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A Physician Assistant’s Journey through the Professional Yoga Therapist Program

by Faith Bevan, MS, PA-C, PYT

January, 2006 I opened a small Yoga Studio in Port Richey FL.  Wisdom and concern of others directed failure in short order.  But I had a commitment to what I believed was the healing of body and mind that could be accomplished on the mat.  The month after Flow Yoga opened my mentor, supporter, confidant and source of all great things, my mother, died.  She never got to see the studio.   Feeling lost, abandoned, and confused I sought yoga beyond my mat for direction.  I was fortunate to meet a Phoenix Rising practitioner who guided me to reconnect and I regained my sense of self and purpose.  Still without the direction I had once had, I continued to search for my path.

In 2007, while working as a PA in my chosen area of emergency medicine, a flier was brought my way about the Level II PYTI at our sister hospital. Seeing this, I felt the light brightening that had dulled since my mother’s death.  And I was then convinced that blending my medical knowledge with yoga as a perfect match, of course I dreamed of financial reimbursement ……..  So going into that first 3 day training, I was a know it all, after all, I was a “200 hr RYT” had my own studio and tell me something I don’t know already.

Why Ginger didn’t tell me to leave my ego home and if I couldn’t stay home with it, I don’t know, but I am so glad she didn’t, because at that time I would have just stayed home.  I completed the 3 days, met a few nice people and looked forward to taking the Level I.  I was then starting to be ready to open myself up to what I needed to learn not just about yoga therapy, and how I could apply this for others, but about myself.  I saw some layers beneath the façade, some felt good being revealed and others still too deep to surface and others I wasn’t ready to accept.

The week long experience of Level III in October of 2008 was a game changer.  Having always been immersed in the “to do list”, the week in Emerald Isle was magnificent. I can recall so clearly the walk in the dark from our rooms down the path to the beach house for class.  The fireplace going, the room silent, Ginger sitting in complete stillness and silence.  Finding my way to my mat, having not prepared it for this magical moment, futzing around to get comfortable. And finding that sweet spot on the mat and in my own body and mind.  Ginger’s voice softly breaking the silence giving gentle direction and before I could believe it over an hour had gone by, the sun had risen over the ocean and I had felt an amazing shift.  It suddenly dawned on me that maybe this yoga therapy program was about how I could help others, but my healing and transformation.  Throughout the week, we spend lots of quiet time in our breath, in poses that supported my body as I have never experienced.  One ah ha moment after another, I found pleasure in silence and stillness, a relaxation and release of my body and mind that had eluded me my entire life. I was always work harder, do more and suddenly I wasn’t moving, just breathing, and felt like doing nothing but yet everything was happening. Each morning getting up and out before 6, the dark stillness, the peace, was so amazing, that to this day I miss it.  But it is with me always, I can see it, feel it and put myself back into that space with my mind and breath.   I was changed that week, and changed for the better.  I became better to myself, more patient, accepting and I stopped running from myself.  And I learned how to leave the ego behind.  It was that Level III PYTI weekend that I feel I became a better teacher, wife, mother, PA and all around person.

The Level IV March 2009 week long experience at Emerald Isle was eagerly awaited. Again to experience that special time and place for early morning meditation.  I can only say it was magical.   Having experienced those amazing shifts previously, I was open to all that was offered and shared in our training.    A reconnection with others I had spent the time in October with.  But more importantly to spend the quiet time, introspective and transformative.  We all worked together like a finely tuned machine, breathing, moving, listening, sharing, growing and becoming even more aware of our own being as well as others.  This was an amazing week as it connected the dots, allowed us to use all we had learned in the previous levels in a way that we could help others but continue on our own practice, growth and transformation.  And I continued to find releases in mind and body to enhance my personal growth as well as how I could grow to share this insight and knowledge with others.  During that week I experienced some emotional breakdowns and connections.  The conclusion of Level IV was a very sad moment as I knew that this was the end of the training as set up at that time, and knowing that, although you promise to stay connected, you don’t.  Life happens and you go your separate ways. I felt committed to serving as a good representation of the PYTI program, and the teachings of Ginger Garner

By this time my personal yoga practice had changed as well as my teaching.  I was able to connect to the therapeutic aspects of yoga in so many ways and in so many things.  Not knowing that the real test was to come, not with a client but with myself.  During a very un-yogic moment, not being present, I had a mishap that produced a debilitating back injury.  Unable to move, even breathing was a challenge and painful, I began a restorative practice in bed.  Beginning with Pranayama, gentle supportive asana, eventually evolving to asana on the floor and using chairs, to ultimately regaining strength, alignment of mind and body and standing postures.  Slowly I embraced the moment, found positions where I could be pain free and savored those places teaching my body that it was safe and could be without pain.  I eventually found my way fully back to the mat and at the head of the class have reconnected to the benefit of all I had learned.  And it WORKS!!!!!  Ultimately pain free, fully mobile and the injury all but memory.

So if injuring the back wasn’t enough, a year later, again not being present, I fractured my elbow and knee cap in a fall.  Casted in a long arm splint, bruised up and hobbling I once again took solace in the mat, blocks and blankets to assist me.  Not missing more than the first 3 days, I began exploring my breath, my body and my own resistance.  Instead of thinking of all I couldn’t do I explored all I could do.  And wow, the caste became a prop and once the knee became less painful there was no stopping me.  The first thing I did when the caste was removed was come to the mat.  Day in and day out, regaining movement in my elbow and wrist, and they said I would never fully extend the elbow again.  Well they don’t know yoga.   I went to PT but more progress was made on the mat, without fear (would like to say without pain) but with the knowledge I had the tools to make it work and my body would find solace in the healing yogic path.

Each moment on the mat I am an emissary of PYTI, so you can imagine how excited I was to see the email go out to all of the students of PYTI present and past to apply for a position assisting at the NATA conference in Las Vegas in the summer of 2013.  And of course I was, what the heck, apply for it, worst that could happen is not to get chosen.  What an absolute thrill to be chosen to be one of the assistants for the presentation/practicum.  Thank you Ginger for including me.  Because to be a representative of PYTI is an honor.  To be able to share with the AT’s participating the wisdom in the activities and they experienced them was a thrill.  To see so many eager to listen and learn what not just yoga could bring to their profession but to embrace and maybe even challenge…

There have been changes to the program, as all things eventually evolve and grow.  So to embrace some of the additions was exciting.  And especially to see that some of them I was already doing intuitively.  So great minds think alike, huh!  It was also a time to reconnect with someone I had done my Levels III and IV with and to meet some others.  All so impressive, capable and embracing.

And now the PYTI curriculum is taught in post graduate programs, is something to be so proud of.  It isn’t just another of the many Yoga Therapy Programs now inundating the market.  You can find a yoga teacher and now a therapist on every street corner as the market has been flooded with Yoga schools and anybody who has the money for the program a graduate.  But have a program who requires you to be a licensed medical practitioner, already possessing knowledge of the body and mind; it is a scientific approach to personal development and growth.   I went into it to enhance my business end of yoga, but I came out of it with so much more.

Yes, I am a better teacher and to use yoga as a healing modality both on the mat and in my medical practice.  But I am changed, healed, growing and so grateful for all it has given me.  Thank you for having me in the program, for giving me the opportunity to be part of the NATA team and to be forever a part of the PYTI family.

~ Faith