Yoga Therapy and Generosity of Spirit
A Journey into Yoga Therapy
And all are part of the same
Welcome to Yoga United Education!
Listening to the Body
As we come to listen to the language of the body, and open into hearing and translating, we open a new door to deeper truth, we connect with the internal and external spaces, places in our body that hold and suppress all that we hide and all that we love - we hold it very close. If we can learn the language of the body, listen to information held in sensation, translate into its unique and personal meaning, and trust its wisdom, we may discern how to return to a settled mind, vital body, and generous spirit. This is soulful not clinical yoga therapy. One size does not fit all, there is no general prescription for a condition. What are you seeking, what are you longing for, what drives you and protects you, what is outdated and no longer serves you. How will you transform - through cracking yourself open, melting away armour, dissolving into oneness - many ways to get to the same place. Let's go there and explore what we're holding inside; the entire universe is there, home is there. Let's get intimate with our Selves...and only if you're ready and curious!
Going In
As we drop through the layers of being and cross the fine membranes of the thin places, we may stumble into a place of great wisdom or a remember with relief something that was long forgotten. As we stumble often blindly, clumsily and awkwardly into the unknown and into discomfort, we may come to a clearing in the forest. Let's pause here in the clearing. We bring all of a little or all of ourselves into the light and connect to all that is here. Insight often happens here when the trying and the shoulds are paused. If it's on the tip of my tongue, I often find it hard to reach the word or the answer. When I pause, relax, let go of trying and doing, wait in receiving mode, there is so much treasure to be found, that glistens and winks to you to notice. So many impressions have been stamped into our cells through a whole lifetime. As we become still and silent, we suspend ourselves in present-centred awareness until whatever needs to be revealed rises to the surface..and we are ready to catch whatever shows up - only if we notice it. Don't dismiss the obvious, the cliched - often the body's language is so literal, we wonder why we hadn't known this all along.
Even if we don't recognise it immediately, some chink of light, a spark, spanda, a knowing without thinking starts grows inside as awareness and it stays with us until one day, it might be the wake up call that we missed.
I have experienced the magic and power of this embodied state during yoga therapy as a 'growing feeling of truth and love', a 'generosity of spirit', and 'joyful remembering', living life to the full. Like being in love, it can manifest as a desire to extend to others the celebratory buzz that I am feeling, to meet the grows and the glows as welcome visitors.
If you have first-hand experience of the miracle of the body to repair and heal itself
AND
you have deep gratitude for having yoga in your life,
it's natural to want to continue the adventure, and share it with others.
I hope to share this with you,
With love and joy
Judy Hirsh Sampathx
About Judy Hirsh Sampath
During an intensely emotional period in her life, Judy came to a profound insight. She came to another question in a yoga therapy session, always a space for deep enquiry, revelations and suprises...which changed her life. On this occasion, she found herself asking this question: “what would happen if I focused on what is right with me instead of trying to fix what is wrong with me?”
With this question, Judy changed the way she practiced and taught yoga, noticing the way her inner critic held her to ransom, how teachers can inadvertently disconnect their student from their inner teacher. She wanted to get out of the way of herself as the teacher to let the student know that they are the expert in themselves, they have their own questions and maybe have some answers, remind them of their own capacity to heal and grow.
Judy has been processing, self-reflecting and exploring ways into the body’s wisdom ever since and is passionate about helping others find their own self-agency and way back to a lost trust in Self.
As a yoga teacher and therapist of many years, she found condition-based practices did not work, a one size fits all approach only reinforced the idea that the body is nothing but a physical machine that can be fixed. Like watching a stone sculptor take away everything that is not the sculpture within, we simply take away layers of conditioning, heavy armour, the self-harm of should and exhausting not-enough. She knows how effective yoga therapy can be on a soul level. This is not clinical or medical, this is spirit and alchemy. For her own wellbeing, she knows the importance of receiving therapy, mentoring and supervision herself, to commit to regular practice, and random acts of kindness - all of which keep the flame of enthusiasm alive through difficult times as well as joyful ones: tapas as described by Donna Farhi as 'burning enthusiasm' rather than the discipline of advancing in asana practice.
