About Paula J. Williams, MS, C-IAYT, RYT500

At age 18, I attended my first yoga class at the YMCA and loved the way my body and felt afterward. Throughout my full-time career working in hospital Clinical Laboratories, I attended colleges part-time while enjoying yoga’s stress-relieving benefits. In my younger years, I loved Iyengar yoga’s meticulous alignment in the postures. Later in life, slower-paced classes demonstrated that yoga didn’t have to be fitness-oriented or flow-based in order to receive yoga's benefits.

When I struggled to recall class postures for a home practice, I decided to attend yoga teacher training. The 200-hour and 300-hour yoga teacher trainings were completed at UM SOM CIM* in Baltimore. My trainers were Certified Yoga Therapists, and I realized I wanted to help individuals on a higher level as well as teach group yoga classes. With their encouragement, I completed an 855-hour Yoga Therapy training program covering yoga philosophy, Ayurveda, pain management, more anatomy, and deeper training in yogic practices for medical issues.

Educational preparation for working as a Clinical Laboratory Scientist plus over 45 years of working experience taught me the biochemistry of the human body in a multitude of clinical diagnoses as well as how a hospital operates. Training to be a Yoga Therapist has allowed me to build on that knowledge in the practical applications of Yoga philosophy. This means how the body-mind responds to movement and postures, how the nervous system is affected by breathing, how a client can be educated on the pain response, and so much more.

Yoga philosophy and practices have to be experienced. I know this first-hand because during Yoga Teacher Training and Yoga Therapy training I applied what I learned to my own body-mind with Migraine Disorder. Learning about the Yamas and Niyamas helped me accept the present moment. My anger and grief from the death of my brother dissipated as I (slowly) changed my perspective. Gentle movement, meditation, and breathing practices help reduce the pain response during a migraine attack. What has worked for me is only a small example of the tools I have in my toolbox to help others.

Education and Instructors

• Master of Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland

• 200- and 300-hour Yoga Teacher training at UM SOM CIM with Kelli Bethel, DPT, PT, C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, & Bonnie Taratino, C-IAYT

• 855-hour Toga Therapy training at the H~OM Therapeutic Yoga Education Center with Helene Couvrette, C-IAYT, Yoga Educator
  Certified in Pain Care Yoga & Trauma Sensitive Yoga

• 40-hour Subtle® Yoga Revolution Online Teacher Training by Kristine Kaoverii Weber, MA, C-IAYT, eRYT500, YACEP