Self-Empowered Healing for
Body, Breath and Mind
Personalized practices using holistic yogic tools for healing and personal transformation
Take Back Your Health!
My passion is helping you discover your personal path to self healing and transformation. In 2011 I discovered the medicinal power of yoga after falling from a cliff and breaking my pelvis. Under the guidance of a skilled yoga therapist, I learned simple, gentle, holistic yoga techniques tailored to my unique needs. These practices taught me how to listen and attend to my own body, and awakened my inner healer leading to my miraculous recovery. My life is now dedicated to helping others learn self-empowered yoga approaches to heal and transform our bodies, hearts, and minds.
Attention, Breath, Movement
Methods Accessible to Every Body
A cornerstone of the ancient yoga therapy method I teach is the focus on gentle, breath-centered movements. Classical yoga postures (asanas) are tailored to provide the functional benefits appropriate for your body. Many modifications to the physical postures are possible for your individual needs. The attention on relaxed breathing while moving helps to slow the movement down, bring awareness to the body, and calm the mind. An appropriate practice done regularly can support a state of stability and ease while safely increasing flexibility and strength.
Over time these practices can also improve self management of stress and foster a healthy nervous system, which then positively influences other physiological systems. This supports deeper healing and increased resiliency.
These methods are non-religious and can compliment other forms of treatment - either allopathic or alternative.
Where movement is restricted,
there is still the breath...
Cultivating a long, smooth breath is one of Yoga's central practices for restoring balance, nervous system regulation and healing on all levels. One's breathing patterns can be adapted in movement or regulated through seated breathing practices. In yoga therapy, all breathing practices are designed and progressed as appropriate to the individual and their stage of recovery. Breath work can also be combined with other holistic yoga tools to support the desired goals. Examples of these other tools include sound, meditation, visualization, chanting (mantra), and hand gestures, among others.
Why Yoga Therapy?
Some benefits people are finding...
The outcomes and benefits of your personal yoga practice can be unpredictable and surprising. People often report tangible benefits like improved sleep, relief from physical pain symptoms, and increased flexibility and strength. They also often report intangible benefits such as increased mental clarity, improved relationships, greater contentment and ability to respond to life's challenges, with less reactivity. This new way of being can bring about more compassionate connections with self and others, and, for some, a deeper connection with their spiritual life.
How does Individual Yoga Therapy Work?
A collaborative, gradual process based in a trusting relationship between
student and caregiver
My Approach
Getting started with Individual Yoga Therapy is easy! We can talk by phone to explore whether what I offer fits your needs. If so, we can then schedule an initial session to get to know one another better. At this first session I will evaluate your current movement, breathing patterns and other dimensions of your current state. We will work collaboratively to identify short and long range goals, so that you will come away with a short, simple practice you can start doing immediately on your own at home. At our next session, typically held within a week of this initial meeting, I will teach you a more fully developed practice tailored to your goals and needs. Then, ideally, I will see you again within 2-3 weeks to review and refine your initial practice, as needed. This helps ensure your practice is appropriate and that you are comfortable and confident practicing on your own. Future sessions to progress your practice over time can be scheduled at your discretion. The first evaluation session can take up to two hours and follow-up sessions are usually between 60-90 min.
I also offer healing intensives which are two to three day immersions providing an opportunity to dive deeply into your healing journey. These are held at my beautiful desert retreat centers in Tucson, AZ, Boulder, CO, or at a location near you.
Please contact me for more information and rates.
Credentials
About Melaney Seacat
I am a certified yoga therapist through the International Association of Yoga Therapy (C-IAYT) and a 500 hour level registered yoga teacher (500-RYT) through Yoga Alliance. I also hold a BA in Environmental Science and Biology, and an MA in Geography. I've been practicing yoga for 20 years and teaching yoga for 7 years.
In 2018 I completed a supplemental 300 hour "Yoga for Mental Health" training with the IAYT accredited Optimal State of Living (OSOL) program founded by IAYT Director Amy Wheeler, Phd. I am currently an affiliate teacher with OSOL.
I am also an Intermediate Level III trainee in Peter Levine's Somatic Experiencing (SE) Technique for healing trauma. I specialize in integrating SE informed trauma therapy techniques with yoga techniques when working with students recovering from anxiety/depression, chronic stress, trauma and addiction.
I work in private practice and in health care institutions. In addition to working with people dealing with mental health issues, I help people who are addressing structural problems, recovery from surgery, injury or cancer, and symptoms related to chronic disease. I volunteer in low income schools and non-profit organizations teaching techniques to manage stress and heal from trauma.
My background in Buddhist, yogic and Sufi forms of meditation, coupled with my prior career as a professional facilitator of community-based water and environmental planning efforts, inform my emphasis on collaboration, self-compassion and self empowerment in support of your journey toward sustainable health.
I am grateful for the inspiration, training and guidance I have received from dedicated senior teachers in the individualized yoga tradition of the late TKV Desikachar, revered yoga teacher and author, and son of the legendary yoga master T. Krishnamacharya.
I work remotely and in person out of Tucson, AZ and Boulder, CO.
Contact
Melaney Seacat
For a free phone consultation or to schedule a session:
Call: 520-205-1106
Email: seacatyoga@gmail.com