Judy does not prescribe one ‘style’ of yoga but will offer a range of practices that start with the physical body as an entry point to a deeper understanding, to sense into a 'growing feeling of love' which feels natural to extend to others in search of heart softening and courage.
She believes that profound questions, insights and realizations can create a renewed sense of 'generosity of spirit' which can override stress, bring courage to explore difficult emotions and a troubled mind, and tap into creativity, joy and success. If this is what yoga therapy is, it has certainly helps her to live a healthier, richer and more joyful life. Maybe it will work for you too.
As a yoga therapist and educator, she engages health seekers, truth seekers and wisdom holders in becoming experts in themselves - to find their own answers, to make wise choices, to stress less and to feel good physically, mentally and spiritually.
Judy Hirsh Sampath says ‘We all face situations where we feel overwhelmed by events in our lives. Personal situations can create chronic stress, feelings of confusion, negative internal dialogue and overwhelming sadness which can take hold of our spirit, mess with our mind, take root and get stuck in the body.’ Judy believes that yoga therapy can have positive effects on how we view our own reality and meditation is key. ‘All the knowledge we need is buried deep inside ourselves and yoga therapy can help us to uncover what we have forgotten, to connect, restore our health and heal ourselves.’
Founder of Yoga Headspace, and co-founder of Yoga United, Judy brings a creative mix of yoga-based practices to engage health seekers of all ages, sizes and abilities to tune into their own head space and inner wisdom. She has delivered yoga, meditation, embodied mindfulness and yoga therapy in health spas, offices, schools, mental health & fertility settings in group and 1-2-1 in person and online. She is consistently amazed by the magic that happens on the mat and how it transitions into life.
Judy Hirsh Sampath is a senior yoga teacher, and yoga therapist working in north London and South India since the turn of the century, a milestone for her in changing career from a stressful TV career to a spiritual calling into service through yoga.
She holds The British Wheel of Yoga teaching diploma, teaches the BWY Foundation course, and modules in yoga therapy, and restful sleep. She is on the faculty of Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy in the US and a qualified yoga therapist (C-IAYT). She has also completed courses in NLP, Shamanic journeying, and Art Therapy as well as trainings with Judith Lasater, Donna Farhi, Tias Little, Uma Dinsmore-Tuli and many others.
When she’s not working, she enjoys bootcamp and chocolate, not in equal quantities but working on balancing the two! But how long does balance last, right?
Tasters & Workshops
Judy believes that yoga is not a luxury but an essential tool for a better lifestyle -
“it is less about how you look on the mat and more about how you live in the world”
Judy is passionate about introducing seekers to yoga therapy through experiential workshops. If you want to dip your toe into a different way of thinking and being, you do not need any yoga or meditation experience, simply a willingness to enter the body like a gateway to a deeper place of knowing, like walking through a door to Narnia or Wonderland.
Courses
Longer courses address issues like stress, anxiety, depression, insomnia and back pain. Over a weekend or number of weeks, Judy guides participants each week into deeper enquiry - to think less, play more and to tune into the body to access the wisdom within, to befriend it, to listen and learn to trust it.
Healing the body, mind and spirit, and insightful experiences can lead to liberation as well as create a steady foundation for richer yoga teaching and sensitive yoga therapy.
Yoga Therapy Diploma
Having engaged in two very different yoga therapy trainings, Judy has spent more than 20 years delivering yoga and yoga therapy to individuals from all walks of life - from mental health to fertility settings, all struggling with an ailing spirit of some kind, wanting to break free of whatever is holding them back from life. Thinking on her feet with clients gave her confidence to trust her intuition. Sensitivity, collaboration and co-creating become key in devising takeaways that had the potential to create lasting change.
She wrote her course, invited the educators who had the greatest impact on her own journey, and accredited the training with the British Council for Yoga Therapy with some CPD modules quality-assured with The British Wheel of Yoga - and so Yoga United Education was born.
She always takes time to acknowledge the experience and knowledge of all participants, to engage in healthy discussion, share experiences, and intends to hold a brave space for everyone present.