Joy Bennett-Jennings
Joy Bennett-Jennings, ERYT-500 is a certified yoga therapist, offering international programs for mood regulation. She is also known for her work in trauma-sensitive yoga for adults and children. As the owner and director of two yoga therapy studios in MA and RI, she uses therapeutic yoga to treat a variety of conditions, such as:
• Depression and Anxiety
• Bipolar Syndrome
• Obsessive Complusive Disorder
• Chronic Pain
• Movement Disorders, i.e. Multiple Sclerosis and Ataxia
Joy has worked with Drs. Brown & Gerbarg in several capacities since 2008, as their work began to intersect through mutual interests and endeavors. In 2010, her growing involvement with traumatized adults in her private practice and her teaching of classes to children with severe behavioral and psychiatric problems led her to train with Drs. Brown & Gerbarg in their ground-breaking teacher training, “Breath-Body-Mind Training for Stress and Trauma, Transformation and Well-Being.”
Since that time, Joy has been involved with Breath-Body-Mind Trainings which Drs. Brown/Gerbarg offer each year, and at military sites in upstate NY. She has been a part of the Brown/Gerbarg team of educators for health care professionals through the Chermung County Initiative, “Breathe and Heal…Children”, and her use of successful therapeutic methods for ADHD has been included in Drs. Brown/Gerbarg’s book, “Non-Drug Treatments for ADHD: New Options for Kids, Adults and Clinicians.”
In 2014, as part of a program offered by Drs. Brown/Gerbarg, Joy presented her material on work with ADHD children at the American Psychiatric Association’s Annual Meeting in NYC.
Joy has also been instrumental in creating a Breath-Body-Mind Training customized for health care professionals working with children and adolescents, entitled: "The Resilient Child: Breath-Body-Mind & Yoga for Emotional Regulation, Learning, & Well-Being"
Joy continues to meld her involvement in yoga therapy with the principles of Breath-Body-Mind in her work with private clients, and in her therapeutic classes which are offered at both of her Joyful Breath Yoga Therapy studios in Swansea, MA and Providence, RI. She consistently finds that Breath-Body-Mind Techniques are applicable and beneficial to a wide array of situations and symptoms. Her adult clients find the B-B-M breathing and meditation techniques enable them to heal from deep fatigue and trauma, and they feel energized and awakened by the B-B-M movements. Children find the movement practices engaging and fun. Joy finds that the B-B-M techniques are well-accepted by everyone, and they are her “go-to” methods that she uses for the profoundly emotionally disturbed, or those who suffer from serious physical illnesses.
She is a registered member of Yoga Alliance and the International Association of Yoga Therapists.
Joy Bennett-Jennings comments on Incorporating BBM Techniques into her practice
Joy Bennett-Jennings, ERYT-500 is an experienced yoga therapist, who has been working with Richard P. Brown, MD and his spouse Patricia Gerbarg, MD, for 6 years. She owns and directs two "Joyful Breath Yoga Therapy" studios in Providence, RI and in Swansea, MA. She is a graduate of the first Breat-Body-Mind Training (2010), and became an active member of the training faculty soon thereafter.
Joy has a particular affinity for working with mood disorders and physically or emotionally impaired populations of all ages, including clients who have experienced trauma of all kinds.
Joy Bennett-Jennings writes about incorporating BBM Techniques into her practice.
"In working with my clients, we always begin with developing a sense of the breath moving through the body. Whether the main focus of a session is depression, trauma, chronic pain, etc., we always come back to the breath. 'Coherence Breathing' is a tremendously effective tool that I continuously offer to my clients. I find it especially helpful for people in chronic pain, and for traumatized individuals who are not comfortable with being inside their bodies. In using the 'Open Focus Meditation' techniques which I learned as part of the Breath-Body-Mind training, I can offer my clients a gentle re-entry to being awake and alive within their bodies, as well as a profound sense of expansion. This informs my clients that they are so much more than their physical bodies. For my MS clients, as well as others who experience movement disorders and limitations, it is profoundly healing for them to know that they are so much more than their diagnosis, or their pain; that they are so much more than the depression or anxiety that is coursing through them.
The Qigong movements taught by Dr. Brown are very helpful in what I call 'creating a strong container' to develop the motivation and the resolve for people to move forward into a place of sustained well-being. Dr. Gerbarg's research-based presentations have given me the facts and the understanding necessary to educate my clients as to the value of the Breath-Body-Mind techniques. I think I can accurately state that I incorporate Breath-Body-Mind techniques into 90% of my yoga therapy sessions with clients and classes, and theses techniques have been well-received by those whom I serve, creating a level of interest in my clients that impels them to continue practicing the tenets of B-B-M on their own - and therein lies a well-defined path to deep healing and renewed vitality."
As an inspirational speaker, Joy is sought after for numerous professional conferences and corporate settings throughout the U.S. and Canada, presenting clear, concise principles with a compelling and experiential approach.
For more information, visit: www.joyfulbreath.com
During BBM Teacher Training, Joy Bennett-Jennings demonstrates her tapping process, a fun way to increase alertness, and bring children home to their bodies.