Jaime has studied yoga extensively at the Samarya Center in Seattle, Wa, where she has discovered yoga first and foremost as a practice of love and acceptance for oneself and for others. It is through this practice of compassion, humility and understanding that we begin to heal ourselves and our communities.

Jaime’s classes and sessions are rich in intention, love, and creativity.  She provides a theme for discussion at the beginning of each class, and leads with an emphasis on exploring how yoga poses and techniques can serve as practical tools for your body. Most of all, she hopes that her students feel honesty and joy in their practice.

She is so grateful to her many wonderful teachers:

Molly Lannon-Kenny and Stephanie Sisson of The Samarya Center.

Laura Humph of The Samarya Center and Satmato Thai.

Mark Lilly and Katie Arrants of Street Yoga.

Erin and Kevin Maile-O’Keefe of Circus Yoga

Paul and Suzie Grilley

Julie Gudmestad of Gudmestad Yoga

and of course, each and every student she has had the pleasure of working with!

This article outlines the rationale and best practices for helping young people recover from the trauma of sexual abuse using integrative and therapeutic Yoga practices. As a model for such work, we describe a specific program, Healing Childhood Sexual Abuse with Yoga, currently offered by the authors in the Portland, OR area. The program serves both girls and boys and has a teen leadership component to allow older youth to serve as role models for preteens. This article outlines the necessary steps for working with this population, including self-inquiry, training, program design, teaching strategies, and integration with other therapies and services. A full eight-week curriculum is described, with focal points for each class, as well as suggested poses, mantras, creative activities, and mindfulness practices. The article also addresses specific contraindications and risk factors and ways they can be mitigated. Finally, it covers observed outcomes from two sequential eight-week sessions of the Healing Childhood Sexual Abuse with Yoga program.

Click Here to download the full text article.

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I recently returned from completing my Integrated Movement Therapy^® internship at the Samarya Center in Seattle, WA, where an activity like this is central to clinical practice. Integrated Movement Therapy^® (IMT) is a yoga-based therapy modality truly suited for anyone working with a physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual challenge and needing support. Itdraws from the philosophy and practices of yoga, recognizing and celebrating the innate wholeness of all people. The therapist aims to create authentic partnership with her client so that the client can become conscious of the necessary tools to boost his self-awareness, and very importantly build the love he feels for himself.

In my IMT studies and work with Street Yoga, I have been touched time and again by the ways love shapes how way we live in the world and the way we feel about ourselves. When love is lacking, we can be left feeling broken, isolated, rejected. We suffer when love is lost and build for ourselves a protective layer around our hearts. When it is present, we tend to cling tightly- attaching ourselves to the euphoric feelings of bliss and completeness, with the genuine hope that things will always stay so good.

Think about the process of conjuring up that one thing that you love about yourself. Perhaps this type of activity is familiar to you, perhaps not. Regardless, the process can be an interesting one. If I had asked you to generate a list of your challenges, shortcomings, “deficits,” would your list have been longer? It has been my experience that we are conditioned to recognize our faults and feel as though we should change and “be better” in order to be productive in life. So often that negative, critical voice speaks louder inside our minds than the loving, compassionate, encouraging voice- the one that wants us to know we are loved and okay just the way we are.

In yoga we aim for balance. We cultivate our abilities to experience many aspects of life at once: groundedness and lightness, stillness and movement, alertness and relaxation. Little by little, we become better able to step back from the messes of being human and witness ourselves with love and compassion. We create space to hold deep sadness with tenderness, defeat with hope, frustration with some shred of joy. We work to see other people as more than how they present to us, and ourselves as more than the single identity that feels strongest (addict, survivor, mother, child, employee…) But we must remember that this is all a practice. We make mistakes and sometimes it feels as though we have to start all over again. The unexpected hardships and immeasurable joys of life both challenge us and highlight parts of ourselves that we have perhaps never known.

In the midst of my intensive studies, I learned about the Atma (or Nirvana) Shatakam, the Song of the Self, written by a sage in the eighth century. The stanzas summarize the Advaita Vedanta (non-dualistic philosophy) and answer the question Who Am I from a yogic perspective. I love this song because it acknowledges so many of the different identities and ways of being to which we attach, and then states that we are not any of those things. Phew! The good news? We are pure consciousness, pure love.

Atma-Shatakam / Nirvana Shatakam

The Song of the Self

by Adi Shankara

788-820 CE

• I am not mind, nor intellect, nor ego, nor the reflections of inner self. I am not the five senses. I am beyond that. I am not the ether, nor the earth, nor the fire, nor the wind (i.e. the five elements). I am indeed, That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva, love and pure consciousness.
• Neither can I be termed as energy (Praana), nor five types of breath (Vaayu), nor the seven material essences (dhaatu), nor the five coverings (panca-kosha). Neither am I the five instruments of elimination, procreation, motion, grasping, or speaking. I am indeed, That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva, love and pure consciousness.
• I have no hatred or dislike, nor affiliation or liking, nor greed, nor delusion, nor pride or haughtiness, nor feelings of envy or jealousy. I have no duty (dharma), nor any money, nor any desire (refer: kama), nor even liberation (refer: moksha). I am indeed, That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva, love and pure consciousness.
• I have neither virtue (punya), nor vice (paapa). I do not commit sins or good deeds, nor have happiness or sorrow, pain or pleasure. I do not need mantras, holy places, scriptures, rituals or sacrifices (yajna). I am none of the triad of the observer or one who experiences, the process of observing or experiencing, or any object being observed or experienced. I am indeed, That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva, love and pure consciousness.
• I do not have fear of death, as I do not have death. I have no separation from my true self, no doubt about my existence, nor have I discrimination on the basis of birth. I have no father or mother, nor did I have a birth. I am not the relative, nor the friend, nor the guru, nor the disciple. I am indeed, That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva, love and pure consciousness.
• I am all pervasive. I am without any attributes, and without any form. I have neither attachment to the world, nor to liberation. I have no wishes for anything because I am everything, everywhere, every time, always in equilibrium. I am indeed, That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva, love and pure consciousness.
  » read the full sanskrit here…

I would add to this beautiful and ancient hymn a verse that speaks to all of us working today to make the world a more peaceful place. To those serving others and those who we serve:I am not homelessness, I am not trauma, nor am I addiction.
I am not depression, nor anxiety, nor sleeplessness.
I am not sadness, nor fear, nor am I frustration. I am not invisible.
I am, indeed, that eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva, love and pure consciousness.