The Center for Integrative Yoga Therapeutics features Boston's top yoga therapists with a minimum of 325 hours' training, which includes at least 75 hours of Integrative Yoga Therapeutics and 50-75 hours of training in hands-on adjustments and modifications. They are fluent in a variety of interventions, including Elemental Yoga (alignment-based vinyasa yoga), Restorative Yoga Therapeutics, Integrative Yoga Therapeutics, gentle yoga, breathwork, and meditation. All Center yoga therapists are registered with Yoga Alliance at the 200-hour level, and are continuing their studies in the Elemental 500-hour Integrative Yoga Therapeutics Teacher Training Program and the Advanced Studies Track in Integrative Yoga Therapeutics.
Center for Integrative Yoga Therapeutics
Bo Forbes, Psy.D., E-RYT500, Director and Clinical Supervisor
Yoga Therapists in Training
Tine Christensen, RYT
Tine has been practicing yoga since 2001, and began studying with Bo Forbes in 2005. While she first approached yoga as a means to gain physical strength and flexibility on the heels of an injury, she quickly recognized the deeper mind-body benefits of a therapeutic practice. The transition from a physical to a more holistic practice mirrored her journey from fast-paced styles of yoga toward a challenging, alignment-based, slow form of vinyasa that is more deeply connected to the emotional body. Tine has also broadened her focus to include Integrative Yoga Therapeutics, of which Restorative Yoga is an essential element. She completed her 200-hour teacher training with Bo in 2007, and continues to work with Bo in both her 500-hour advanced teacher-training and Advanced Integrative Yoga Therapeutics Track. Tine's work with private clients is designed to be an empowering and mindful balance of the physical, emotional, and energetic elements of yoga and wellness.
Specialty focus: Injury prevention; spinal anomalies; alignment and the physical practice; stress management, general wellness and restorative yoga; anxiety, insomnia, and the emotional body; and women's health and fertility.
Bethany Earls, RYT
Bethany was drawn to practicing yoga in 2000 because of its ability to tap into the body's natural capacity for healing. Inspired to teach by her own experience of transformation through yoga, Bethany earned her 200-hour teaching certificate from Core Yoga and started teaching in 2006. Interested in exploring the mind-body connection at a deeper level, she entered Elemental Yoga's 500-hour Mind-Body Teacher Training in 2007. An instructor in Vinyasa and Restorative Yoga Therapeutics, Bethany emphasizes self-compassion, healing, and awakening in her classes. She began working privately with clients in 2008 and participates in the Advanced Integrative Yoga Therapeutics Track. Bethany's passion for working individually with clients has grown as she has witnessed first-hand the remarkable ways in which Integrative Yoga Therapeutics helps her students and clients acquire greater mobility and health in both body and mind. Her instruction is guided by a deep sense of gratitude for the transformative power of yoga and the body's innate ability to heal.
James Gotz, RYT (Boston, MA)
james@elementalyoga.com
James has been practicing vinyasa yoga daily since 2003, and under the guidance of Bo Forbes since 2005. Initially a successful tool to lose weight, improve health, calm his mind, and offer an antidote to his daily life as a lawyer, yoga now guides James as his blueprint for mindful living. James is a graduate of Bo's Elemental Yoga Mind-Body 200-hour Teacher Training, and continues today in her 500-hour advanced program. Through the Center for Integrative Yoga Therapeutics, James combines Elemental Yoga's unique applications of asana, breathwork and restorative yoga poses to address a full array of physical and emotional conditions for his private clients. Additional studies in the Anusara method with John Friend further influence James's dedicated focus on alignment and safety to create optimal mind-body openings. The challenging-but-slow-paced, alignment-minded, heart-opening approach of Elemental Yoga infuses each moment for him on, and off the mat. With gratitude for all of yoga's life-changing qualities, James brings a joyful, humor-filled and empowering approach to his teaching and private therapeutic sessions.
Specialty focus: Alignment and the physical practice; spinal anomalies such as scoliosis, kyphosis, and lordosis; arthritis; hypermobility; and pain disorders
Stephanie Mashek, RYT
Stephanie dabbled in various yoga disciplines, including Iyengar, Anusara, and Ashtanga Yoga, before establishing a dedicated vinyasa practice with Bo in 2000. She completed Bo's Elemental Yoga 200-hour Teacher Training in 2007, and continues now in the 500-hour Advanced Teacher Training. Stephanie brings Elemental Yoga's mindful style of vinyasa to her teaching and private work. A professional architect with Mashek and McLean, Stephanie's passion is applying the tools of Integrative Yoga Therapeutics to the architecture of the human mind, body, and healing process.
