Yoga Teachers Association upcoming events

In Person—Yoga and Qigong: The Dance of Heaven and Earth with Daniel Orlansky (09/19/2026)

Sat, 19 Sep 2026 17:30:00 GMT

When the body flows like running water, it is always renewed, always fresh. This is true freedom.

Join this unique workshop blending the strength and flexibility of yoga with the flowing grace of Qigong. Through breathwork, movement, and meditation, you'll cultivate a unified practice rooted in awareness and vitality.

Two great traditions, one transformative practice.

Yoga and Qigong are sacred paths up the same mountain, leading to the radiant summit of higher consciousness. Practiced together, they create a powerful alchemy, balancing yin and yang, heaven and earth, sun and moon, strength and surrender.

Wu Wei, Effortless Action

You'll also explore the Taoist principle of wu wei, "effortless action," infusing every movement with fluidity and ease, on the mat and in daily life, while cultivating deep energetic awareness.

You will learn:

Breathing techniques to enhance and direct life force (prana/qi)
Golden Lotus, Swimming Dragon, and other Qigong forms to open the meridians
Meditative Vinyasa sequences grounded in mindful awareness
Meridian tapping to awaken the 14 channels, six energy gates, and three energy centers
Concentration practices to support mental clarity and inner stillness

Enjoy graceful, gentle movements in both forms and embrace the powerful effects of qigong and yoga as you detoxify your body and increase your strength, flexibility, and peace of mind.

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Recommended props: yoga mat, two blocks, and blanket.

Daniel Orlansky, MA, ERYT-500, has been a yoga and meditation teacher since 1992 in Europe and America. A graduate of the Boston Shiatsu School, he is the originator of Meridian Yoga and certified in Kundalini Yoga, Jnana Yoga, and Kali Ray TriYoga; he is also an enthusiastic student and teacher of Qigong. His academic education led to a master’s degree in Expressive Art Therapy/Dance Therapy from Lesley University. He is the former director of Boston University’s yoga teacher training program and has been a faculty member at Lesley University, teaching “Yoga: Theory, Culture, and Practice.” In addition, he has been a visiting lecturer in movement studies at Tufts University. He has taught popular workshops at the Kripalu Center and the Omega Institute for over 20 years, as well as conducted workshops and trainings for groups like the Michigan Yoga Association, the Yoga Teachers Association of the Hudson Valley, and the Boston Medical Center Integrative Nurses Association. He has also lead 200-hour and 300-hour Yoga Alliance-approved teacher trainings worldwide.

Learn more about Daniel at yogaofenergyflow.com.

Zoom—Yoga and Qigong: The Dance of Heaven and Earth with Daniel Orlansky (09/19/2026)

Sat, 19 Sep 2026 17:30:00 GMT

When the body flows like running water, it is always renewed, always fresh. This is true freedom.

Two great traditions, one transformative practice.

Wu Wei, Effortless Action

You'll also explore the Taoist principle of wu wei, "effortless action," infusing every movement with fluidity and ease, on the mat and in daily life, while cultivating deep energetic awareness.

You will learn:

Breathing techniques to enhance and direct life force (prana/qi)
Golden Lotus, Swimming Dragon, and other Qigong forms to open the meridians
Meditative Vinyasa sequences grounded in mindful awareness
Meridian tapping to awaken the 14 channels, six energy gates, and three energy centers
Concentration practices to support mental clarity and inner stillness

Enjoy graceful, gentle movements in both forms and embrace the powerful effects of qigong and yoga as you detoxify your body and increase your strength, flexibility, and peace of mind.

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Recommended props: yoga mat, two blocks, and blanket.

Learn more about Daniel at yogaofenergyflow.com.

Healing Therapy Yoga© and the 5 Kosha Model with Meryle Richman (10/10/2026)

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 17:30:00 GMT

This three-hour workshop will provide safe therapeutic tools to work with a client in a 1:1 setting or in teaching a gentle therapeutic yoga class. During this presentation, which is for yoga teachers and ideal for considering becoming a yoga therapist, we will:

Discuss the Bio-Psychosocial Model of Health for living a healthier lifestyle with the 5 Kosha Model.
Describe and practice how Healing Therapy Yoga© (which includes yoga therapy, ayurveda, myofascial release, cranial sacral therapy and somatics) integrates with the polyvagal nerve theory, for self-regulation of the autonomic nervous system.

We will also review the Client Intake Form (5 Kosha Model), Postural Assessment Form, and Determining Your Dosha Form for an individualized yoga therapy routine.

In this workshop you will:

Learn applicable tools for being able to do a breath assessment, body scan, postural alignment, and breathing techniques.
Practice safe “self-care” therapeutic tools to help self-regulate the autonomic nervous system.
Practice gentle asana poses and somatic movements for a therapeutic group class.

The goal is to enhance one’s “inner awareness” to live a healthier lifestyle and to reduce pain, improve mobility, stability, strength, and function on and off the yoga mat.

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Recommended props: yoga mat, two yoga blocks, strap, and a yoga blanket

Meryle Richman, PT, DPT, C-CST, C-IAYT, has dedicated herself to combining conventional physical therapy with complementary integrative therapies, including yoga therapy, ayurveda, myofascial release therapy, craniosacral therapy and somatic movement.

Dr. Richman has decades of clinical experience as a licensed physical therapist. She holds a Master of Science degree in work physiology from Long Island University and earned her Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Simmons College in 2012, with an emphasis on health promotion. In addition to her manual skills, she has integrated complementary holistic therapy with acute and chronic pain patients. Her skills have been in practicing myofascial release therapy and then becoming a certified cranial sacral therapist in 2002 with The Upledger Institute. For 32 years, she owned and was the director of Physical Therapy at Briarcliff & Jefferson Valley, P.C., in Westchester, New York.

