About Balance Within Yoga and Wellness Movement Therapy
Barbara Kappus Ward, MSW, LISW, E-RYT.
Balance Within Yoga Movement Therapist
The path of yoga was introduced to me about nineteen years ago. I needed to find balance within my own life as a mother, a counselor and social worker. After ten years of counseling and practicing social work to children and to the geriatric population, I decided to explore the discipline of yoga. Yoga brought me into a union of my mind and body and also tapped into a spirit within me that was buried under external and internal stresses! I realized the importance of movement in the healing process of physical, mental and emotional diseases.
With a background and knowledge of teaching and counseling people, I wanted to share this discipline to others. In 2004, I graduated from T.R.Y. (Therapy, Reiki, and Integral Yoga) for Life Yoga Institute in Cleveland, Ohio. I became certified and registered Yoga Teacher with the Yoga Alliance the same year. Through the years, I have used yoga and other Psychosomatic therapies to assist my clients to find balance and wellness in the studio and counseling settings for the past 16 years.
The following are the therapies that I find beneficial for my clients:
Yoga therapy is designed to self-empower the individual to work toward their own healing. A Yoga therapist may assist the individual in learning the movements, thought and breathing techniques of Yoga. The individual may then apply these skills on a regular basis to enhance his or her well-being. Yoga therapy is useful in helping individuals cope with and manage chronic conditions. Yoga therapy may also be used to assist a patient recovering from a musculoskeletal injury by providing exercises that strengthen weakened muscles. Yoga therapy is intended to be holistic in nature, addressing the individual’s physical, mental, and emotional needs. Trained in several Ayurveda techniques to assist in assessing mind, body, spiritual balance (chakra therapy, Dosha Assessment and appropriate cleansing and breathing techniques).
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is an approach to psychotherapy that uses cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) methods in collaboration with mindfulness meditative practices and similar psychological strategies. The mindfulness therapist’s role is to help establish a daily mindfulness practice. The therapist will help you become more aware of the unhelpfulness of some of your thoughts and feelings. The most common disorders wherein mindfulness therapy is used include anxiety disorders, eating disorders, and mood disorders.
Somatic therapy is mind-body therapy in that it relies on the connectedness of mental and physical processes. The theory of this type of somatic therapy is that our body's natural response to a threat is extremely helpful for immediately dangerous experiences. However, the nervous system can become stuck in this state of tension, arousal, or shutdown. At this point, the nervous system remains in that state on a chronic basis. Somatic therapies use holistic method. Such treatments like breathing, meditation, movement and touch exercises are used to bring relief from physical or psychological disorders, like anxiety, depression, or PSTD. Somatic therapy can also be used to help patients manage stress.
Emotional Freedom Technique is a form of psychological acupressure, based on the same energy meridians used in traditional acupuncture to treat physical and emotional ailments for over 5,000 years, but without the invasiveness of needles. Instead, simple tapping with the fingertips is used to input kinetic energy onto specific meridians on the head and chest while you think about your specific problem — whether it is a traumatic event, an addiction, pain, etc. — and voice positive affirmations.
Currently as a Clinical Therapist at Cleveland Health and Wellness Center, I am very client centered and create intervention treatment plan's specific for the client's needs and benefits. Exploring the integrative approach in addition to talk therapy has been very beneficial for my clients of all ages, especially for client's suffering from Anxiety, Depression, Dementia,Post Traumatic Stress, Physical and Learning Disabilities.
As a yoga teacher.for the past 16, I had the opportunity to teach for The Special Studies Program at Chautauqua Institution in New York. In 2009, I taught adult classes and two children workshops during Week One. In 2011, I taught Yoga to the Employees and Teachers at Magnificat High School in Rocky River, Ohio! Also, For 5 years, I taught at Bridges Rehabilitation Services for the Mentally and Physically Challenged Adult population in Cleveland, Ohio. I provided therapeutic chair Yoga for two of their facilities. Lastly, for 3 years I provided therapeutic movement classes to Senior Assisted Livings in Rocky River. Teaching and coaching movement as the instrument for healing helped me create a happy learning and social environment for these different populations.