceful sitting posture, and when the posture is complete there is a connection with the earth. Namaste’