Yoga for folks with Physical Disabilities and those with Limited Mobility.
​
Our community needs compassionate and understanding teachers and caretakers who can foster an environment where yoga is accessible and inclusive for everyone, regardless of their experience, background, and ability.
We acknowledge the significance of crafting a welcoming and inviting space where all individuals can wholeheartedly embrace the advantages of practising yoga.
​
During this training, you will learn how to facilitate Yoga for folks who have gone through trauma, loss & disability/ wheelchair users and how to design an Inclusive, adaptive and integrated class with Love, Understanding & Compassion.
​
​​We will explore;
-
Yoga and the Nature of Disability
-
Ableism & Inclusive Language
-
Common Neurological Conditions
-
Adaptive & Integrated Yoga
-
Benefits of Adaptive Yoga on a disabled body
-
How to Sequence an Adaptive Yoga Class
-
Pranayamas & Breathwork for People with Disabilities
-
Asana Variations For Wheelchair Users
-
Basic Safety Considerations for Students with a Diverse Range of Abilities
-
Teaching & Marketing Tips
-
And Much More
​
If you want to make your offerings more accessible to this population, join us!
​
​Learn how to truly create a welcoming experience and space when a student with a disability comes to your class.
​​​​
Friday, 18th of October, 17:00-20:00
Saturday, 19th of October, 9:00-17:00
Sunday, 20th of October, 9:00-17:00
​​
@ Studio 2 in Dansekapellet, Copenhagen, Denmark.​​​​​​
​This training is designed for Yoga teachers, but caregivers and healthcare professionals such as occupational therapists and physiotherapists are always welcome. After the training, you will be able to confidently facilitate Yoga in many settings, including Yoga studios, gyms, assisted-living facilities, nursing homes, non-profit organisations, schools, prisons, and hospitals.
​
The training will be hosted in English, but a Danish translator will be provided if necessary, as our teacher, Katrine, is a native speaker.
TESTIMONIALS
The most significant benefit I received from attending Rodrigo's Training was learning to dissect the poses, re-creating the posture sensation, and translating that into inner body awareness.
I learned to feel the sensation of the posture in my body first and then recreate that connection for an adapted audience—an invaluable learning experience.
Ann Stewart - @annstewart.za
South Africa 🇿🇦
I recommend the Allihopa Yoga Training to all yoga teachers out there!
Rodrigo's experience, knowledge, and fantastic way of sharing inspire and remind me of what yoga is about.
Rodrigo's experience as a yoga teacher is a gift to us all. By sharing his view on yoga, he gives you new glasses to see through, which will change how you teach yoga.
The training gave me knowledge and tools to teach wheelchair-friendly yoga and made me expand as a yoga teacher.
Line Fritzon - @inkluderendeyoga
​
Norway 🇳🇴
Rodrigo's Training was an insightful and approachable way to understand better what a genuinely adaptive and accessible yoga experience is like.
​
​
My eyes and heart have been opened to exactly what yoga can look like for anyone willing to foster a deeper mind-body connection!
Yes yes yes!
​
​
Marie Alexiou - @mariealexiouyoga
France 🇫🇷
MEET THE FACILITATORS
Rodrigo Souza (he/him) is an Adaptive and Accessible Yoga teacher with experience teaching yoga to people who have undergone Trauma and disability.
Rodrigo sustained a spinal cord injury after a fall accident, which let him paralysed from the chest down. Through direct personal experience with traumatic injury and chronic pain, discovering the need to take charge of his recovery to optimise long-term well-being, he decided to become a Yoga teacher and teach from his own experience, creating Allihopa Accessible & Adaptive Virtual Yoga Studio where he teaches folks with a diverse range of abilities from all over the world.
He also teaches for several Non-profits, Community Centres and newly injured folks in an Active Rehabilitation Center in Sweden.
He is focused on creating a supportive community for those who have experienced trauma, loss & and disability through Adaptive & Accessible Yoga.
You can find out more about Rodrigo by visiting www.allihopayoga.com or on Social media channels @allihopayoga
Rodrigo Souza
Katrine Johnsen
Katrine Johnsen (she/her) is a yoga teacher focusing on making yoga more inclusive and available to all kinds of yoga practitioners no matter their age or physical ability. She teaches in kindergartens, to seniors and folks with disabilities as well as open classes.
Her classes emphasize communication, the students own autonomy, clear instructions and breath. She teaches from a place of humility towards the embodied experience of the students in front of her and a wish to share the wonder of yoga, as she understands it.
“I believe that the experience of yoga is relevant to anyone no matter their age, body, or level of mobility. I see the positive effects of yoga every day on two-year-olds as well as eighty-two-year olds and it is the reason why I am so passionate about teaching yoga. In its essence, yoga brings us back to ourselves, to our breath, to our present, when we get distracted – and we tend to get distracted a lot as human beings. This is a part of the human condition, and in our modern world, a fact of life. Having a way back to yourself, coming from love and without judgment, is a skill and a habit well worth cultivating”
Katrine has a foundational 200-hour yoga teacher training from Yoga Garden (San Francisco, 2016) and has since broadened the scope of her yoga teaching with additional trainings in Children's yoga, Yoga for Cancer, Pranayama & Meditation, Yin yoga and Open Flow (somatic experience and sensory language) Currently she is enrolled in the Ambassador Mentoring program at Accessible Yoga.
​
You can find out more about Katrine by visiting www.yogamedkatrine.dk, or her social media @yogamedkatrine.
​
​
The Association of Integrated Dance in Denmark (FIMD) has pioneered integrated dance and movement in Denmark for just over a decade. Led by Janne Weidinger Kristensen, FIMD celebrated 10 years of groundbreaking work in the field of inclusive movement practices with the festival PÅ TVÆRS back in April. During the festival the association´s first major dance production with support from the Danish Arts Council premiered to great acclaim.
FIMD aims to bridge the gap between the able bodied experience and that of living in a disabled body - to make connections between people through the shared space of movement and create awareness of the power of shining a light on what binds us together in the human experience rather than what separates us.
In the fall of 2024 Janne and the team of FIMD are very happy to partner with renowned yoga teacher Rodrigo Souza (Allihopa Yoga) and FIMD’s own yoga teacher, Katrine Johnsen, to offer an Adaptive and Integrated Teacher Training at Dansekapellet, the longtime home of FIMD’s endeavors. The association is excited for this collaboration and what it can contribute to the field of accessibility in movement traditions.