Stress is not having things be the way we would like them to be and happiness is accepting them the way they are. Stress shows up in all of our lives to some extent or another. I would like to speak today about the Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy approach to stress management.

We all experience stress in our lives. Sometimes it can be unnoticed because it is so ingrained in our lives that it seems to be a part of who we are. Other times it manifests as illnesses, pain, insomnia and emotional disorders. Then we often seek medical help and work to treat the effect and not the cause.

Often it is triggered by transition, loss, weight gain, economic issues or feeling trapped in a life or job that doesn’t seem to fit who we are anymore.

Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy is an approach that exposes the cause of stress and lets the client come up wither own unique way of treating it. It is based on the fact that everything that has ever happened to us is held in our bodies. By moving in yoga poses many of these trapped feelings or memories are released.  While in poses students are supported by a client-centered dialogue approach to allow them to listen to their bodies and use what is communicated to create new ways of living and being which organically allows them to reduce the stress in their lives. Many of us have not ever taken the time to really listen to our bodies but let our mind interpret and analyze everything that takes place in our lives. Our bodies have the answers and all we need to do is listen.

Yoga in all its forms is a way to lower stress levels. After classes most students feel a sense of calm and well being. If a student has a very disciplined daily practice yoga can evolve in their lives as a way to lower the effects of stress. However most students enjoy their class and then go out and continue the same patterns of meeting stress that they are accustomed to.

Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy takes yoga one step further. Not only does it give clients the general ability to lower stress levels that comes with yoga but certified practitioners support their clients in a much deeper way. In a yoga class students may feel emotions or notice thoughts that show up during postures or meditation but that is where it ends. Often the student leaves class and has no way to explore what showed up. In Phoenix Rising Yoga one-on-one Therapy, students lie on a mat and are placed in supported yoga postures. They are supported by blankets and the practitioner and students are in charge of how deeply they are placed in the posture. For this reason people with no yoga experience at all can benefit equally from Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy.

They are then asked by the practitioner what is happening while supported in the poses. Students can speak as they listen to what their bodies have to say and often are very surprised at the outcome. They release ideas, emotions, personality patterns, answers to questions and even sources of trauma or fear. After several sessions they may understand the root cause of their stress and begin to make changes in their lives to manage it more effectively. The power of Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy is that each session is unique to each student that day and never does their body release more than the student can handle emotionally. So it is safe and personal. Often students use what shows up in the session as topics to share with their life coach or counselor. As a Phoenix Rising Yoga therapist no advice or diagnosis is given but rather a facilitation to explore and discover what needs to be done. The therapist supports and listens but lets their clients inner wisdom create the outcomes.

In the Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy group stress management program, students are guided in group Phoenix Rising Yoga and meditation experiences and are then able to discuss in the group what showed up for them. It is a thematic approach that builds weekly to enhance the students awareness gradually to the point that they are then able to change their relationship to stress that is valid way for them.

The certified Phoenix Rising group facilitator supports them to explore even more deeply what shows up from week to week. Students come to their own conclusions of how to use this information. Over the course of eight weeks they are given a daily guide to practice at home and then meet once a week and by the end of the program they have discovered their own unique way of meeting stress in their lives in a whole new way. It is not just a stress management program it is a life management program.

In both of these methods students learn from their own inner wisdom coming from their bodies. It is a non-prescriptive approach and as such it is not something they forget how to do. Because this new learning and way of being becomes absorbed into the very cells of their bodies and not just interpreted by their minds. It becomes the replacement for the stress reaction that was used before.

Continued private sessions after or during the group program can offer support for new life events that take place and dealing with them sooner prevents them from being absorbed by the body and then showing up as a stress related symptom.

Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy and Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy Stress management were both founded by Michael Lee over 20 years ago. They are offered internationally and there are over 1000 practitioners worldwide.

Camille Llewellyn, MS, RYT 500, PRYT is a certified Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapist and certified Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy Group facilitator since 2005. Both have changed have changed her life radically. “I truly believe in the work and I have been a mentor since 2006 for students learning to be Phoenix Rising Yoga therapists and group facilitators. I have seen amazing growth experiences for both my clients and students.”

The Gentle Spirit offers both private Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy sessions and Group Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy Stress Management programs.

Group Program:

8 weeks 2 hours per week Wednesdays 6:30—8:30 PM

September 2—October 21

Plus an all day retreat 9AM - 4 PM September 27

Tuition: $275 which includes practice CDs and Manual.

Register by August 15 and save $50

Private Sessions: $80 (sessions last 75-90 minutes)

Call Camille Llewellyn at 610-653-8548 to schedule both.