Private Sessions/One-on-One Instruction

I'm excited to offer you personalized teaching on an individual basis, to help foster a radical, compassionate shift and change in your wellbeing. 

​My goal in teaching yoga, 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. 

​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 or yogic/Ayurvedic lifestyle.

I've practiced yoga for over 30 years, and taught yoga since 2004, most of it as a Mysore style Ashtanga teacher, which is essentially teaching semi-private yoga in a group session. This means I have more than average teachin gexperience with direct, personalized, one-on-one teaching, along with a wealth of hands-on, practical knowledge through working with thousands of yoga students over the years.

I try to curate a simple, practical and sensible path for you, rooted in my almost 30 years of study and practice of the Vedic knowledge systems of yoga and Ayurveda.

One-on-one study with me gives students the opportunity to ask questions and seek personalized, tailored guidance for a variety of needs and concerns. You might want to work with me to:

• gain integral, individualized instruction, and/or to sensibly deepen or refine your yoga practice.
• ask questions dealing with injury, aging and illness;
• learn how to do simple but effective daily Ayurvedic self-care practices;
• integrate a safe, individualized yoga practice that can help with wellness, accidents or injury; pregnancy (pre and post partum); or your menopause transition;
• get help managing life changes and rites of passage such as pregnancy, perimenopause and menopause;  
• address hypermobility issues through experiencing a therapeutic asana modality, Supreme Release Yoga, with me;
• experience one-on-one teaching if you have mobility issues (i.e. paraplegia, hemaplegia) or do not wish to experience yoga in a group/public setting ;
• ​experience private instruction of Yoga Nidra, or Yoga Sleep, a deeply transformative practice that directly and gently addresses longstanding trauma, anxiety, chronic pain and more;
• gain nourishing postpartum care, directly from me, in your home  - because I am also an Ayurvedic Postpartum Doula - details here!)

My methods of teaching are imbued with stability, wisdom, compassion and lightheartedness. Having lived  a yogic and Ayurvedic lifestyle for almost 15 years, I bring personal, practical knowledge to group classes and to private sessions, too. I draw not only from my own experience as a teacher of asana and pranayama, and a student of Ayurveda, but also my lifelong scholarship and study of a wide variety of transformative, spiritual, insightful, challenging, edifying writing and thought, plus, over three decades of marriage and parenthood, too. 

I empower students to become their own healers, and often recommend books, authors, podcasts, art, music - and, other teachers and experts I know from my decades in the wellness world who can serve as resources for your journey, guiding students especially towards brilliant but overlooked BIPOC or LBGTQ writers, teachers and leaders, too.  

How do I set up a private session?

• If I've met you before, feel free to reach out to me via email, phone or in person at my public yoga classes, and we will set up a short, FREE, 30-45 minute consult to help us get through preliminaries and establish what you are seeking in terms of services, assessing your needs and hopes for the session, and that may include some basic health history.
• NOTE: If we have not met in person previously, and you wish to attend a private session in my home, a free initial session must be done via Zoom beforehand!

photo credit Emily Duggan - 2018

Same posture as above photo, taken in March 2023 via Zoom.

What is a typical private session?

• Once we've established your goals for your session during the free consult, I'll share my home address with you, and set up an appointment. OR, if you prefer, we can do the private session entirely on zoom, too!
• If you have mobility issues, and live within a half hour driving distance of Chesterfield, I am also able to come to your home for private sessions;
• Each private session lasts approximately 75 minutes.
• I assess you where you are, right now, no matter what your level of yoga experience.
• We work together to come up with a personal practice or lifestyle strategies for you.
• What we learn together in one-in-one sessions will arise from a continued conversation with each other, from the initial consult, through the session(s), to pinpoint and refine exactly what you are seeking, and what we ultimately concur would be the best 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 sensibly and gently helping students during their practice through nourishing physical assists; however, if hands-on assists are not wanted, I have a wealth of practical verbal guidance experience as well. 
• After your private session, I'll email notes and any recommendations, and will follow up within a week or so. I will provide continued support in any group classes you attend, too.​

Private Session are priced at a sliding scale of $75-$125 for a 75 minute session

All payments may be made by cash, check or Venmo @Michelle-Ryan-57 before the start of the session.

One on one classes may be in-person or via Zoom.  

I offer 30 min free/donation-based Zoom meetups to new clients, to assess goals and compatability.
 
Follow up standard private sessions based on this initial consult
can be in person (here at my home on West Chesterfield) or via Zoom.
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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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Testimonials:
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"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.
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"Michelle is a phenomenal teacher, who guides all of her students with patience and humor." - Connie C.
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"...having someone as warm and knowledgeable as Michelle as a teacher is a privilege..." Laila S.