Back by popular demand! Our last Yoga & the Emotions workshops sold out, so make sure you buy your ticket soon as to not miss out as participant numbers will be limited.

Workshop 1: Yoga & the Emotions (Thursday 23 March, 6-8:30pm)

What can we do with overwhelming emotions—emotion that is painful, or difficult to understand? 

Oftentimes, overwhelming emotion leads us towards states of craving, grasping, or desperation—reaching for objects or practices that might be detrimental to our overall health and wellbeing. Yogis and psychoanalysts alike refer to this as acting out, and it happens when we don’t allow ourselves to properly feel and experience our emotions. 

In this workshop, we’ll explore what yoga philosophy teaches us about the emotions. We will work together to practice two practical techniques from the teachings of yoga: witnessing, and energy work. 

These techniques can help us to navigate difficult, painful, or overwhelming emotions and find our way to a state of balance. 

Workshop 2: Trauma and the Body: Working with the Psoas (Thursday 30 March, 6-8:30pm)

In yoga classes we often hear the phrase, ‘emotion gets stored in the hips’ — but how and why does this happen? It has a lot to do with the psoas muscle—a large muscle deep in our core that connects our lower back to our pelvic region. This muscle is a channel between our kidneys, which release adrenaline in response to stress, and our hips, compelling us to take flight, to fight, or to freeze. 

This workshop explores the connection between trauma and the body by focusing on the link between stress responses and the psoas muscle. It will explore the emerging science about the psoas muscle, as well as some ways we can use the practices of yoga to work into this deep and unconscious part of the body. 

Investment

Single Workshop: $35 | Both Workshops: $60

Dr Cherie Lacey is a wellbeing researcher at Victoria University of Wellington, a yoga and meditation instructor at AWHI Yoga & Wellbeing, and is trained in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Her research into the body-mind connection has been published by Johns Hopkins University Press and Harvard University Press, and has received international awards for its innovative combination of creative, scholarly, and physical practices.