ATLANTIC YOGA THERAPY
STUDIO SPACE
Atlantic Yoga Therapy is a small studio space at 36 Raworth Heights in Sackville, New-Brunswick, in the region of the traditional lands of the Mi'kmaq and Wolastoqiyik.
We commit to offering ethical, high quality, values-based, collaborative services to support individuals and the overall health of our community. Classical Ashtanga and Yoga Therapy are offered by Sarah Elizabeth Smith (CYA E-RYT - 500, TCTSY-F)
Sliding Scale asks you to consider the intersection between your perceived value of the experience/service and what you can afford to pay. We accept cash, cheque or e-transfer
Regular Classes - Sliding Scale Options
One Drop-in Class - $15 - $20
Package of 5 Classes - $70 - $90
Package of 10 Classes - $145 - $170
***To join a Hybrid class, please pay for a class or package and you will be given access to the online link
Mats, blankets, bolsters and blocks are available for your use at the studio. Parking is available in the driveway and along Raworth Heights.
Classical Ashtanga
The practice as we know it today, originates from the lineage of Sri T. Krishnamacharya, Vedic scholar, healer and teacher who revived yogic practices in the early twentieth century. Krishnamacharya's student, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, a Sanskrit scholar and teacher, synthesized the most distinguishable aspects of what we consider Ashtanga Yoga today. In the early 1970's, the first students who would eventually popularize this form of practice in the west, went to learn from Jois in Mysore, India. Learning this method follows the parampara, a Sanskrit word for the transmission of knowledge from teacher to student.
At Atlantic Yoga Therapy, this practice is taught "as it was", following the teachings of David Williams, Manju Jois, Jody Manley, and the late Nancy Gilgoff that adhere to the therapeutic origins of the practice. This method emphasizes the importance of breath, upholding the integrity of the practice as energetic, rather than physical. The tradition is much more than moving the body through particular forms; it is shaped by particular cultural, political, and philosophical histories represented by texts like Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. The name itself, Ashtanga, refers to a particular set of philosophical assumptions about the nature of the mind, the self, consciousness, and the transcendent, assumptions that provide the basis for the eight limbed path toward spiritual growth (ashtau - eight; anga - limb)
Anyone can learn the practice. We prioritize meeting students where they are and students learn in the traditional Mysore style, with individual instruction to suit each student's evolving needs. Group classes are often a mixture of beginner and long-time students and offer opportunities to learn the system from the ground-up and to receive help and guidance. Some classes are counted or "led", wherein the focus is on learning the vinyasa (how to move into and out of asana in alignment with the breath). Home-practice is an important element in the learning and integration of this system of Yoga, and though it may take a long time to develop, what emerges from consistency is well worth the effort.
Yoga Therapy &
Trauma-Sensitive Practice
Yoga is, in its origins, therapeutic, its practices based on an understanding of the interconnectedness of the physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual layers of human existence. The thousand-years old philosophical and spiritual traditions of Yoga understand dis-ease through the lens of imbalance; when one part is compromised, over or under used, stuck or stagnant in some way, the whole system is affected. So, Yoga is holistic, and offers a pathway into not only an understanding of the natural patterns of balance, growth, destruction, transformation, resurrection, and evolution, but tools for consciously accepting, witnessing, and facilitating these cycles in ourselves.
Yoga Therapy at Atlantic Yoga Therapy considers the unique needs of each participant, and individual sessions may integrate elements from different approaches: The energetic system of classical Ashtanga practice, alignment-based practice for injury rehabilitation, or we may approach Yoga Therapy through the lens of attachment theory, trauma theory, and neuroscience, which come together in the practice of Trauma-Sensitive Yoga.
Trauma-sensitive Yoga focuses on how we respond to internal and external sensory cues - the functioning of the stress-response system - and learning how to notice and work with body sensations through building conscious awareness. This approach also explicitly considers relational safety and the equalization of power imbalance through a conscious focus on choice and autonomy.