About

As an Integrated Yoga Educator and Therapist, I have been focusing on wellbeing for over 30 years.

Meet Jo-Ann D’Alfonso

Certified Yoga Therapist

Meet Jo-Ann D’Alfonso, Certified Yoga Therapist

Jo-Ann is a bilingual (French/English) Yoga Therapist / Educator and certified Positive Psychology for WholeBeing practitioner, as well as an IEMT practitioner (Integrative Eye Movement Therapy). She is founder and owner of ottawayogatherapies.com

Jo-Ann’s special interest is in WholeBeing perspective assisting individuals reach their vision for healthy happy living, be it physical, emotional or mental. Her approach is to use physical movement and the philosophy of yoga, mindfulness, meditation, breathing, and relaxation to help relieve pain and suffering, soothe the nervous system, to support the individuals move towards their vision and expression of quality living. This approach is rooted in the systematic treatment of yoga teachings, and her deep respect for the intelligence of the whole-person connection and the human capacity for inner guidance for re-aligning with joy and ease into our daily lives. She encourages the client to take an active role in their healing process.

Jo-Ann’s ongoing education helps her deliver new advanced practices to assist her clients towards a greater quality of daily living. She has more than twenty years of yoga practice and is certified with the International Association of Yoga Therapists, and is registered with the RITMA Association ( Interveners and Therapists Group in Alternative and Complementary Medicine) and can provide receipts for most insurance companies.

The focus of each Yoga Therapy session is less on striving to resolve pain and suffering, and more on learning to direct attention within, so as to access the body’s intrinsic wisdom and move towards well-being. Jo-Ann’s sessions are all provided one to one in a private room setting.

Jo-Ann brings to her work as teacher and guide, an energetic and uplifting style, personal conviction, passion and an easy way of communicating with clients.

 

“Fully Integrated Educators: The artistry of a yoga educator draws from the wisdom of one’s own inner being to continually engage students in learning, to inspire them to persist in following their own inner wisdom. Yoga educators grow into the ability to transfer their own personal passion for yoga to the student’s learning. The art of education is to draw out the very best from learners, to encourage them to explore what interests them, and to instill this fascination with their inner being so they continue to do so for the rest of their time on this planet. The fully integrated yoga educator can provide all of these levels of learning.”
— Don Stapleton, Director and Co-Founder of the school of Self-Awakening Yoga

Benefits of Yoga Therapy

Although Yoga Therapy can be applied in most conditions or disease, to support everyone in uplifting their quality of life, Jo-Ann’s area of expertise are:

Pain care

Stress regulation

Anxiety / Depression management

PTSD / Trauma credited

Brain injury

Lifestyle management

General feeling of burn-out

Yoga movement and body awareness integration

Ayurveda lifestyle consultant

Meditation - Mindfulness

Breathing practices and regulating the nervous system

Yoga Nidra - called yogic sleep /relaxation

Certified in Positive Psychology for WholeBeing

Pranassage (body work)

Please note that some extended health insurance companies provide coverage for yoga therapy under Naturotherapy or Alternative Medicine.

Certifications

I have continued my practice as a certified yoga teacher E-500CYT and study to become a certified Yoga Therapist. My studies have been inspired by esteemed teachers, including Don (Brahmanand) and Amba Stapleton, Steven Cope, Jody Myer, Doug Keller, Todd Norian, Jnani Chapman, Yoganan and Michael Carroll, Amy Weintraub, Shiva Rae, Bo Forbes, Bessel van der Kolk, Gabor Mate, and many more.

  • Certified Yoga Therapist - registered with the International Association of Yoga Therapists (C-IAYT)

  • Certified Pain Care Aware Practitioner - Pain Care U

  • Certified in the Healing of Trauma - Bessel van der Kolk training program

  • Certified IEMT Practitioner - Integrative Eye movement therapy institute

  • Certified LifeForce Yoga® Practitioner Training for Depression and Anxiety

  • Certified in Positive Psychology for WholeBeing, the WholeBeing Institute

  • Yoga Educator/Therapist Training for Master Certification, The Nosara Yoga Institute

  • Certified Pranayama (advanced) breathing

  • Integrative health therapy - Heaven Institute

  • Self-Awakening Yoga (mind-body somatic energetic practice)

  • Pranassage (energy bodywork)

  • Postural analysis and structural alignment

  • Yoga Lifestyle Coaching - Patanjali’s principles of the 8 limbs of yoga

  • Certified Kripalu Yoga Teacher and Nosara Yoga Institute Educator - with more than 20 years of yoga practice

What People Are Saying

 

“Jo-Ann has helped me learn so much about myself and how I fit into this world. She teaches in a way that listens to the mind, body, and spirit. Her energy is bright and vibrant, and I always leave feeling so refreshed and anew. I have been trying to incorporate meditation practices into my day with minor success for several years. Since seeing her I have learned why and am now successfully keeping a more regulated practice. Her practice is helping me reframe chronic pain and how I perceive life events. I am so thrilled that I have found Jo-Ann, and highly recommend her practice!”

— September 1, 2021

“Jo-Ann is real and down to earth as she shares her knowledge and experience as applicable. This is the second time I work with her. I believe for her, teaching/coaching is not about her but about how the subject matter relates to each student/ learner individually. ”

— Anne HK, October 2020

“Thank you so much for a wonderful session, very instructive, I have felt uplifted since with this widening of my perspective on how I am approaching my issues. I will be promoting you to my clients, my yoga students and the other Neurologic people.”

— Marcia Bamber, physiotherapist, Ottawa, May 2020

“I didn’t know what to expect going into yoga therapy but it was well beyond what I imagined it could be. She really is a life coach and integrates that into the practice. I have learned so much from her on how to listen to my own body and how to perceive life events. She has helped my anxiety immensely and am so happy our paths have crossed.”

— T. Scott, August 2021

“Jo-Ann is a very down to earth educator and has helped me to keep learning to have a better balance in my life, with the yoga and many tidbits of useful insights that help reduce stress and make room for more joy. Thank you!”

— Cindy Simpson, October 2020

“This is to send you my sincere gratitude for your amazing healing therapy. You brought me back to live physically, mentally and emotionally. There is not a day I am grateful to you. Yoga therapy is an amazing healing therapy which I never knew about and I m a changed person today. Being born as a Buddhist and practicing Buddhism became much more mindful through your guildance about meditation and breathing techniques. I m healthy and will be thanks you . May your healing power touch many more and wish you nothing but good health and happiness. Thank you.”

— Madhavi Wijekoon August 2020