Private Sessions/One-on-One Instruction

photo credit Emily Duggan - 2018

I'm excited to offer you personalized, mindful, embodied service on an individual basis, to help foster a radical, compassionate shift and change in your wellbeing. My goal in teaching yoga in general, and especially in "one-on-ones" is to serve you the student, directly, with wisdom and empathy, helping you foster a grounded, wise, empathic, harmonious sense of being in the world. 

I've taught Ashtanga yoga since 2004, most of it in the Mysore style, which is essentially semi-private yoga in a group session - this means I have more than average experience with one-on-one teaching, and a wealth of practical knowledge through working with thousands of yoga students over the years. My methods of teaching are imbued with stability, wisdom, compassion and lightheartedness. Having lived and studied a yogic and Ayurvedic lifestyle for the last decade, I bring that knowledge to both group classes and to private sessions, too. If students wish it, I can draw not only from my own experience as a teacher of asana, but also my lifelong scholarship and study of a wide variety of transformative, spiritual, insightful, challenging, edifying writing and thought. One-on-one study with me gives students the opportunity to ask questions and seek guidance from me for a variety of needs, from asana practice tips, to questions on dealing with injury, aging and illness in one's yoga practice, to sensible daily Ayurvedic self care practices - and especially, to learning about resources and reading lists that will enlighten and inform.

From our conversations and my assessment in your session, I'll help curate a path of growth and self inquiry for curious students, rooted in yoga practices of asana, pranayama, svadhyaya (scriptural study) yoga nidra and Ayurvedic self care, with practical strategies and practices tailored to your needs - not only through recommendations of books, spiritual texts, authors and essays, but also pointing students towards podcasts, art, music - and especially, other teachers and experts I know from my decades in the yoga world who can serve as resources for your journey, guiding students especially towards talented but often overlooked BIPOC/LBGTQ writers, teachers and leaders, too.  

Why work with me?

• You might want to begin with a private session for many reasons, and you can contact me via phone or email (see the footer for links) to discuss your needs and tailor a session that works for you. 
• If you're already an established Ashtanga practitioner, you might want to experience a private session with me to gain integral, private, tailored guidance in the Ashtanga yoga system and to deepen your Ashtanga practice.
• You may need to have me assess underlying structural issues and come up with a plan of action to help resolve and/or address it, for example, to develop a safe, individualized yoga practice that will help with injury, pregnancy (pre and post partum), or pain/injury. I offer therapeutic yoga in a modality called SRY - Supreme Release Yoga.
• You may want to learn Ayurvedic self care techniques, pranayama practices and Sanskrit chanting. I teach these in private sessions, too.
• If you wish to refine your breathing, deepen your understanding of the esoteric aspects of asana, want to learn the ways of gaining proficiency in asana, learn some Ayurvedic self care techniques, or simply want to learn how to more deeply integrate a daily practice, one-on-one sessions might be for you! 
• All of my private sessions are focused fully on you and you alone, with the goal of helping you refine, hone and deepen your yoga practice/sadhana.

What is a typical private yoga session?

• Each session lasts 60 minutes.
• We'll start with assessing your needs and hopes for the session.
• We may do postural analysis along with this needs assessment, and some basic asana or breath work together, to help further refine the assessment and help determine goals and constitution.
• I asses your practice no matter what your level of experience, and we go from there!
• What we learn together in one-in-one sessions will arise from a continued conversation with each other through the session(s), to pinpoint and refine exactly what you are seeking to learn and what we ultimately agree would be most appropriate course of action for you as a sadhaka - a yoga seeker/practitioner.
• If you wish to experience hands-on adjustments, I have a strong background in physical assists through my training and through a practicum of over a decade of teaching Mysore style Ashtanga yoga to thousands of students; in other words, I have the experience to help you with challenging asana or asana transitions both through verbal and through physical hands on methodology.
• At the end of your one-on-one session, I will email you my notes and recommendations, follow up about a week later, and will provide continued support in any group classes you attend, too.

Cost: 
Sliding scale $45-$100 for one 60 minute session

• All payments made by cash, check or Venmo to Michelle Ryan before the start of the session.
• One on one classes may be in-person or via Zoom.  
• If I have never met you in person before, the first session must be via Zoom. 
• Any following sessions can happen in person at my home in West Chesterfield or continue via Zoom if you prefer!

Testimonials:

"Michelle finds a magical balance in teaching mysore Ashtanga yoga in a traditional way, while also MAKING IT FUN. The joy she brings and shares with you is so essential in both starting a yoga practice and maintaining one!" - Cara B.

"Michelle is a phenomenal teacher, who guides all of her students with patience and humor." - Connie C.

