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Karen Clarke - YogaHealsUs.com

Karen Clarke

Address:

Ledyard, CT United States
T: (860) 204-0797

Description        

Certified Kripalu and Integrative Yoga Therapy Yoga Teacher. Classes, workshops, individual yoga / yoga therapy sessions.

Karen offers group classes and individual lessons as well as Health & Wellness workshops including Yoga for Stress Management and Yoga Philosophy workshops designed for deeper understanding of the depth and breadth of Yoga. Karen is available for On-Site Yoga and Stress Management workshops at your work location as well as in-service staff development workshops and constituent services.


Profile and Credentials        

Karen has been sharing the gift of yoga with students since 1996. In 2000, she received her Bachelor of Science degree with a concentration in Psychology. Her interest in yoga began as a teenager and continues to grow and mature as a lifelong practice of integrating body, mind and spirit on and off the mat.

Vision: To change the world, one person at a time in accord with the Yoga tradition of Swami Kripalu and the belief that the world is one family.

Mission: To offer compassionate, heart-centered comprehensive Yoga instruction in a safe, nurturing environment that inspires personal growth and transformation for students of all ages, fitness levels and health conditions.

Professional Yoga Certifications

Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health

500 hour Professional Level certification completed 2002 (300 hr addition to basic)

200 hour basic certification, 1998

Integrative Yoga Therapy

200 hour basic certification, 2000

Yoga of the Heart ®

85 hour certification, 2003 Teaching

Yoga for Specific Needs Advanced Training, Dr. Jeff Migdow, Kripalu Center

25 hour certification, 2005

Professional Memberships

  • Kripalu Yoga Teachers Association (KYTA)
  • Yoga Alliance registered yoga teacher E-RYT 500
  • International Association of Yoga Therapist

    Presenter

  • Adaptive Yoga for MS Yoga Teacher Training, sponsored by the Maryland Chapter of the NMSS, 2006.
  • Adaptive Yoga for MS Yoga Teacher Training, sponsored by the Upstate New York Chapter of the NMSS, 2006.
  • Adaptive Asana for Every Body, KYTA Conference, 2005.
  • Adaptive Yoga for MS Yoga Teacher Training, sponsored by the Greater Connecticut Chapter of the NMSS, 2005. 35 yoga teachers participated in this 2-day program. A powerful part of the training included an evening workshop where 11 people with MS learned more about the healing path of yoga and shared their experiences of MS with yoga teachers who are committed to offering therapeutic and adaptive yoga to students with a wide range of abilities.
  • Adaptive Yoga for MS, KYTA Conference, 2004.
  • Adaptive Yoga for MS Yoga Teacher Training developed by Karen O’Donnell Clarke and sponsored by the NMSS, 2003. 21 certified teachers participated in this daylong training that has been approved by Kripalu Center for credit toward advanced certification. This training program won a national award for "Excellence in Professional Education 2003." An introductory version of this training was offered at the Kripalu Yoga Teachers' Association annual conference in 2004.

  • Business Basics, KYTA Conference, 2002.

    Current and past clients include: Alliance for Living, Catholic Family Services, Eastern Area Health & Education Center, Eastern Connecticut Chamber of Commerce Leadership Program, Hospice of Southeastern Connecticut, Lawrence & Memorial Hospital, Lighthouse Vocational Education Center, the Greater Connecticut Chapter of the National MS Society and People's Financial Services.


  • Philosophy and Comments        

    "Have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a foreign language. Do not search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live with them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer." --- Rainer Maria Rilke


    Work Hours and Fee Schedule        


    Yoga Classes        

    See the current Yoga class schedule

    Our yoga classes offer a comprehensive yoga program that includes yoga philosophy, breathing techniques, yoga movements known as postures, concentration and meditation techniques and deep relaxation integrating body, mind and spirit.

    Some of the classes offered included:

    Adaptive Yoga for Health Challenges — Designed for new and continuing students, this class adapts traditional yoga postures to the needs of each individual. Ideal for students who have health or physical limitations including arthritis, multiple sclerosis, parkinson’s, osteoporosis, and more. This class offers a balanced approach for strength and flexibility, breath work and deep relaxation. Private lessons available. Individual Services

    Chair Yoga for Seniors — This is a fun class that explores the needs and sensitivities of seniors including breath work and exercises that increase range of movement, strength and flexibility. Seniors who have taken this class report that they can walk further, reach higher and sleep better – and have fun doing it!

    Gentle Yoga — Ideal for students seeking a quiet, balanced and restorative practice that focuses on stretching, breath and relaxation.