Specialty Focus: Alignment and the physical practice; spinal anomalies; hypermobility; anxiety, insomnia, and depression; chronic pain disorers; stress management and general wellness.
Kate Millen, RYT
Kate has been committed to health and fitness as both a fitness instructor and student for more than fifteen years. She received her 200-hour certitification and advanced teacher training with Ana Forrest in 2005. Upon joining the Elemental Yoga 500-hour Teacher Training Program in 2007, Kate turned the focus of her own practice to the Elemental Yoga alignment-based style of slow vinyasa that systematically heals the mind and body. With an emphasis on alignment, transitions, and mindfulness, she has been able to heal injuries and imbalances in her own body and mind; these personal experiences have been instrumental in framing her teaching in both group and private settings. Beyond teaching Elemental Yoga, Kate has also worked in clinical settings, helping patients with diet and nutrition; she volunteers at Emerson Hospital's Oncology Department, in nursing homes, and teaches yoga to teens and pre-teens. Kate's passion is to empower people with the ability to heal themselves through yoga.
Specialty Focus: Alignment and the physical practice; spinal anomalies; hypermobility; anxiety, insomnia, and depression; arthritis; immune disorders.
Auxiliary Members of the Center
Katherine Hartsell, RYT (Boston, MA)
kathy@elementalyoga.com
As a professional ballet dancer, Kathy has a deep understanding of the body and of movement. Her study of yoga has added an entirely new dimension to that understanding, by teaching her about the mind-body connection. Kathy now compassionately guides others to understanding that connection and the possibilities for growth that it provides. Her therapeutic skills offer clients a unique pathway to discovering health and ease in the body and mind. Kathy completed the Elemental Yoga 200-hour Mind-Body Teacher Training with Bo Forbes, and is now pursuing her 500-hour certification. Her ongoing studies with Bo fuse with her previous yoga trainings and her experience as a dancer with the Boston Ballet to inform, enrich, and inspire her teaching.
Specialty Focus: Performance development and enhancement; alignment and the physical body; injury prevention and rehabilitation; arthritis; stress management; anxiety and insomnia.
Pam Gaither
Pam began practicing yoga in her teens and has been teaching yoga since 1998. Her teaching is inspired by Anusara Yoga®, a therapeutic system that integrates Universal Principles of Alignment, inner body awareness, and a celebration of the heart. Along with her ongoing studies, Pam has completed several teacher trainings and therapeutic studies with John Friend, Anusara Yoga's founder, and with Anusara certified instructors Deb Neubauer and Todd Norian. She is a devoted student of Rajanaka Tantra Philosophy. Pam is a longtime student of Bo Forbes and is an adjunct member of Bo's Center for Integrative Yoga Therapeutics where she continues to discover the profound connections of the body, mind and spirit. Pam's private work is balanced with playfulness, authenticity, and a genuine desire to inspire others to discover their inner radiance.
Caro Bihldorff
Caro has been practicing yoga since 1996, and has been teaching Vinyasa and Restorative Yoga since 2005. She is currently finishing her Elemental Yoga 500-hour certification with Bo Forbes, focusing on yoga therapeutics for physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. Caro also participated in Bo's 18-month clinical supervision program in Integrative Yoga Therapeutics. In conjunction with Bo and Elemental Yoga, she is now starting yoga research with Beth Israel Hospital's Neurology and Chronic Pain Department to delve deeper into the practical applications of yoga in Western medical treatment. Caro is primarily interested in the benefits of yoga for mental and emotional imbalance, and sees this work as a process of integration, guiding our selves back to an innate state of wellness in mind, body and spirit.
Specialty focus: Anxiety, depression, grief and loss, PTSD, bipolar disorder, and eating disorders.
Cassandra Horii, RYT, Consultant
Cassandra (Cassie) brings over a decade of mind-body teaching and practice, and a life-long devotion to the amazing processes of human learning and development, to her work as Research Liaison with he Center for Integrative Yoga Therapeutics. She weaves her passion for accompanying people on their paths of self-exploration and learning throughout her classes, as well as her life "off the mat" where she teaches science to college students and consults with faculty at Harvard University. Striving for a balance between challenge and joy in every class, pose, and moment, Cassie's supportive teaching style welcomes beginners and experienced practitioners alike to explore their potentials in a safe and informative setting. Cassie has trained with Bo Forbes in Elemental Yoga; she received her 200-hour RYT in 2007 and is enrolled in the 500-hour program and the Advanced Studies Program in Integrative Yoga Therapeutics. She has also studied the Nia Technique (brown belt( with with Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas. She holds a doctoral degree in Environmental Science and writes about teaching and learning in higher education and mind-body disciplines.