TheraPLAYoga: Leading Greater Lansing in Therapeutic Yoga for Complex Needs

Yoga for Mental Health

High Quality Programs

That’s where I slide in with TheraPLAYoga—
notebook in hand, grippy socks on the hardwood floor— not nearly as smooth as Tom Cruise.

Actionable Resources

For stewardship of positive mental health: embodied self-regulation and resilience

I create classes and programs that help improve mobility, mental health, and social emotional development for growth and engagement at home, at work, at therapy, and in the classroom.

Playshops & trainings help parents, teachers, therapists, and even beloveds to become regulated and resilient co-conspirators of joy, compassion, and inclusion.

Compassionate Community

How It Started

Mom turned Founder

Mission

Your adventure might be similar or entirely different from mine.  But no matter, I know we have at least one of these things in common: 

✅ We want the ABSOLUTE best for our beloveds (and we know not just anyone can be trusted to be genuinely knowledgeable & compassionate)

✅ And we want to feel good and think good; doin’ all the we LOVE — and need — to do with ease.

This awareness fuels my commitment to empowering my clients— kids, teens, & adults— with a therapeutic modality to understand their nervous system, to connect to their bodies, transform their relationship with their minds & engage more [play]-fully in their lives with self & others.

I live, breathe, & eat-for-snacks: adapting movements & breath practice to be accessible, inclusive, therapeutic, and sustainable…

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Values of a Different Approach

I have different values, approach & focus than most *yoga teachers* out there:

Inclusive to all abilities

Radically Inclusive & Truly Accessible > special events & occasions. Full stop.

There’s a reason I say “TheraPLAYoga is founded on the virtues of inclusion & accessibility”— anti-ableism & compassion is a STANDARD.

Disabilities are life-long, not an occasion or special event. You won’t see classes segregated by an ability-based hierarchy. Nor will you see an “all abilities” class with a cookie cutter flow pretending it’s for everyBODY. 👀

Straight up HARMFUL or PERFORMATIVE marketing ploys for offers that lack awareness, the depth of understanding, and expertise just to gain gold stickers and your dollars is not my vibe.

I’m down to teach people with diverse bodies, brains, and abilities and always remembering there’s a felt sense of safety in community with affinity classes. General classes are inherently accessible; offering informed accommodations and modifications. (We know the difference, don’t we? 😉).

I’m for making money to HELP people and live my values as an inclusion & compassion activist and disability & trauma-informed advocate. Integrity always.

Trauma-Informed

My instruction matters… but your internal state matters a leetle bit more. 

This is sensory-based, trauma-informed facilitation: helping you connect to your body and empowering you to do what serves your needs within your capacity.

This is where a lot of yoga teachers get it wrong: they tell you to— just be still, just clear your mind— directing a sequenced game of simon-says with abstract and esoteric phrases, while talking AT you about how a posture or breath SHOULD look, feel, & be achieved— and might even get handsy with adjustments.

Yes. Alignment matters.  But what your body is saying… How YOU find & feel ease… Hoo.
Physical, mental, and emotional safety… THAT’s the bees knees. 🤌
I gotchu.

Accessible Yoga for Disabilities

Your practice should never die on the hill of “I can’t.”

Most of what you know of yoga is complex bendy poses.  But there are other parts that get you feelin’ good & thinkin’ good— aka gets your body and nervous system regulated & resilient.

Bendy poses are only a fraction of the practice and kinda overrated.  The asanas matter, but don’t always get taught prioritizing science and safety— and DEFINITELY don’t get taught through the lens of anti-ableism.  

🖤 I live, breathe, & eat-for-snacks: adapting movements & breath practice to be accessible, inclusive, therapeutic, and sustainable to people with disabilities & complex needs. I’m for the ruthless adaptation & elimination of things that don’t work.

So I won’t let your practice die on not being able to do flexy & fast-flowing, Instagram asana aesthetic.  Informed intention should dictate the adapted movement— therapeutic movement is the vehicle that drives the healing.

Caregiver Support: Whole-Family Approach to Wellness

Whole-Family Approach: A zealous revision of parent-caregiver code & sibling support.

It’s the parent-caregiver code in action: “My needs are on permanent hold; if they’re okay, I’m okay. I’m basically a zombie, who runs on coffee and willpower to be immortal.”

A dependent child’s wellbeing and mental health are directly related to the primary caregiver’s wellbeing and mental health. FACTS.

When you hear a teacher say, “if you can breathe, you can do yoga”— it’s a sign they’ve never trekked paths like ours.

I’m for the zealous integration of a whole-family approach; caring for caregivers (*and siblings!). We all need one of the big 6: respite, regulation, relief, recovery, restoration, or (at the very least) recognition to function well. Even if it’s to catch a breath for just a moment.

Whether I work with your disabled beloveds or not, I believe in well-informed self-care strategies, compassionate community, & our names being on the top of our priority list.

* And I’m THRILLED to share— As of August 2024, I am a certified Sibshop™️ Facilitator; offering trauma-informed Sibshops in Lansing.

Sensory-friendly

Not Compliance Based

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