EMOTIONAL ENERGETIC EMBODIMENT
Somatic Embodiment Yoga and Somatic Yoga Therapy are based on the 3 core principles of Reclamation, Transformation, and Resilience. Practices always begin with tools that support nervous system regulation, establish body ease, and support students in empowered self-discovery. We use this foundation to access our innate transformation as we move into powerful practices from a place of our wants and consent. We use vinyasa krama to intelligently open the body and cultivate resilience by practicing how to regulate ourselves through breath, meditation, mantra, and mudra.
TRAUMA RESPECTFUL
Mandorla seeks to create teachers and therapists who use trauma-respectful language and teaching approaches in mainstream settings. Yoga can be a powerful tool for tapping into the soma. We see an opportunity for teachers to support their students in better accessing their bodies. This is not clinical training for teaching those with Trauma but training that hopes to bridge a gap in village-oriented and community-based care. Many of us have a trauma history, and going to a yoga class can be a step toward our healing journey with the proper support. Empowering teachers to use respectful, student-led, and empowering language can make a world of difference.
AYURVEDA
All of our programs are rooted in the wisdom of Yoga's sister art, Ayurveda. Like Yoga, Ayurveda gives us tools to better understand ourselves and what we need for balance. Combining these arts together creates yoga practices that are rich with insight for bringing ourselves into a place of balance and restoration. We share this art from the very beginning in all our programs, sharing with you the knowledge of the Elements - Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether and how to pull these qualities into yoga asana and breath. In advanced programs, we go deeper with understanding of dosha and lifestyle.
INTEGRATIVE THAI YOGA MASSAGE
The presence a teacher brings allows us to feel held and whole. It allows us to go to places impossible on our own. When we add the art of touch, done respectfully, it takes this experience to new depths. Thai Yoga Massage supports you in opening your body, releasing tension, and allowing others to hold you. All healing and profound experiences on their own. This wisdom is woven into all our programs in the practice of Embodied Touch. It culminates in our 200-hour mentoring program, the final component of the 875-hour Somatic Yoga Therapist Training, where our graduates earn dual certification in both Somatic Yoga Therapy and Integrative Thai Yoga Massage. This gives our graduates better access to insurance, more depth in their scope of practice, and improved opportunities for billing to insurance companies.
We provide two learning pathways for our students.
Pathway 1 is for those with no prior yoga training, who may be new to somatic work, and who likely do not have a Master's level background in a mental health-related field. Most of the participants who take this pathway recognize that they would benefit from self-healing work, tending to their trauma history, and acquiring skills for nervous system regulation and emotional fluency. This learning pathway combines our 200-hour Somatic Embodiment Yoga Teacher Training with direct entry into the 800-hour Somatic Yoga Therapy program. In Pathway 1, the Somatic Embodiment Yoga Teacher Training and Somatic Yoga Therapist Training combine to offer you a complete 1,000-hour in-depth program that deeply explores the processes of reclaiming ease in your body through movement, stillness, breath, and touch.
Pathway 2 is for those with a 200-hour yoga certification or who have a Master's level degree in a mental-health related field. In lieu of completing our 200-hour Somatic Embodiment Training, these applicants begin with the 75-hour Somatic Yoga Therapy Bridge Program. Graduates of Pathway 2 earn the 875-hour Somatic Yoga Therapist designation.
Graduates of both Pathways 1 and 2 acquire the designation of Somatic Yoga Therapist and Integrative Thai Yoga Massage Practitioner, which allows for registration as a practicing Somatic Yoga Therapist through the Canadian Yoga Alliance and as a practicing Integrative Thai Yoga Massage Practitioner through the NHPC. This dual designation gives our graduates access to excellent practitioner insurance and gives them the ability to bill their services to multiple insurance providers.
ACCREDITATION - Mandorla Institute is a certified educational institution with the Canadian government and has been a registered yoga school since 2007. We are a registered Yoga Therapy School with the Canadian Yoga Alliance and a registered Thai Yoga Massage School with the National Health Practitioners of Canada and Namasta (USA). Canadian graduates of our programs may claim their tuition on their taxes and receive a T2202a form at each year-end. Graduates of the 875-hour Somatic Yoga Therapist Training may become members of the NHPC with the ability to offer insurance receipts to approved insurance companies and for clients who hold Health Spending Accounts (HSAs).
I feel very blessed and grateful to have completed my Yoga Teacher Training offered by Mandorla. Not only is Stefani an amazing heart centered teacher, but she's practical, diverse, extremely knowledgeable and empowering. She challenges your assumptions in a kind and loving way and then gives you the tools you need to empower yourself.
Stef has helped me learn the foundations of stability and support...movement consciousness and intention. Stef teaches this in such a way that it actually transforms the way you think about your body and your movements. Stef has taught me how to incorporate these principles into all of my movements, on and off my mat. She has taught me to pay as much attention to what I do between the poses and how I get in and out of them, as I do while in them.
For me it's never been about anything but, how to have a strong mind, happy and healthy body and a grateful soul. And the foundations Stef teaches are all of these and so much more. Stefani is a true Guru of our times. I feel blessed and honored to have had opportunity to work with her and the whole Mandorla community!