ROEY FICARO ON REST AND RELAX
Q: Your upcoming workshop looks amazing! You’re incorporating not just elements of your delicious restorative practice, but yoga nidra as well. What inspired you to combine the two?
RF: My personal practice and study of Yoga Nidra and Restorative has led me to the obvious conclusion to combine and share these two powerful systems.
Restorative Yoga gives the body permission to release blocked areas of tension due to safety and support of using props.
"Support creates Release” ~ Judith Lasater.
Once the body begins to melt and open, one is ready to move into the deeper brain wave state of Deep Sleep with awareness which is Yoga Nidra.
This powerful technique is derived from the tantras in which you learn to relax consciously. It is not sleep but a state of dynamic sleep using an intention, rotation of conciseness, skin awareness, breathing visualization and inner space.
These healing practices are used to relieve pain, facilitate sleep, immune function, digestion and so much more.
Q: You have such extensive training in restorative yoga. What or who inspired you to dive deeper into that study?
RF: There was a time in my life I needed to learn to be still and learn the Art of Relaxation to relieve tension, stress and trauma.
In my early days of teaching yoga I discovered a practice called Pheonix Rising Yoga Therapy and became a practitioner and mentor. This practice taught me to dive inside using yoga combined with meditation and dialogue with the help of my mentors Micheal Lee & Karen Haskarl to allow unconscious issues to surface and heal. This propelled me to seek other similar systems which led me to Judith Lasater at a Yoga Journal conference.
I fell in love with the Iyengar System of Restorative yoga and Judith, who is called the “Queen of Restorative Yoga”. I trained with her to eventually becoming certified.
These systems have helped me to become introspective for my personal healing so I could then work towards facilitating healing in others as I incorporated these techniques as a Psychotherapist, Yoga/Meditation teacher.
One must do their own work in order to walk into shadows with another.
Q: You teach Level 1,2 on Tuesday at 9:45 as well as your Friday Restorative at 4:45weekly. So many students forget how important the balance of having both a more active moving class and a slower practice together can be. Describe each class for us in three words:
RF: Tuesday: Energize, Play, Align
Friday: Open, Restore, Bliss
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