This free workshop is organised as part of Mental Health Month. The theme for this year's Mental Health Month is 'Tune In'. Tuning In means being present, being aware of what's happening within you and in the world around you. Tune In to your senses and take a moment to help still and focus your mind, as well as build positive connections.

Instructor Information

Arna Rathgen is a passionate practitioner of Yoga, particularly Yoga in a way that is trauma informed for people who are living with mental distress in their lives.

Arna has worked as a social worker with refugee communities, in public mental health services, and as the coordinator of the South Eastern Sydney Recovery & Wellbeing College in Sydney. This has provided her with a unique insight into the pressures and challenges that people living with mental distress are faced with every day. She has had first hand experience in how the practice of Mindfulness and Yoga can be self-enriching, and sustaining.

Trauma Informed Yoga allows for participants to guide guide their own participation in yogic practice to ensure safety, comfort and control in the postures and practices within the session. Trauma Informed Yoga can encourage balance in the nervous system through postures that incorporate both stimulating and sitting postures, and by encouraging participants to notice when they feel safe, soothed, and secure. In this session you will be encouraged to build your present-state awareness choose what brings you balance. With pracice, trauma informed yoga can build coping skills and and help you make choices that support balance in your mental health.

What the session will entail

This session with be a nurturing and gentle class appropriate for beginners and those who have an ongoing Yoga practice.

Starting with "breath-synchronized movement," awareness of breath in a series of movements that smoothly flow to relax the body and quiet the mind.

Then working with long held poses, which enables a deeper stretch, without strain.

This is a great practice for those of us that are constantly 'doing'. The class is 'down time', time for the mind and body to settle into a state of ease.

What participants will learn from the session

To increase physical strength, coordination and balance.
To experience internal harmony and ease with deep relaxation and breath work.

What you will need

A yoga mat, kick off your shoes and tune in to your willingness to relax.