Yoga & Mental Health
Workshops & Groups
Offered Virtually Across Ontario
What to expect
At Flexible Minds, workshops and groups are offered virtually and designed to support mental health and connection through integrative practices like breathwork, somatic awareness, yoga, expressive arts, and psycho‑education.
These short series and themed sessions help participants build skills in areas like mindfulness, emotional regulation, anxiety resilience, sleep habits, and self‑exploration while fostering community and support.
Customized corporate workshops are also available, and offerings range from multi‑week programs to one‑off workshops tailored to specific needs.
For custom workshops, email workshops@flexibleminds.ca
Why practice yoga?
Yoga is often seen as physical exercise, but its benefits go much deeper. Yoga supports mental health too through emotional regulation, stress relief, and nervous system balance by helping you slow down, tune in, and reconnect with your body.
Rooted in ancient philosophy, yoga is about creating connection between mind and body, breath and movement. Through intentional practice, yoga offers space to feel more present, grounded, and supported, both on and off the mat.
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS
Our workshops are single-session virtual events focused on a specific topic related to mental health, wellbeing, or the mind-body connection. These sessions offer practical tools, psychoeducation, and sometimes gentle movement or yoga to help you better understand yourself and your nervous system.
Free Virtual Yin Yoga
(Optional donation to CMHA Durham)
Thursday November 5 at 7pm
45 mins | Virtual Live
Cost: Free (optional donation)
Facilitated by Steph Paolucci
This is a free virtual yin yoga class, with an optional opportunity to donate directly to The Canadian Mental Health Association Durham. Donations are entirely voluntary.
Yin yoga is a slow, grounding style of yoga that uses longer-held, mostly floor-based poses to gently target the body’s connective tissues and encourage stillness. It can support flexibility, mobility, relaxation, stress reduction, and nervous system regulation, while creating space to slow down and reconnect with the body.
Everyone is welcome, and no prior experience is needed, come as you are, and take time to nurture yourself.
Supporting Your Nervous System 101
(Psychoeducation + Somatic Practices)
Wednesday September 30 at 7:00pm
75 mins | Virtual Live & Recorded
Cost: $45 + hst
Facilitated by Sarah Drost
This workshop will help you better understand your nervous system and how it responds to stress, safety, and connection.
You’ll learn the basics of Polyvagal Theory in a simple, approachable way, including the different nervous system states: feeling safe and connected, feeling activated or anxious (fight or flight), and feeling shut down or frozen.
We’ll also explore practical ways to support your nervous system using tools like humming, movement, breathwork, meditation, and
self-massage. We will also explore the brain–gut connection and how things like sleep, food, and daily experiences can influence how your body responds to stress.
Emotions in Motion
(Yoga + Psychoeducation)
Monday November 23 at 12pm
75 mins | Virtual Live & Recorded
Cost: $45 + hst
Facilitated by Steph Paolucci
Learn supportive somatic tools, coping strategies, and yoga practices for supporting the primary emotions: happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, and surprise. You’ll explore how each emotion can show up in the body and practice simple, body-based ways to respond with greater awareness and self-support.
Through guided movement, yoga poses, and somatic practices, you’ll build a practical toolkit for regulating emotions, moving through difficult feelings, and supporting yourself in everyday life.
The focus is not on getting rid of emotions, but on learning how to meet them with more ease, balance, and resilience.
UPCOMING GROUPS
Our groups are ongoing virtual series that run for 4–8 weeks with the same small group of participants. These sessions offer a supportive space to learn, reflect, and connect with others while exploring topics more deeply through guided discussion, shared experiences, and therapeutic exercises.
The Grounded Mother
Next Group: TBD
4 weeks | 45 mins | Virtual Live
Cost: $115 + hst for the full program
Facilitated by Alexis Hamilton
Most postpartum programs focus on either physical recovery or mental health, but The Grounded Mother bridges the gap by supporting both body and mind through gentle, trauma-informed yoga alongside guided mental health discussion, journaling prompts, and reflective exercises.
You’ll spend 20 minutes moving to support nervous system regulation, 20 minutes in guided discussion and reflection on themes such as identity shifts, maternal anxiety, and relational changes, and 5 minutes integrating the tools and practices explored.
*Babies are welcome nearby *This is not group therapy
Weekly Topics:
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The Grounded Mother (Nervous System Safety)
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The Held Mother (Boundaries & Support)
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The Connected Mother (Relational Shifts)
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The Capable Mother (Empowerment & Agency)
Discovering You
Mondays at 7pm | Begins September 14
4 weeks | 90 mins | Virtual Live
Cost: $200 (no tax) for the full program
Facilitated by Ashley Ferraccioli
If anxiety is getting in the way of knowing your place in the world and you feel unsure of who you are, this group is for you! Within a safe and supportive community, you'll learn to better understand the core of who you are outside of your anxiety.
Through the exploration of personal values, we will help you create a clear understanding of who you are and who you want to be. You’ll also develop practical tools to make choices that align with your true self.
Weekly Themes:
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Understanding Anxiety and Your Inner World
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Who You Are Beyond Anxiety
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Values, Goals & Responding to Triggers
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Self-Compassion, Self-Care & Moving Forward
Worrier to Warrior
Looking for practical ways to overcome overwhelm, chronic worry or anxiety? This live virtual program provides tools to settle the mind and body.
Using Yoga-based and Somatic practices, psychoeducation, self-reflection, and peer discussions, this group therapy is held in a non-judgmental and supportive setting.
Learn how to shift fearing your anxiety to befriending it and no longer living in fear of it.
Weekly Themes:
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Understand Your Anxiety
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Identify Triggers and Impacts
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Connect to Mind & Body
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Shift Your Relationship with Anxiety
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Find Your Warrior
