FUSION WELLNESS WEEKEND:
A CREATIVE EXPLORATION OF SCOLIOSIS AND SPINAL FUSIONS WITH MARTHA CARTER (MOVEMENT) AND PATRICIA HORVATH (WRITING)
hosted by Samamkāya yoga back care & scoliosis collective
May 20 & 21, 2023
IN-PERSON or ONLINE OPTION
ABOUT THE WORKSHOP
Join spinal fusion wellness expert, Martha Carter and special guest, author Patricia Horvath, for a wholehearted exploration of spinal fusions! Designed for people with scoliosis and spinal fusions, this unique workshop combines gentle movement and guided writing to address how this confounding condition affects the whole self – body, mind, and spirit.
Starting with a gentle blend of breathing, yoga, somatics, and freestyle movement, Martha’s comforting approach will help participants to better understand their bodies - with the goal of replacing stiffness and fear, with mobility and freedom. Patricia's guided writing sessions encourage freewriting - stories, memories, emotions, not to mention reflections on some of the the unusual medical moments that we all struggled through - that can either be shared, or stay private.
ABOUT THE HOST STUDIO
Samamkāya Yoga Back Care & Scoliosis Collective is a therapeutic, worker-owned yoga studio. Their aim is to make yoga accessible and healing to students of all ages and abilities who are living with back injuries, chronic/acute pain, differently shaped spines/bodies, scoliosis and spinal fusions.
About Martha Carter
Martha is as a therapeutic movement specialist for scoliosis and spinal fusions, offering classes, workshops and retreats in Gentle Yoga and Somatics. Synthesizing her knowledge as a dance artist with her love of therapeutic methods, she guides participants to discover increased strength, length, alignment and mindfulness in the whole soma—body, mind and soul. Her welcoming approach is accessible to all levels and abilities. Martha is a certified teacher of both Yoga for Scoliosis based on the teachings of Elise Browning Miller, and Essential Somatics™ based on the work of Thomas Hanna. She has also studied Energy Medicine and Trauma Release techniques, which she weaves into all her classes to help participants with pain relief while enhancing their movement potential. Martha is the founder and director of Twisted Outreach Project for Back Care and Scoliosis (TOPS), a Canadian-based non-profit that provides a range of holistic and creative approaches to working with back care and scoliosis. Martha’s full bio can be found here.
About Patricia Horvath
Patricia Horvath is the author of the memoir All the Difference (Etruscan Press) about her experiences with scoliosis and spinal fusion, and the recently released collection of stories But Now Am Found (Black Lawrence Press). A recipient of New York Foundation for the Arts fellowships in both fiction and literary nonfiction, her stories and essays have been published widely in literary journals. She teaches creative writing at Framingham State University and is an editor at The Massachusetts Review. Her website is: https://patricialhorvath.com/.