Each week of our course has a theme that builds off the previous week. Here’s an overview of what we will be learning:
Week 1: What Is Heart-Centered Living?
This week we will get to know each other and share about what to expect over our 5 weeks together. You will learn about the concept “heart-centered” and our yoga practice will focus on heart-centered poses. This week is also an opportunity to reflect on your relationship with yourself, your body, and food and assess all the ways you may already bring heart-centeredness into your life.
Week 2: What Is Sankalpa (Intention)?
In week 2 you will learn about the Yogic practice of Sankalpa or intention setting. We will explore how intention is different than a goal, how to merge the concepts of heart-centered and intention, and how an heart-centered intention can be an empowering tool to help with negative body image and disordered eating. Our yoga practice will invite an experience of letting go and embracing new energy and paths forward.
Week 3: How to Create a Heart-Centered Intention
In week 3 we will deepen our discussion and exploration by getting honest about what’s hard and uncomfortable about living from a heart-centered perspective when in comes to body image. This week’s yoga practice will focus on sun breath and sun salutations to cultivate hope and self-connection.
Week 4: How to Live with Heart-Centered Intention
In week 4 you will learn how to embody your heart-centered intention and apply it to multiple areas of your life. Our yin/restorative yoga practice will give you an opportunity to meet yourself where you are with kindness and compassion and honor the hard work and effort it takes to create change and implement a new relationship with our bodies.
Week 5: Week 5: Heart-Centered Celebration
The theme of our final week is celebration. We will use our Facebook group to reflect on insights gained over our 5 weeks together and share encouragement and inspiration for continuing forward on our heart-centered healing journeys. Week 5 includes a Facebook Live Yoga class and a fun Instagram activity.
Meet Your Heart-Centered Healing Guides
Jennifer Kreatsoulas, PhD, RYT-500
I am on a mission to help others create affirming relationships with their bodies through yoga. I am also dedicated to helping others decode the social and cultural messages that stir up guilt, shame, and comparison about their bodies and the act of the nourishing them.
I am the founder of Chime Yoga Therapy and specialize in eating disorders and body image. I am the coauthor of the forthcoming book Body Mindful Yoga: Create a Powerful and Affirming Relationship with Your Body (Llewellyn Worldwide, 2018). In addition to my private yoga therapy practice, I also lead yoga therapy groups at the Monte Nido Eating Disorder Center of Philadelphia as well as yoga workshops and retreats on eating disorder recovery and body image. I am a partner with the Yoga and Body Image Coalition and write extensively on the topics of body image, motherhood, and eating disorder recovery. I’d love to connect with you: www.ChimeYogaTherapy.com.
Nikki Cook, 500-RYT, 200 E-RYT, MS.Ed-Counseling
As someone in recovery from an eating disorder, I am passionate about helping others access effective treatment, resources and support that will help them on their journey of healing and recovery. Yoga has played an integral role in my personal healing journey. I wholeheartedly believe that yoga can be a powerful and effective component of the healing and recovery process. I and am committed to finding ways to make the transformational tools of yoga available to every body. It is my wish to see that everyone affected by an eating disorder, disordered eating, and negative body image has access to the support they need to heal.
I am a 500 Hour Registered Yoga Teacher, hold a Masters Degree in Education-Counseling and have additional certifications in trauma informed yoga. I specialize in yoga for eating disorders, addiction and trauma. In addition to my work at local treatment centers, I offer a variety of community and donation based yoga classes, workshops and trainings. I am on the Leadership Team of The Yoga and Body Image and am the editor of YBIC’s ongoing column that highlights how the practice of yoga can play an integral role in the healing and recovery from eating disorders. I would love to connect with you! www.nikkicookyoga.com