OM yoga for Woman Cancer Survivors

FREE classes every Tuesday from 3:45 - 5:15pm, taught by Tari Prinster

OM is proud to announce the first ever

OM yoga for Woman Cancer Survivors
Teacher Training Program, October 17 - 19
taught by Tari Prinster, Cyndi Lee, and Susan Herman

Testimonial from a Survivor:

I would like to take this opportunity to write about the OM Yoga class for cancer survivors. When I presented with two malignancies in October 2007, I was not sure how I would find my way. 
I had never taken yoga before in my life, although I had lots of dance training behind me.

I saw a flyer at my breast surgeon's office advertising the Libby Ross Foundation Yoga Class at OM and thought, "That's not really me but I'll try it.  I have nothing to lose.  Well, I really have nothing."  I am divorced with no children and a sister in California.  For the most part, I was facing all those challenges alone.

I was devestated by my cancer diagnoses, which I received within weeks of each other.  I didn't know other women dealing with cancer.  I felt so isolated and frightened. 

When I first got to OM, I was scared I wouldn't "fit in."  But the instructors and other cancer yoginis were all there for the same reason.  I wept through most of the classes, while I was going through treatment - but they were tears of joy and relief mingled with tears of fear.  I found myself in a room full of love, courage, endurance and recovery.  I knew I was safe in that room, even after my surgeries when I could barely move.  I was safe.  

And I was learning.  I was learning about the lymphatic system and how yoga could help massage the system and open up flow.  I learned about how all that twisting was a natural way for me to wring the body and rid it of toxins and bad karma.  :-)  And I learned how yogic breathing could alleviate stress and anxiety, aiding in my quest for health.

I also learned about womanhood in that room.  Susan and Tari are two of the most beautiful women I have ever met - beautiful without and beautiful within.  I wanted to be like them - survivors.  Beautiful, wholesome survivors.  Yogini survivors.  

They welcomed me into the class.  One of them always miraculously appeared when my broken body needed a prop.  They were respectful of my privacy when I wept.  Opening and closing "OMs" were most important practices for me, along with the readings that were sometimes delivered to the class, framing the practice of the asanas and breathing.  Through these two amazing women, I began to learn the insights of yogic wisdom and the role it could play in my recovery, in my learning to give back to others, and in a life-long pursuit of spiritual and bodily health.

The only complaint I would register is that classes have gotten so full that there often isn't adequate room.  But I suppose this is the greatest compliment of all for the instructors. 

Thank you for your attention. 
Sincerely,
Karen Barzman, aspiring yogini and survivor of breast cancer and papillary thyroid cancer

About Tari Prinster
At age 64, Tari Prinster considers herself an example that it is never too late to begin change. Through yoga, Tari has found not only a way to reduce pain, strengthen her immune system, feel younger, stay healthy, and manage the stress of life, but also guidance through cancer recovery and a 7 year survivorship. Her student-centered classes offer the OM yoga method of vinyasa, alignment, mindfulness and compassion along with her own life experience focused on therapuetic yoga for chronic disease, pain, addiction and sports injuries. Tari is an OM yoga certified yoga teacher.