Partner Yoga & Connection Workshop

by , under addiction, for lovers, Hold Me Tight, trauma, yoga & movement

I am so excited to announce our upcoming Partner Yoga & Connection Workshop!  This idea has been simmering between my dear yoga teacher and friend, Caitlin Wittig, and I for some time now and I am delighted it is now on the calendar.

Partner Yoga & Connection Workshop

Saturday | July 28, 2018 | 5-6:30

JOURNEYoga | 2501 9th Road S, Arlington, VA 22204

Co-led by Caitlin Wittig, ERYT-200 &

LuAnn C. Oliver, LCSW, Certified EFT Couples Therapist

Cost: $60 per couple

Register here.

 

Why yoga?

“As we begin to re-experience a visceral reconnection with the needs of our bodies, there is a  brand new capacity to warmly love the self. We experience a new quality authenticity in our caring, which redirects our attention to our health, our diets, our energy, our time management.  This enhanced care for the self arises spontaneously and naturally, not as a response to a “should.” We are able to experience an immediate and intrinsic pleasure in self-care.”

-Stephen Cope, Yoga and the Quest for the True Self

 

Why partner yoga?

We are wired for connection.  We crave it and seek it, consciously and subconsciously.  Sometimes our instinctive strategies work and sometimes they don’t.  Experiences of disconnection can leave imprints on our amygdala (the emotional memory system in our brain), and trigger us into fight, freeze or flee, even if the trigger isn’t happening in the present.  This system can keep us stuck in negative cycles of disconnection and make meaningful connection more difficult to achieve. As partners increase self-awareness, tolerance for strong emotion and sensations, and notice internal experiences without judgement, they can create fertile ground for open and authentic connection.  Yoga can help you do this.

 

Why a couples therapist in a yoga class?

Caitlin is a fabulous yoga instructor and has run couples yoga classes in the past.  My work as a couples therapist is grounded in EFT, but is strongly enhanced by somatic modalities, which help to integrate mind and body connection.  Somatic approaches are mindful explorations into the body’s present moment experience. Caitlin will take couples through familiar yoga movements, independently at first, then move toward partnered moves.  Throughout the class LuAnn will integrate mindful body explorations and regulation exercises, both within the individual and between partners. For some couples this will be fun and interesting, for others it will provide access to deeper emotions and safely move them to allow connection, healing and helping “stuck” patterns to get “unstuck”.  No need for expectations, simply come wherever you are and allow whatever wants to happen for you to happen.

 

10 reasons you want to attend?

  1. So you can see what the heck your partner is doing when they go to yoga and why the heck they like it so much.
  2. Learn to co-regulate, i.e., support each other in bringing strong feelings into balance.
  3. For a fun and unusual date.
  4. Learn to restore connection with your heart center point together.  This can feel like a shared spiritual experience of sorts, then you can give each other a big hug.  Just try it.
  5. Bond through gentle touch.  
  6. Learn to tune into your deeper felt sense in relation to your partner to allow communication on a deeper level.
  7. To discover it isn’t totally awkward to do a yoga class, even if you are super inflexible.
  8. Awaken sleeping parts of your heart.
  9. Increase tolerance for uncomfortable emotions and reduce the physiological responses that accompany them.
  10. Increase presence.  

 

Other FAQs:

  • Do I need to come with a partner?  The movements will be meant for pairs.  Your “partner” can be a friend or a romantic partner but should be someone you have an interest in connecting with.  Many of the exercises are about tuning into others from within ourselves and can be applied to any type of relationship.
  • Do I need to have experience with yoga?  No, beginners are welcome, respected and celebrated.  We’ve all be there. This isn’t about getting into a pose, but rather exploring what happens as we tune into and move our bodies.

Please submit additional questions through the contact form below.

If you cannot attend, but would like to be notified of future offerings you may subscribe to my newsletter on the home page.

Registration is now open on the JOURNEYoga website.  From the home page click on “schedule a class” then the tab “special events.”  Click here.