Courtney Butler, owner and operator of Balance Yoga and Wellness, a yoga school training teachers and offering classes and yoga therapy, has joined the Dr. Dean Ornish Reversal Clinic at Saline Memorial Heart Clinic. Many people know Ornish as the doctor of President Bill Clinton after his heart attack in 2004. Clinton made lifestyle changes to heal his body.
Ornish has written bestselling books and is a pioneer in Lifestyle Medicine. There are clinics all over the country and Saline Memorial will start taking patients within the next month and is accepting patients now for the waiting list. One simply needs a referral to Saline Memorial Heart Clinic, Dr. Allan Hatch, from their doctor to see if they qualify. Medicare and some private insurance companies will pay for qualifying patients. The program is twice a week for four hours over the course of nine weeks. Patients learn what lifestyle medicine is through classes on nutrition, fitness, stress management, and love and support. More information can be found at http://Ornish.com.
Butler has taught yoga since 2001 and her school has trained more than 150 teachers from all over the world since 2008. She does consulting for studios and teachers all over the United States, teaches classes, is a yoga therapist working with people one on one, and now working in Lifestyle Medicine. She has been a yoga and meditation practitioner for more than 27 years and "strongly feels that it has saved her from debilitating anxiety she used to experience," according to the press release.
She is offering two teacher training sessions starting in September, one in Hot Springs, located in Emergent Arts in the Dryden Pottery Building, and one in North Little Rock at the Blue Yoga NYLA studio. At the time of this writing, there are only four available spaces in each training. What makes Balance Yoga and Wellness teacher training so different from other trainings is that all the teachers are yoga therapists and have at minimum a 500-hour certification with Yoga Alliance, the highest credential available to yoga teachers.
Stacey Faught, ERYT 500, who leads the North Little Rock training along with Butler, has been teaching yoga for more than 15 years and specializes in yoga for trauma and is certified in prenatal and children's yoga. Rena Wren, RYT 500, ERYT 200, is the only certified Yin Yoga teacher in the state of Arkansas. Wren teaches with Butler in the Hot Springs school.
Balance Yoga and Wellness is a Yoga Alliance Registered School, offering the 200-hour program for beginning teachers, a 300-hour program in holistic yoga, which is also a registered International Association of Yoga Therapist School. The 200-hour program sets the foundation for those wishing to grow personally or to teach others. This program allows teachers to become registered with Yoga Alliance, teaching safe classes to the public.
Many of Butler's students have gone on to open studios, yoga schools, lead workshops, become yoga therapists, and every day you can find Butler's teachers leading classes all over the world from Hawaii to Germany and here in the states. For those wishing to register for school, go to http://BalanceYogaandWellness.com.
Butler and her fiancé are currently buying a 40-acre farm and building a home between Benton and Hot Springs in the hopes of building a yoga studio and taekwondo studio (Butler's future husband, Jim, is a three-time world champion in taekwondo). "Butler dreams of holding yoga classes, teaching healthy cooking, and having those who wish to spend time learning about simple living, and exploring the farm and visiting with all the animals she hopes to have."
When asked about her farm, Butler said in the release, "I have had many people offer us animals they can no longer care for. I do not wish to go out and purchase animals, I want to take in animals that need a home on a farm. This week alone we have been offered two house-trained pigs. Currently, we have two rescued cats, two rescued dogs and three horses, one that was rescued from going to the humane society. Jim and I both love animals. Jim loves to work in the soil and train horses, and I love to cook and care for animals and study simple living. Before the school took off, I lead classes for many years on Simple Living with the North West Earth Institute. We hope to share the joy of this lifestyle with others."
Butler holds one beginner friendly yoga class at 6:15 p.m. Mondays at Emergent Arts. The class is $10 drop in or $50 for six weeks. Her student teacher, Deby Sweatt, has a 10 a.m. Wednesday class in Mindful Yoga at Emergent Arts. For information, email Butler at [email protected] or call 501-538-3036.
Business on 07/25/2016