"...having someone as warm and knowledgeable as Michelle as a teacher is a privilege..." Laila S.

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Example sessions:

• Student A has an established Ashtanga practice, and is seeking one-on-one guidance or adjustments to refine or move further in the Primary or Intermediate series of Ashtanga (i.e. they are seeking a Mysore style teaching experience).  We assess Student A's needs together at the start, what stage/asana they are at in their practice; we'd establish a game plan for the session, and then Student A begins their practice after we chant the Ashtanga invocation together.  I observe their practice and offer intelligent modifications, alternatives or options to the classical Ashtanga sequence, or building blocks to deepen their practice - all tailored in a way so that the practice works for Student A - much like a Mysore style session.  We might pause for a bit and dialogue and "workshop" aspects of yoga asana practice that are challenging for Student A, and I might offer guidance on such things as postural alignment, breathing, traditional drishti, management of prana, etc, along with any physical adjustments they may be open to receiving.

• Student B is brand new to yoga, physically fit and wishes to begin to learn traditional Ashtanga Yoga but can't find Mysore style teaching, so we would start with integrating proper ujjayi breathing, then learn the suryanamaskar (sun salutes), with the goal of Student B memorizing these and doing them safely and wisely on their own, without a teacher's guidance. If there's time in our session, the student would begin some of the standing series, too. We'd end with a short closing and rest - the ultimate goal being to help the student memorize and establish their own daily Ashtanga practice, ideally over a series of ideally several private sessions. (Note, I offer discounts for Four Session "packs"!)
• Student C has an established yoga practice in a rigorous modality, but has sustained low back injuries that have prevented them from enjoying regular group yoga classes and/or they keep reinjuring themselves in these fast-paced group classes. Still, they want to practice yoga, but just don't know what to do to address the injury and still practice safely as they heal. Student C has seen a doctor about the injury, and knows what is and what is not medically safe for them to do, and they are well enough to move up and down from the floor without help. In this case,  we would begin with memorizing a gentle daily breathing practice designed to bring balance, to calm and relieve anxiety, followed by a gentle Hasta vinyasa series of arm movements to help assess the injury and free the spine. Along with this, I'd observe Student C attempting specific asana that may be problematic, and offer alternatives and variations, noting areas in the practice that might be addressed to help resolve the underlying issues, coming up with a game plan of practice that would work best for their body as it heals. I'd also offer tips and insights around my own emotional upheavals as the result of experiencing injuries that have forced me to evolve my yoga practice. The session would end with a short closing, and rest. Follow up a week or so later to see if the student was able to rejoin group classes without reinjury. 
• Student D is seeking to address chronic stress that causes sleep issues and insomnia. After a brief assessment, I would share a short but therapeutic SRY/Supreme Release Yoga sequence, along with Yoga Nidra, guided deep yogic sleep, and give the student the opportunity to experience profound rest during the session. As part of the session, I would teach a gentle balancing pranayama OR offer one Ayurvedic self-care technique to help with sleep, all with the goal to help establish a nourishing daily practice that does not exacerbate the problem by creating more stress, yet still provides the means for a deep and profond yoga practice to facilitate better, more healing sleep and true rest. I'd give the students descriptive notes so they could practice on their own during the coming days, and follow up after a week to see if these techniques have improved their sleeping. 
• Student E wants to learn basic Sanskrit chants, like the Ashtanga opening and closing chants, the Mahamrtyunjaya mantra, or Yoga Sutras from the Samadhi Pada for example. We'd first learn how to read and pronounce the Sanskrit alphabet transliteration, then practice a beginning Sanskrit chants together through call and response multiple times, refining pronuncation throughout. I would provide a variety of resources to teachers of Sanskrit and chanting/mantra with whom I have studied, too, for students wanting to further their scholarship, and check with the student a week later to see if they have been practicing.  
• Student F wants to know how to begin experiencing Ayurvedic self-care. I would offer them the simplest basic daily Ayurvedic practices that can help balance the body, along with other yogic tools that can help with the psychological and emotional aspects that often arise during yoga practice, too. ​ How and why to do daily or weekly oil baths, hot castor packs, scrape the tongue, and/or dry brush - all of these are ayurvedic daily self care techniques we could go over together and assess, choosing which ones are most accessible and appropriate according to Student F's personal constitution and needs.

Cancelation Policy

• Cancellation within 24 hours before schedule appointment is required.
• Same day cancellations will be invoiced 100% of the scheduled service price.
• If you do not call to cancel your appointment, miss the zoom meeting without notice,  or do not show up for your scheduled in-person appointment, you will be charged full price for the scheduled service.

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