image courtesy of Karen Fuchs

2024 Yoga Opportunities

  YOGA THERAPY ONE-ON-ONE

Yoga explorations via personal practice for your unique needs.
Contact via "View My Complete Profile" for scheduling

WEEKLY CLASS SCHEDULE

Yoga Support for Hypermobility*
Mondays at 1:15pm cst 

Living Well with Chronic Pain 
Tuesdays at 1:00pm cst 

Yoga to Regulate (II)
Wednesdays at 11:00am cst 

Yoga to Restore (I)
Thursdays at 10:30am cst 

 Living Well with Chronic Pain
Thursdays at 2:00pm cst 

Pre-register for all classes at Osher Vanderbilt (click “view our class schedule”) 
*This class is in-person, all others are online via MHAV

Gentle Yoga for Back Care


Harpeth Hall Winterim for Adults

Gentle Yoga for Back Care
Gentle Yoga for Back care is a 4-week series designed for those with back pain in any area along the spine. This class uses gentle movement in the spine and surrounding areas in combination with calming breathing and visualization to relax and relieve tension, improve back flexibility, and develop back strength and support for a healthy spine.

Instructor: Amanda Wentworth ’98
Dates: Mondays, January 29, February 5, 12, and 26
Time: 5:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Location: Yoga Studio, HH Athletic and Wellness Center
Cost: $75 for the series
Class is limited to 15

Register Here

Season's Greetings!

 


Season's Greetings Yogis
Looking for Yoga Support during the holidays? Things aren't going to slow down on their own, so here are a couple of yoga and meditation offerings at the Osher Center to support this most wonderful time of the year.


A Special Stillness: Yoga for the Holiday Season
yoga support for 3 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas
Wednesdays at 11am



Candlelight Movement and Meditation
connect to the light within on the Winter Solstice 
Thursday 12/21 at 4pm


https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/osher-center-holiday-presence-series-2807779

2023 Class Schedule


 WEEKLY CLASS SCHEDULE

Yoga Support for Hypermobility*
Mondays at 1:15pm cst 

Living Well with Chronic Pain 
Tuesdays at 1:00pm cst 

Yoga to Regulate (II)
Wednesdays at 11:00am cst 

Yoga to Restore (I)
Thursdays at 10:30am cst 

 Living Well with Chronic Pain
Thursdays at 2:00pm cst 

Pre-register for all classes at Osher Vanderbilt (click “view our class schedule”) 
*This class is in-person, all others are online via MHAV

Online Yoga + Meditation Opportunities

And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still.  And listened more deeply.  Some meditated, some prayed, some danced.  Some met their shadows.  And the people began to think differently. And the people healed.  And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal. And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.   
~Kitty O’Meara

Online Yoga + Meditation Opportunities
live-streaming yoga movement and meditation via Zoom in the comfort of your own home

Wednesdays at 11:00cst 
(Continuing Drop-in) 
ongoing
pre-register at Osher Vanderbilt 
click “view our class schedule” 

Thursdays at 10:30cst 
(Beginner Series) 
ongoing
pre-register at Osher Vanderbilt 
click “view our class schedule” 

Fridays at 10:30cst 
(Continuing Series) 
check website for schedule
pre-register at Osher Vanderbilt 
click “view our class schedule” 



Current Class Schedule


Current Class Schedule
Tuesdays 2:00-4:00pm Living Well with Chronic Pain Series (Osher Center)
Wednesdays 10:00-11:00am Gentle Yoga Drop-In (Osher Center)
Thursdays 10:30-11:30am Beginner Yoga Series (Osher Center)
Thursdays 12:00-1:00pm Vinyasa Yoga Drop-In (Liberation Yoga)
Thursdays 3:00-4:00pm Rotating Series-Back Care/Sleep Well/Soothing Headaches (Osher Center)

* Accepting Private Session bookings and Kid's Classes registrations, email via link on bottom or right "view my complete profile"
Osher Center for Integrative Medicine (Vanderbilt)
www.vanderbilthealth.com/osher
Liberation Yoga (12 South District)
www.liberationnashville.com

Current Schedule

I will be returning to my teaching schedule starting this October.  There will be fewer group class opportunities, as I am busying myself in other very good ways now.

Osher Center for Integrative Medicine (Vanderbilt)
Wednesdays 10:00amGentle Yoga - Foundation Level  
Thursdays 4:00pm Gentle Yoga for Soothing Headaches* (5/4-5/25)  - Foundation Level
Thursdays 4:00pm Gentle Yoga for Sleeping Well* (6/29-7/27)  - Foundation Level
Thursdays 4:00pm Gentle Yoga for Back Care* (8/17-9/14)  - Foundation Level

Liberation Yoga (12 South District) 
www.liberationnashville.com
Thursdays 12:00pm Vinyasa Yoga - Open Level 

To contact & book private sessions, email via link to the right "view my complete profile"
Foundation Level=beginner appropriate, Open Level=all welcome, modifications suggested
*Series Classes at Vanderbilt require pre-registration. Click here to sign up.

Back Care Class starts soon

Got Back Pain? 
Try Yoga Or Massage Before Reaching For The Pills (NPR's Morning Edition)
Most of us suffer back pain at some point in our lives. In fact, it's one of the most common reasons people go to the doctor. Many of us also probably reach for medication. Now, new guidelines from the American College of Physicians say try exercise, yoga, or massage first.

That's a pretty big change for both doctors and patients, but a welcome one, some doctors say.

To come up with the recommendations, researchers analyzed more than 150 studies looking at what works and what doesn't when it comes to lower back pain.

The type of acute pain we're talking about is your "garden variety back pain you might get after shoveling a little too much or over-exercising," says ACP president Dr. Nitin Damle — not the kind of pain that radiates down your leg and causes numbness, or the type which results from a major accident.

In contrast to other types of pain, Damle says acute back pain usually goes away on its own. "The body will adjust, the inflammation will go down," he says. It may take a few days or even a week, but eventually you'll be back to normal.

So why risk side effects of medication, he says, if you don't have to? Side effects can include gastritis, stomach upset and a rise in blood pressure.

Instead, the new guidelines suggest techniques to speed up the healing process, including heat wraps, massage, acupuncture and spinal manipulation which can "relax the muscles, joints, and tendons so people can be relieved of their low back pain sooner, rather than later."

Other options that can help include exercise, "mind-body" therapies like yoga, tai chi, mindfulness-based stress reduction and guided relaxation techniques.

For patients with chronic pain who just aren't responding to these non-drug therapies, the guidelines recommend medication to reduce inflammation such as ibuprofen and naproxen, which are nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

Acetaminophen doesn't reduce pain or inflammation and is no longer recommended for back pain, according to a review published in Annals of Internal Medicine on Tuesday. In certain cases, muscle relaxants might help short term.

If that fails, and pain persists, the next option could include medications for nerve pain or narcotics for pain. "Only in rare circumstances should opioids be given," Damle says, "and then only at the lowest dose possible and for the shortest period of time."

Primary care doctor Steven Atlas, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School who practices at Massachusetts General Hospital, wrote an editorial accompanying the guidelines. He describes them as a needed change. "We are moving away from simple fixes like a pill to a more complex view that involves a lot of lifestyle changes," he says.

Atlas says this is a big cultural shift. In order to make non-drug treatments more commonplace, he suggests doctors expand their referral systems and that health insurance companies consider covering these costs.

The guidelines were published online Feb. 13 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.