ShavonMcCown

I currently reside in in Elkridge, Maryland, USA, Susquehannock, Piscataway Land, near Baltimore, Maryland US

I completed the 300 Hour YTT with a focus on Yoga for Mental Health States in January of 2023, just before my 50th birthday!

I have developed SO many friendships from my involvement with the Mindful Life Practice! I began teaching for the MLPC in June of 2020, as a brand newly certified yoga teacher! Through the course of my experiences with this community, I had the pleasure of witnessing some of the members, who started off as my “students,” undergo training with Alex and become my teachers! Three of them were Cathy Charles, Niamh Dickson and Leigh Saulnier! I’ve even met Cathy and Leigh in REAL LIFE on a yoga retreat to Mexico in June of 2022. Rachel Brady, another YTT cohort member, also joined us on the retreat (though I don’t know that I’ve ever taught her due to my memory and our different time zones) One of the most memorable experiences of that retreat (and if I’m being honest, of my LIFE) was a collaborative teaching session in which we designed and led a collaborative practice for the retreat participants (along with our cohort member IN SPIRIT, Leanne Golding). I am still connected in friendship with each of them, and Cathy and I are currently working together and planning to make some amazing things happen in the future!

I absolutely LOVED the focus that this YTT placed on Yoga for Mental Health States As a full-time educator, my colleagues, students and I constantly find ourselves riding the waves of chronic stress and anxiety in our daily lives. The content that we explored through our 300 Hour YTT allowed me to consider how yoga could be used as a tool to help manage the symptoms of that stress and anxiety. As a result, I gained the confidence to begin offering services to my school community, primarily to students, via a weekly yoga club, however, I was also asked to lead a short pranayama (breathwork) and movement practice for stress relief during a New Teacher Support meeting. Since then, I have been contacted by many other educators for ways to book sessions with me!

For me, although it’s still a work in progress to remember to employ various skills “in the moment” I have them when I truly need them! And having the 500 Hour designation gives me the confidence to move forward, share my process and teach these skills to others!

People can book virtual and in-person yoga classes and retreats with me by visiting www linktr ee/shavonmccownyoga I am currently offering private sessions, via Zoom and in-person, in a modality of the client’s choosing (including Gentle Flow, Restorative and Yin). Inperson classes take place in my very own “Yoga Club House” in Elkridge, Maryland, and as the weather warms up, outdoor group classes will be available at a beautiful park or lake near me! I would love to see you in classes OR on my retreat in St Lucia November 8-13 of this year! Check my Link Tree for details!

NiamhDickson

I am a Canadian, living in Bangkok, Thailand.I completed my 200 YTT in Sept 2021 and I'm almost finished my 300 hours YTT

I had some of the best conversations about life with my group of YTT friends. Since we have all dispersed and gone out into the world, I think the depth of life we shared with each other will always be cherished

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Everyone is connected these days through social media and I know that we are still supporting each other through liking posts, taking time to comment on new adventures and mostly celebrating each other when we see each other stepping into jobs, or ventures we discussed over the year together

Yoga is a way of life, I'm a sucker for a theme. I often enter on to my mat with something in my mind and let it sink in and move through it Call it a theme, an epiphany, or a life lesson I believe that the lessons I learn on the mat transfer into the lessons off the map and vice versa. I am a counselor and breathwork, embodiment and self regulation, is something I practice and preach I use the skills I've learned on the mat and through YTT everyday and share the tips and tricks with others to help calm their bodies, their minds and hearts and souls.

I also suffer from Inflammatory Bowel Disease, yoga has changed the way I approach pain, it makes it accessible for my body when I'm in a flare and helps me to move faster when my body allows for it. Yoga is for anyone and that has been a great lesson for me to learn and feel in my own body on good days or bad ones

I'm currently not teaching yoga online or in person. My body needed a bit of a rest but I am an art therapist and I am sharing tips and tricks for self care through art over on my instagram page @colorsoftheheart arttherapy I'd love for you to check it out and join me on a healing journey through art.