Teaching Yoga One on One DVD with Julie Carmen
Years ago, a friend invited me to take a yoga class with Julie Carmen at Exhale in Venice since we were both yoga teachers and actors as well as mental health professionals. I went in not knowing what to expect, and left feeling both exhilarated and grateful, because I knew Julie is truly a teacher’s teacher.
Julie’s latest DVD, Teaching Yoga One on One, exemplifies this. Her extensive knowledge and experience as a yoga therapist, teacher, and psychotherapist, along with her compassionate being, is inspirational.
Teaching Yoga One on One was shot in real time, giving the viewer the sense of being present in the jungle with the teachings. The DVD was filmed on the Costa Rican Nicoya Peninsula (at the Sanctuary of Two Rivers_, where three families were on retreat with Julie. It rained incessantly throughout the week, leading to everyone staying inside the yoga studio treehouse where spontaneous filming took place. The 108 minutes are divided into 15 chapters of varying lengths with sections including “Teaching Students with Depression”, “Teaching Students with Stress”, and “Teacher Self-Care.” We see how Julie makes assessments, demonstrates modifications, and engages all of the senses. This is a must-see for students in teacher training programs as well as experienced teachers who wish to increase their skills and sensitivity related to teaching students with underlying mental health considerations.
Reviewed by Dale Nieli MFT, RYT, a yoga teacher, personal trainer, and mental health professional.
Dale Nieli MSW, C-IAYT, CHT has a powerful gift for helping people discover sources of pain and stress, whether the source is physical, emotional, or spiritual. She is a compassionate transformational guide for people when they are in crisis points in their lives. Dale is skilled at facilitation with people at all stages of recovery, from those who are beginning their own path to those deepening their long-term sobriety. Her work allows people to release patterns of long-held tension that become lodged in the body, holding them back and often leading to symptoms such as fatigue, sleeplessness, and anxiety. Dale helps people remove these barriers to health in order to experience increased energy, enjoy sound sleep, and to feel peaceful, more at ease, and even full of joy.
In her work one-on-one and in groups, Dale uses her intuitive skills to help people integrate body, mind, and spirit in order to actualize their full potential. Some of the interconnected techniques she uses include the therapeutic application of yoga, trauma release work, somatic experiencing, vagus nerve regulation, psychoneuroenergetics, sound healing, user-friendly mindfulness meditation, aromatherapy, hypnotherapy and affirmations, pressure points and hands-on healing, breath training, therapeutic movement, energy work, intuitive healing, and mind-body fitness.