LA Yoga. Teacher Profile. Bea Ammidown

:: March/April 2005 Volume 4/Number 2

Teacher Profile: Bea Ammindown

How healing came to Bea

By Marie Black

Bea Ammidown's eyes sparkle as she welcomes me with a hug into her home. Once she's seen that my shoes are removed, she dips into the kitchen to make my tulsi tea. "A mainstay during my recent studies in Ayurvedic medicine,” she says.

Bea looks me straight in the eye, almost alarmingly so, while her voluptuous breaths remind me to breathe. Though nearly age 67, she looks and moves more nimbly than many people half her age. This in spite of a head-on collision in 1985 that broke her legs, several ribs and collapsed both lungs, leaving her with one leg shorter than the other and a permanent injury to her left foot.

As we talk further, Bea's history reveals itself to be a rich one. A mother of three, including actresses Penelope Ann and Marisa Miller, Bea started studying and practicing yoga in the 1960's while working as a journalist at some of the nation's most respected publications: Harper's Bazaar, Life magazine and The Los Angeles Times. But it was not until the accident—one that killed her fiancÈ and hospitalized Bea for three months—that she considered teaching.

Bea credits pranayama and mountain pose for saving her life. "When I couldn't move, I could still do yoga-pranayama. When I put my feet on the floor after three months, mountain pose helped me deal with the pain." While on a summer vacation that year, her sister-in-law asked her to teach the family some yoga. Bea obliged, showing them sun salutations, shoulder stands and pranayama.

Bea's specialty is yoga for clients with special needs and disabilities such as cerebral palsy, paraplegia or Down syndrome. Due to the needs of her clientele and her own practices of Viniyoga and Iyengar styles of yoga, Bea's classes and privates are personalized, slow and gentle. The Yogability Institute, a non-profit organization that Bea founded in 1984 is the organ of support for this work. Yogability and the money it raises allow Bea to teach clients with low-to-no income. With the sponsorship of AARP (American Association of Retired People), Bea also leads 48-Hour Caregiver Retreats to teach yoga to caregivers of special needs patients. The caregivers, many of whom Bea says are older and heavy-set, are inspired rather than intimidated by Bea, who jokes, "I think my age helps-that I have a belly, I have wrinkles...it's very real."

Bea is also a yoga therapist trained in the Phoenix Rising technique. The process is a one-on-one practice that combines classic yoga techniques, body-mind psychology and non-threatening dialogue to induce self-awareness and healing. At the beginning of each therapy session, the student either sets an intension for the practice or brings in a "problem" to work through during the session. Bea then selects postures to fit the intention or problem and supports the student in each posture. She then asks the student, "What's happening now?" At the end of the practice, Bea helps students review their experience and encourages them to go to their center and listen for guidance to integrate what they learn into their everyday lives.

This passion for learning and teaching continues to fuel Bea. "Spreading the wealth of knowledge that I've learned... makes yoga so special for me." Future projects include a DVD targeted specifically towards students with special needs and their caregivers.
Through her commitment to her clients and healing Bea reminds us of the value of service, both to the self and for others.

Bea Ammidown can be reached at www.yogability.org.

Marie Black is a free-lance writer living in Los Angeles