Dr Richman became a yoga teacher in 2011 at Yoga Works, Irvington, New York. In 2022 she became a yoga therapist and an ayurveda yoga teacher in 2023 at the Kripalu School of Integrative Therapy, Stockbridge, MA. She is also a C-IAYT from the International Association of Yoga Therapists.

Currently, Dr Richman continues to work part-time in clients’ homes and teaches a weekly Zoom therapeutic yoga class.

Learn more about Meryle at choosept.com.

Healing Therapy Yoga© and the 5 Kosha Model with Meryle Richman (10/10/2026)

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 17:30:00 GMT

Discuss the Bio-Psychosocial Model of Health for living a healthier lifestyle with the 5 Kosha Model.
Describe and practice how Healing Therapy Yoga© (which includes yoga therapy, ayurveda, myofascial release, cranial sacral therapy and somatics) integrates with the polyvagal nerve theory, for self-regulation of the autonomic nervous system.

We will also review the Client Intake Form (5 Kosha Model), Postural Assessment Form, and Determining Your Dosha Form for an individualized yoga therapy routine.

In this workshop you will:

Learn applicable tools for being able to do a breath assessment, body scan, postural alignment, and breathing techniques.
Practice safe “self-care” therapeutic tools to help self-regulate the autonomic nervous system.
Practice gentle asana poses and somatic movements for a therapeutic group class.

The goal is to enhance one’s “inner awareness” to live a healthier lifestyle and to reduce pain, improve mobility, stability, strength, and function on and off the yoga mat.

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Recommended props: yoga mat, two yoga blocks, strap, and a yoga blanket

Currently, Dr Richman continues to work part-time in clients’ homes and teaches a weekly Zoom therapeutic yoga class.

Learn more about Meryle at choosept.com.

Why Am I So Tired? with Pamela Stokes (11/14/2026)

Sat, 14 Nov 2026 18:30:00 GMT

Nearly one-third of Americans are sleep deprived according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Other studies have linked the lack of sleep to depression, a weaker immune system, memory and cognition issues, as well as obesity, high blood pressure, and fatigue. The CDC calls this pervasive lack of sleep a "public health epidemic.” In “Why Am I So Tired?” Pamela will review the root causes of sleep deprivation, the effects of insomnia, how lifestyle impacts all of it, and how diet, yoga, and meditation can help.

In this workshop we will discuss sleep, restorative rest, the power of naps, movement/exercise, yoga, mindfulness, the stages of sleep, brain waves, meditation, nutrition, stress, trauma, anxiety, and aromatherapy.

Some topics that will be considered are:

How to fall asleep without the use of pills
How to handle life’s distractions
What you eat matters
Dealing with the busy mind
How to stay asleep and enjoy uninterrupted restful sleep through the night.
Food and movement: the best time for great sleep
Know what to do to help your body back to sleep

Using the latest yoga and sleep data, this workshop includes

Personal sleep-assessment via promoted questions so participants are more aware of knowing what’s helping and what’s harming their sleep.
A yoga nidra practice to get more restful sleep.
A greater understanding of why sound, quality sleep is critical.

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Recommended props: To come.

Pamela Stokes Eggleston, MBA, MS, C-IAYT, E-RYT-500, is the Director and Faculty of the Kripalu School of Integrative Yoga Therapy. She is also the Founder of Yoga2Sleep, and Member of the State Board of Physical Therapy Examiners at the Maryland Department of Health. Pamela is a contributing editor of Best Practices for Yoga with Veterans and Yoga and Resilience: Empowering Practices for Survivors of Sexual Trauma. Pamela’s writing and work has been featured with Yoga Therapy Today, Gaiam, Military Spouse Magazine, Yoga Journal, Mantra Yoga and Health, Essence, the Huffington Post, and on Ellen and MSNBC. She is the author of You Are the Pendulum: Poems and Practices for an Unsettling World.

Learn more about Pamela at yoga2sleep.com.

Kundalini Mastermind: Cognition and Consciousness with Ravi Singh (12/12/2026)

Sat, 12 Dec 2026 18:30:00 GMT

Our brain is a miracle of design. Its integrated circuitry, pliancy, parallel processing power, and starring role as a caretaker of consciousness are truly awe-inspiring. This workshop will combine yoga-based techniques with modern methods for increased cognitive capacity, improved memory, focus, clarity, and pattern recognition. Currently, brain/computer interface technologies hold the promise of amazing breakthroughs. But, let's not neglect the necessity of the brain/life interface. Let's upgrade to a new operating system so that we can take everything in our life to the next level.

This largely experiential workshop will not only provide an on-the-spot brain "refresher" course, but participants will learn profound yet practical methods that they can take home to maintain their brain in peak operating condition.

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Recommended props: To come.

Ravi Singh, transformational teacher, has 45 years experience, primarily in New York City and Los Angeles. He is the Founder of Evolving Kundalini (EK), a new paradigm for yoga. Ravi has presented for the psychology department at Yale, the acting department at NYU, executives of fortune 500 companies, as well as at top conferences, including Yoga Journal, Telluride, Sedona, among many others. He was cited by Yoga Journal as a "game changer" in yoga education. He was on the Yoga Alliance Board for Teacher Training Standards. Ravi's approach is both scientific and soulful. His workshops have been called life-changing and life-saving. In a down-to-earth way, he inspires students to access their inner vitality to shine, prosper, heal, and excel. Ravi Singh is the author (with Ana Brett) of The Kundalini Yoga Book – Life in the Vast Lane, and the just-published: Kriyativity - Evolving Kundalini Yoga.

Learn more about Ravi at raviana.com.