The blessing of yoga found me at 50. Yoga finds you when you are ready. It is never too late! After retirement as a tenured professor of dental public health at the LSU School of Dentistry; I began a new path of continually practicing, studying, and teaching yoga. Yoga enables me travel into my truest heart; “authentic self”. In the Bhakti yoga spirit of devotion, love, and relationship, I share this teaching:
“You are perfect just as you are in this present moment. Trust your innate wisdom. See yourself with eyes of love.”
Restorative yoga opens and heals. It IS possible to discover your wholeness with acceptance and peace. Silence and stillness create your “map” in life. Through svadhyaya, your yogic self-study, we can find clarity and choose to live life with zeal. Simply put there are three things that have shaped me into the person that I am today: Awareness, Loss, and Surrender. Practicing these virtues through yoga continually creates and transforms. The journey of awareness, loss, and surrendering always brings a new path and new life with peace and JOY.
Restorative yoga asana allows you to feel the sensations in your body. My classes consist of nurturing long spaces of silence, with dharmic guided meditation. Healing vibratory sound baths from crystal singing bowls and Koshi chimes accompany the practice.
I am Yoga Alliance trained, listed, and certified as a restorative yoga teacher under Judith Hanson Lasater. I completed my initial restorative yoga teacher training at Swan River Yoga under Michelle Baker and Kelly Haas. That training was followed by an 87-hour restorative yoga mentorship under Kelly Haas. My training was furthered with Jamie Lyn Skolnick, Director of Restorative Yoga at Laughing Lotus, New York. An Advanced Restorative Yoga teacher training with Anne Wanda Tessier of Canada, with the use of hot stones was also completed.
In 2013 I completed an RYT-200 from Soul School, Wild Lotus Yoga New Orleans, under Sean Johnson and Mitchel Bleier. Soul School was followed by completing an 8 Day Bhakti Immersion training under Sean Johnson. Yoga alliance RCYT, registered children and teen yoga specialties were earned in Canada, under Aruna Kathy Humphrys, Young Yoga Masters and in New York with Shari Vilchez-Blatt, Karma Kids Yoga. My studies of The Dharma are current and continuous under the mentorship/direction of Keith Porteous, Owner of Swan River Yoga, Mandir.
I offer restorative yoga classes weekly. In addition, specialty meditative restorative workshops with sound baths and hot healing basalt stone therapy are provided at www.swanriveryoga.com. Private sessions in restorative yoga with sound may be offered. Information concerning my current teaching and workshops can be found on Instagram @charlotteconnickmabry and @swanriveryoganola.