Sacred Teachings
Yoga in Nature
Kindergarten to Grade 3:
- interactive animal yoga
- animal breathe tools
- yoga and mindfulness games
- all in an outdoor setting that connects students to nature while learning tools to regulate and increase or decrease energy
Grades 4-12:
- yoga postures and breath integration
- hikes and walks, infused with yoga and breathe
- outdoor recreation developed to give youth tools for emotional regulation, de-stressing and re-connecting to Mother Nature
- incorporating all season activities
Yoga for Schools
- Yoga and mindfulness for managing everyday stress
- Experience yoga and mindfulness that calms the nervous system and relaxes the brain and body
- discuss and learn how to integrate poses and breathing techniques that can be used on a daily basis to help manage stress
- These sessions will be delivered within school hours.
- There will be half day and full day options.
- We will explore different themes and class plans that integrate yoga into the classroom.
25 & 75 hour yoga for youth training (2024)
In this training you will learn techniques for offering yoga to youth in a fun and encouraging environment.
- Learn the science behind the benefits of yoga.
- Learn how to bring yoga and breath into your classroom.
- You will become certified as a yoga for youth instructor
Yoga for Mental Health
- Includes six lessons designed to be delivered by in a middle years or high school classroom
- The 6 lessons introduce students to yoga, meditation and other practices that support mental well-being throughout their lives
- The core lessons are 60 minutes in length with a 20 minute trauma-informed yoga sequence
- Curriculum developed by; https://www.vyfy.ca/
Family Yoga Sessions
- A fun and memorable activity the family can participate in together. Yoga sessions can include; parents, children, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins.
- In a world where both parents and children are busy, this is a wonderful place to spend happy, healthy quality time together.
- Practicing yoga as a family supports strong bonds, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, it is also an essential component to creating sustainable healthy habits.
Yoga for Staff
- Staff yoga sessions
- Working with the specific needs of the staff to develop tools to manage stress and calm the central nervous system to increase productivity
- Tools for correct alignment while working in an office setting
- 5 minute yoga break techniques
One on One
- Personalized yoga sessions designed with you to meet specific goals and targets.
- Alignment based principals designed to work with your body to enhance strength, stamina and a personal practice that is designed specifically for you.
My Yoga Certifications
- Alignment Based 200 Hour with Todd Iynouye
- Alignment Based 300 Hour with Lila Rasa
- Trauma Informed 25 Hour with Nicole Marcia
- Vinyasa Yoga for Youth 25/75 with Kristine Divall & Lauren Scruton
- Vinyasa Krama Intensive 100 Hour with Ryan Leier
- Relax and Restorative 25 Hour with Donna Rao
- Eat, Breathe, Thrive Training 25 Hour with Chelsea Raymond
- Transformational Breath work 16 hour with Sandro Thiara Mota
Credentials
- Bachelor of Business Administration Degree, Human Resources
- Proposal Writer
- Holistic Business Immersion
- Occupational First Aid - Level 3
- I will work with your community/organization to build sustainable programming; including, a train the trainer program suited to the needs of the community/organization.
Vinyasa Yoga for Youth
- Yogi in Residence Program, Nesika Ecole Elementary 2020-2023.
- Delivered multiple sessions in SD27 schools.
- Connected North Zoom sessions with rural schools across Canada.
- TRU contracts, Teen Empowerment Programs.
- Guided the Teen and Kids Classes for The Yoga Loft.
- Yogi in Residence, Sk'elep School of Excellance from 2017-2020.
In 2017, I attended Vinyasa Yoga for Youth Training in Saskatoon, SK. This training changed my life. It has created an opportunity for me to share breath, yoga and guided relaxation techniques with youth of all ages. I have over1000 hours working with youth since 2017.
Book with Heather Cherisse
Indigenous Pranayama
Stay connected for upcoming trainings and sessions.
Cariboo Chilcotin
Phone: 250-320-0225 Email: heather@heathercherisse.com
Nature Infused Breath Integration and Yoga
Ground, Connect and Thrive
- Indigenous Pranayama has services designed for all ages.
- Breath Integration & yoga have a multitude of benefits.
- Breath is a powerful tool to regulate well being and mental health.
- Breath & Yoga have the ability to heal our emotional, mental, physical and spiritual bodies.
Photo Credit: Brian Finnie
My story
My Story
I am Heather Cherisse Curtis, I am a member of the Tsilhqo'tin First Nation.
I grew up in Tl'etinqox with my Grandparents, Jack and Lila Elkins.
I am the only child of Charles Curtis and Arda Elkins.
The universe is not outside of you. Look inside yourself; everything that you want, you already are. ~RUMI~
My life experience, education and training have given me the tools to respond to life's experiences rather than react. To become more grounded in the present moment, to live in harmony with my emotions, to create a life that I am passionate about. I am here to serve as a breath, meditation and yoga guide.
Did you know that grief, trauma and emotions manifest in your physical body?
"There’s an increase in just about every medical issue over time,” says Bessel van der Kolk, MD, a trauma researcher and author.
I spent the majority of my childhood in with my grandparents, as a teen I moved into Williams Lake with my father. My mother Arda was in a severe car accident in 1989 when I was in Kindergarten, the accident left her brain injured and paralyzed. At 6 years old, the roles were reversed and I was now teaching my mother how to talk, how to eat and for ten years reminding her that my name was Heather. Grief and I have become good friends over the years.
The ability to heal our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual bodies through the ancient practices of breath, meditation and yoga are profound. I began my journey to become a yoga for youth teacher in 2017, I have always had a strong desire to impact youth in a positive and meaningful way. It all became crystal clear to me one day when I was looking into the Yoga for Youth training which led me into a 200 hour alignment based training.
My life experience and my education to date were the milestones for me to begin to share these modalities of healing. As I dove deeper into the study of this ancient practice, the more I realized that these practices were capable of teaching us how to move trauma, grief and emotions from ourselves in a beneficial and pro-active way. I have always felt supported on this journey. When I am sharing these tools, my heart is filled with honour, gratitude and I know that this is exactly where I am meant to be. We are powerful beyond measure. As we become connected to this intrinsic part of ourselves, the more potent the medicine.
When the five senses are stilled, when the mind is stilled, when the intellect is stilled, that is called the highest state by the wise. They say yoga is the complete stillness in which one enters the unitive state, never to become separate again. If one is not established in this state, the sense of unity will come and go. "Katha Upanishad ~ Eknath Easwaran
Photo Credit: Trevor Mack
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