    Intermediate — Welcoming experienced students with more challenging postures, longer holding, and continuous posture flows. Also more yoga philosophy, pranayama, and meditation to deepen your yoga practice.

    Mat Yoga for Seniors — This gentle class includes traditional yoga postures that start sitting on the floor, transition to hands and knees, then standing poses, then hands and knees again onto the belly, ending on the back for deep relaxation. Modifications are given for students who have problems with knees, hips, wrist, shoulders and back. Pranayama, meditation and yoga philosophy round out the class.

    Mixed Levels — An energetic approach to the practice of yoga for endurance, strength, & flexibility. Includes vinyasa, a flowing sequence of asanas. Designed for new & continuing students. Includes the fundamental principles of alignment, primary postures, breath work, and relaxation.

    Yoga for Stress Relief — When the stress in our lives interferes with our ability to feel healthy, Yoga for Stress Relief can work wonders. A primary cause of many illnesses, mental stress weakens the immune system and invites a wide variety of physical and mental health conditions. In this yoga class you will learn stress reduction techniques that will broaden your ability to practice the art of relaxed living. These techniques can be used all day long to reduce tension and reverse the stress response, creating a foundation of inner harmony to face the challenges of life with ease.

    Over the course of 10 weeks, this class will focus on stress reduction techniques including breath work, stretching the body to release tension and increase flexibility, deep relaxation, body / breath awareness and meditation. You’ll learn restorative poses using pillows, blankets, yoga straps, the wall, and chairs to support the body in a variety of deeply relaxing yoga postures. This class is adaptive and therapeutic, open students of all levels and ability.


    Individual Services        

    Individual Yoga Lessons

    Ideal for the busy professional, Individual Lessons work around your schedule to offer flexibility and personal attention at your location or mine. Focus areas may include breathing and stress management techniques to relieve tension and stress, calm restless thoughts and cultivate a sense of well-being.

    Individual Therapeutic Yoga Lesson

    Ideal for individuals with physical limitations related disability, recovery from surgery or illness, Therapeutic Yoga is designed to meet your specific needs. Focus areas may include creating a home practice sequence, improve postural alignment and range of motion, breathing and stress management techniques to reduce pain and increase feelings of well-being. Therapeutic Yoga focuses on your particular health concern.

    Couples and Small Groups

    Too busy for a group class? You want to practice with your partner or friends but have trouble coordinating your time with group class times? Perhaps you travel a lot so a regular class doesn't work for you. Private couples or small group yoga may be just the thing that you are looking for. These classes can be held at your home, inside or out depending on weather.

    Life Coaching

    Take time for yourself. Breathe. Relax. Notice how you feel. Notice the thoughts in the mind. Are you racing from one thing to do to the next? Are your thoughts racing from one concern to the next? Can you allow yourself to enjoy this very moment?

    The journey of life draws us forward, even when the light ahead seems dim and the course uncharted. Personal or professional coaching offers a partnership approach to creating a life of balance and fulfillment.

    Focus areas can include: health and well-being, career development, lifestyle consultation, transitions and transformation. Life coaching can help you clarify your goals, discover your passion, change your life. Are you ready?


    Healing Yoga for Every Body audio CD        

    More information about this and other yoga CDs and an online ordering page can found at the YogaHealsUs.com Shop

    Healing Yoga for Every Body audio CD

    Gentle movements of breath, mind and body for deep relaxation and healing.

    Tracks include: Body Scan Visualization, 3 - Part Complete Breath, Gentle Movement, Guided Healing Meditation, Short Yoga Nidra, Breath Meditation, Relaxation.

    "The wandering notes of Marina Raye's transporting flute music on this CD are the first cues to the body and mind to give in and let go. The rest of the job is aptly done by Kripalu Yoga teacher and Integrative Yoga therapist Karen Clarke, whose specific yet unobtrusive guidance takes you on a journey to deep relaxation. Inspired by a friend of Karen's who lost much of her independent movement due to multiple sclerosis, the CD is designed for all levels of ability and includes a body scan, 20 minutes of gentle movements that can be done in a chair or on the floor, pranayama, meditations, and a 17-minute yoga nidra.The experience is designed to flow from one section to the next, but practitioners can also select different parts of the practice to fit their mood or time frame." -- reviewed by Tresca Weinstein, KYTA Bulletin, Summer 2006

    Music by Marina Raye www.marinaraye.com

    Price: $16.95 + $4.55 S/H = $21.50 (CT residents add 6% sales tax). Wholesale available.

    See this page to order


           


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