95H Certification Program Part 1 The Sonia Sumar Method - ONLINE - JULY 2023

95H Part 1 (48H) (online)  EDT

Dates:: July 07-09 and 14-16

Times::  08:00 am - 11:30am and 02:00pm to 5:30pm EDT

Teacher:  Sivakami Sonia Sumar and Shanthi Erin Haddock

Yoga for the Special Child Part 1 is a comprehensive, hands on, experiential course that will help you gain all the tools and skills you need to start teaching yoga to children with special needs. The course is open to yoga teachers, yoga students, school teachers, health practitioners, OT, PT, parents of children with special needs and everyone who is interested in helping children with special needs through the means of yoga.

The Method Sonia Sumar pioneered over 50 years ago, is rooted in classical Hatha Yoga, therefore it carries all of its components : voice work- chanting, eyes exercises, breathing work- pranayama, physical exercise, asanas, deep relaxation and meditation- yoga nidra. It is a safe and gentle but yet extremely powerful therapeutic yoga approach that has been helping improve the life of children and adults with special needs across the globe. The method is suitable for any age and any conditions.

You will be provided with a manual - workbook and as the course progresses you will be handed out more materials to read and study.  All material from the manual will be covered fully.

With this training you will learn how to work with babies and children up to 12 years of age. Renata Sumar will share with you all of her knowledge and experience and all she has learned and keeps on learning from Sonia Sumar Sivakami directly. She will guide you through deepening your knowledge of Yoga , developing your own yoga practice, developing a practice for a child with special needs, gaining all the tools and skills you would need in order to deliver a yoga class, and gaining an understanding of the core Yoga for the Special Child Method values and structure.

As the week progresses and you learn more about the different stages of development we would share 4 / 5 different videos with you so you can see the methodology applied directly. This offers a really fantastic opportunity for all participants on the course to not only see but also have the chance to discus, question and investigate further all that has been learned over the week.

Each day will start with a short yoga session with the aim of you learning how to lead a class for a child with special needs. It is important to be able to understand and experience the benefits of this particular yoga methodology on your own body/ self before even attempting to apply it & share it with children with special needs.

Part 1 looks closely at the different stages of physiological and phycological development of an individual and how yoga helps and supports and individual.  The methodology is divided in 4 stages which you will study and learn about in depth so by the end of the course you will be able to work with children with special / additional needs right away.

The curriculum is rich and engaging. The course includes :

• how to evaluate infants and children
• how to create the optimum home environment
• how to work with specific conditions
• how to create a practice suitable for each individual
• how to adjust and accommodate a child so he/she is safe
• how to improve the breath of the child which in turn promotes better overall wellbeing
• how to calm the child's nervous system so they are better self regulated
• how to improve child's strength balance, flexibility, stamina, concentration, focus, sleep, self -esteem and state of mind