Tuning the Instrument: A 10hr Online Training w Dages Juvelier Keates

Tuning the Instrument: Adjustments, Props + Therapeutic Privates

October 30th

10:30am-1:30pm 

October 31st + November 1st

11am-1:30pm 

All times EST

Includes 1 copy of Radical Acts of Embodiment by Dages Juvelier Keates

A group class is like playing with the orchestra. A private is like tuning the instrument — and you tune an instrument by listening first. Before you adjust anything, you attend to the person in front of you: their shape, their weight, their breath, the way they've learned to hold themselves together.

This 10-hour weekend with Dages Juvelier Keates is for yoga teachers and dedicated practitioners who want to deepen their capacity to work one-on-one — to read a body without diagnosing it, to adjust with clarity and consent, and to use props as allies in creating safety, support, and spaciousness. A private isn't a performance of mastery; it's a conversation between two people, built over time.

What You'll Learn

• Setting Up the Private — How to structure a session from first contact to close: arranging the space, establishing rapport, getting names and pronouns right, and laying out the language and maps you'll return to again and again.

• Reading the Body — Observing rather than analyzing. Working with diagonals, frames, and the three floors to see character instead of brokenness — a snapshot of how someone embodies their history, not a verdict on their future.

• Adjustments & Architecture — Moving the body from primary to secondary curves ("getting someone on the spit"): stabilizing and opening hips, spine, sacrum, and scapula through clear, directional touch and traction. The hierarchy of needs — stabilize, lengthen, then add volume.

• Props as Allies — Sandbags, straps, blocks, chairs, and poles (and their household substitutes) used to anchor stability, apply pressure, and open possibilities — at the studio or anywhere.

• Working with Everybody — Building intimacy gradually, communicating intention through touch, and setting clear boundaries — while adapting for older students, injuries, and limited mobility so the practice is empowering and fits everybody.

• Teaching Philosophy & Your Why — Rituals before, during, and after; protecting your energy and holding a clean container; and reconnecting to the deeper reason the work matters.
  
  

Why This Training?

Breath and body are always present. With skill and imagination, adjustments and props become tools to anchor safety, reveal stability, and expand possibility. You’ll learn not only “what to do” but also how to cultivate a space where students feel supported, curious, and more at home in their own bodies.

About Katonah Yoga®

A syncretic Hatha practice developed by Nevine Michaan over more than 40 years, Katonah Yoga weaves classical yoga with Taoist theory, sacred geometry, mythology, and metaphor — designed to reorganize, renew, and potentiate well-being. Learn more:www.katonahyoga.com

About Dages

Dages Juvelier Keates is a senior Katonah Yoga® teacher based in NYC who has taught internationally for over two decades. With roots in dance, writing, and somatic research, she brings a syncretic, poetic, and technically precise approach to breath and embodiment. She is the author of Radical Acts of Embodiment: Teaching and Practices of Katonah Yoga® and Breath Magic: Portals to Presence, and a longtime student of Nevine Michaan.

Testimonials

"Dages is a master of both Katonah material and teaching in general. What a truly magical and enlightening weekend."

"This course helped me gain the confidence I was looking for to read and adjust my students one-on-one."

"The work was profoundly deep and yet playful. I feel so much better equipped to teach privates. I can't recommend this training enough."

Join us for a weekend of tuning the instrument. Leave with practical tools, embodied confidence, and a renewed imagination for teaching anyone.