Targeted Yoga Services
Targeted yoga services aims to make available the benefits of therapeutic yoga to everyone, by matching people with local yoga instructors who are experienced in teaching yoga to people with special needs.
Starting

Targeted yoga services aims to make available the benefits of therapeutic yoga to everyone, It develops individuals with special needs in developing their potential in goals of physical and mental health.
Contact me for regular classes. Funding through NDIS Core funding, Coursework line (04-210-0125-6-1 ), or NDIS Community Participation Activities (09-011-0125-6-3),or private funds
Assessment
In the first class there will be an assessment to make an individual plan for the client. This plan is then verified by the client’s support. Goals and limitations are considered, along with medical and physical needs. A medical professional who is familiar with the client may need to further approve the plan. Contact me regarding filling in the application form. We sets up an arrangement at a venue of your choosing. If all goes well, an arrangement is made for regular classes over a five or ten week period that coincides with school terms.All classes start with developing a therapeutic relationship between the client and the instructor. The class then moves on to slow, basic movements that encourage awareness of the body. Over time the class develops towards focusing,balancing, breathing, relaxation, and more difficult postures. A diagrammatic instruction sheet with the client’s individual routine is made available. If the client chooses to do the routine between lessons this can be arranged. Generally, the best outcome is from a daily ,morning routine.
The Science of Yoga
Integral yoga combines different aspects of yoga. Raja yoga, asanas (postures), pranayama (breathing),relaxation, and mindfulness, is the main type of yoga promoted by Targeted Yoga Services. Other aspects of yoga are Karma yoga (selfless service), Bhakti yoga (devotion), Jnana yoga (introspection of the big life questions), and Kriya yoga (movement of energy internally), however these types of yoga are generally not relevant to the clients. A set of yoga exercises done regularly is known as a ‘sadhana’. When a sadhana is incorporated into a person’s daily routine the first thing that is noticed is a reduction in stress. This is because, in the science of stress, the amygdala, in the primal part of the brain, recognises sensory input as being safe or unsafe, and then tells the body and brain to react accordingly. Someone who is highly stressed has a low threshold in the amygdala, and will respond more easily towards a fight or flight response. Yoga acts to balance hormones and create a dispassionate awareness, thus increasing the amygdala’s threshold, so that the response to stimuli is less impulsive and more controlled. When a sadhana is done regularly it becomes a stabilizing force in the emotional roller-coaster of life. Something that would normally trigger a meltdown becomes easier to handle. The physical body becomes more flexible too. The World Health Organisation says that physical health is determined by diet, strength,and flexibility. This does not mean tying yourself in contortionist knots. It means being able to live without being vulnerable to aches and pains from normal living, and in the case of someone who has restricted movement, being able to maintain the unimpaired parts of the body , and improving the restricted areas. The special relaxation ,breath exercises, and mindfulness techniques further enhance the journey of living a full life through using yoga as a wonderful tool that needs no excessive cost or equipment, just a simple, quiet space.
Testimonials
“I have noticed remarkable changes in my client since we started doing yoga with her.”
Tania Lawler, Key Support Worker, Momentum Collective
“My client has been participating in this program for a couple of years now and the differences that I have noticed are remarkable. A tailored yoga program has assisted my client to have an awareness of herself, her emotions and she is far better equipped now to participate in her life and manage her past trauma and stress”.
Sarah McFayden, Senior Behaviourist,Holistic Behaviour Support
“The gradual, yet sustained, multifaceted improvement of my client through Targeted Yoga Services has been wonderful to see. My client has received huge benefits physically and mentally. Noticeably her ability to focus has opened up experiences she couldn’t dreamed of prior to engaging in yoga. Targeted Yoga Services is highly recommended”.
Ollie Thursfield, Senior manager, Momentum Collective
Research articles
Ongoing interest in the benefits of yoga have spurred the quest for evidence. The following are some examples of scientific articles on how yoga benefits different conditions.
Mission Statement
Yoga is an ancient Sanskrit word derived from the yoke around a bull pulling a cart. It is the image of the connecting force between conscious direction and the individual. It is this conscious direction that gives the joy of knowing that it is possible for everyone to reach their potential in life.
