This course was designed with teen girls and young women in their early twenties in mind. If you have a group of 5-10 interested young women, contact me to set up a private course.

This course brings together the two things I know best: media education and yoga. I developed this course to push back against the media and cultural messages that tell us that our value is determined by our appearance. We consistently see bodies represented as objects and are told to spend exorbitant amounts of money to achieve the ‘right’ look. The messages we get from advertising, celebrity spotlights, TV, movies, and more help our culture define what is beautiful and “good” and help create the context within which people develop self-esteem and learn to place a value on the size and shape of their bodies. I believe that we can free our imaginations by first learning to think critically and consciously about these messages and then by getting into our bodies (which yoga helps us to do) and aligning (and re-integrating, if necessary) our minds, bodies, and spirits.

In this 6-week program:

You will learn to use media education techniques to deconstruct the stories the culture tells about bodies from the outside in.

You will learn – through yoga, elements of contemporary body-mind psychology, meditation, and journaling – to listen to the stories your body tells you from the inside out, and to tune in to your deepest self through physical alignment.

Classes 2-6 will each include a yoga practice lasting 45 minutes to an hour (suitable for all fitness levels, no yoga experience necessary), so make sure to dress in loose, comfortable clothing.

The program will conclude with an integration, during which participants will create an action step for taking the learning from the program forward into their lives.

There will be short assignments and/or exercises between classes.

Class 1:
Introduction to media literacy techniques.
Critically examine media representations of, and cultural messages about, the body.
Reflect on the ways that media and cultural messages have influenced your own sense of self.

Class 2:
Explore the connection between dismemberment and objectification in advertising and commercial media and the disconnection many people experience from their bodies.
Yoga and connection to body and self.

Class 3:
Using yoga and elements of contemporary body-mind psychology, explore what you can learn about self and body from the inside.
Explore how the principles of yoga can be used to resist media messages.
Explore the concept of body memory.

Class 4:
Introduction to Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy
Listening to the stories held in our bodies.

Class 5:
Explore alternative BodyStories that exist in the culture.
Explore the creation of an alternative BodyStory for yourself.

Class 6:
Integration
Create an action step for how to bring your learning forward into your own life.