This knowledge has been preserved in India and passed down through lineages by the various Gurus of yoga schools.
Research has shown that yoga is beneficial in physical, mental and emotional ways. Targeted Yoga Services makes yoga available for the specific needs of their clients. People with disabilities benefit through having a daily routine that works with their individual dysfunction and their inherent strengths, through the gentle movements in asanas, and breathing and relaxation techniques that are skillfully imparted by instructors who are experienced working with people with special needs.
Clients benefit through the stabilization of having a routine, maintaining physical and mental health, and the hormonal and emotional balance derived from asanas, pranayama (breathing), mindful relaxation, and simple meditation techniques. Targeted Yoga Services gives thanks to Swami Satyananda who brought the knowledge of yoga to the world from 1965 to his parting in 2005. His legacy is continued by his successor, Swami Niranjan and the Bihar School of Yoga. This style of yoga is known as Integral Yoga, as it incorporates all schools of yoga in a method that is slow, gentle and suitable for everyone.
Mental Health
`When we consciously and deliberately engage in practices that produce physical calmness, we signal the limbic brain that we’re safe at a physiological level’ (Church, 2015: 49)
Yoga acts well as an experiential intervention for trauma.Complex trauma gets stuck in the more primal areas of the brain, and this reflects in a dysregulated psychosomatic affect, which reacts positively with experiential therapy over solely narrative therapy, as the implicit memory retains somatic experiences. Yoga is a passive activity that assists in the phased treatment of trauma through awareness and regulation of the body, breath and mind.
The instructor;
Yagia Gentle has extensive knowledge and experience in all forms of yoga. He was a full time resident at Satyananda Yoga ashram for ten years, worked teaching yoga in Melbourne full time for three years and has a bachelor degree in Indigenous trauma, a Masters degree in Mental Health, currently doing a Masters in Counselling, and has qualifications in teaching yoga.
The following is a recent talk integrating yoga with behaviour in a case study, in the second half of the talk Yagia explains how the yoga class works for trauma
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Jt2Bje0DO0
and have a look at this recent article from the ABC about yoga and PTSD;
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-19/healing-through-trauma-aware-yoga-classes-australia/101114380
Cost
Cost is determined by NDIS funding. Contact Targeted Yoga Services through text only on 0429891547 for current pricing .Minimum 1 hour plus transport fee.
A typical cost is $180 for 2 hrs (min time) incl transport to Ballina
Costing is under NDIS line item; Core funding; Course fee 04-210-0125-6-1 page 65 NDIS pricing guide
Item Number | Item Name and Notes | Unit | National | Remote | Very Remote |
04_210_0125_6_1 | Community, Social and Recreational Activities | Each | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Or Community Participation Activities (09-011-0125-6-3)
Item Number | Item Name and Notes | Unit | National | Remote | Very Remote |
09_011_0125_6_3 | Community Participation Activities | Each | N/A | N/A | N/A |
The course goes for 5 weeks, for one hour each session, minimum fee ($105) is for one hour,an additional transport fee(currently max $30) may be applicable
Payment is made by fund transfer to “Targeted Yoga Services” BSB;728-728 Account no. 22330064. Include name of client. ABN No 49830719073. Public liability and all insurances in place.
Details of address and client contact are to be made with instructor minimum 3 days prior to first meeting
Cancellation: Instructor is to be contacted directly in the case of client cancellation. cancellation fee applies in line with NDIS funding- minimum 24 hrs notice , otherwise full fee paid.
Notification of cancellation or alternative arrangement by client or instructor is passed onto management via email a.s.a.p
Getting started
Go to the ‘Get Started’ portal, fill in the form and agree to the terms. Go to the ‘Cost’ portal for details of costs and transferring the funds. You will get a reply within three days for arranging the first class and contact details of your instructor. For any queries email ‘targetedyoga@gmail.com’, or text a message to me at 0429891547. Include your phone no. and suitable time to call back.

Contact
Contact Targeted Yoga Services at; targetedyoga@gmail.com
Text message to 0429891547 (no calls, text only)
Contact instructors via ‘Get Started’ portal