THE COURSE

THE COURSE

Experience a metamorphosis. Our first course is live now.

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Introducing your instructor: Dr. Stephanie Arel

I'm the creator of Vana Growth and Vana Fit, collaborating with people you will meet here. I teach at Fordham University in New York City where I also have a practice in Rehabilitation and Somatic Experiencing.

In my extensive work with individuals, groups, and organizations, I bring a refreshing and skilled approach to trauma care in a holistic perspective integrating body, mind, and spirit.

My commitment is to bring awareness to both trauma and bodily movement in an attempt to mend the two for those trying to find peace.

FAQs

  • This course is designed for anyone who wants to understand the psoas complex on a deeper level.

    It’s ideal for:

    • Individuals noticing tension in their hips, pelvis, low back, or ankles

    • Athletes, dancers, yogis, runners, and more

    • Professionals: trainers, coaches, clinicians, therapists, and bodyworkers who want a trauma-informed framework for understanding movement

    • Anyone curious about how trauma, spirituality, and the body intersect through one core muscle group

  • By the end, you will:

    • Understand the psoas complex as a living system not just a hip flexor

    • Recognize how trauma, stress, and chronic tension show up in the pelvis and core

    • Learn how lengthening the psoas can change gait, posture, balance, emotional regulation, and digestive balance

    • Learn your own patterns of bracing, tightening, or collapsing and how to shift them

    • Build a personal practice to support strength and a healthier worldview

    • Access video demonstrations, guided reflections, and reflection prompts that help you apply what you learn immediately

    This course is meant to transform the way you understand your body and the way you move through the world.

  • The course includes:

    • 1.5 hours of video and audio content

    • A set of PDF guides, movement prompts, and journal reflections

    • Integration practices you can use daily or weekly

    You can move at your own pace. Many complete the course over a weekend; others build it into a weekly practice that extends through one month of practice.

  • Absolutely.


    If you work with any population experiencing physical or emotional stress—athletes, clients in chronic pain, clients with trauma histories, postpartum clients, adaptive athletes, CrossFitters—this course gives you a framework to see the why beneath movement patterns.

    It teaches you how the nervous system influences posture, breath, pelvic stability, and performance, helping you coach more safely, effectively, and with deeper insight.

  • Not for this version of the course.


    However:

    In January, a new course option will be available that will include the required CEUs for NASM and AFAA.

    If you want to be notified when CEU enrollment opens, you can join the waitlist inside the course portal.

  • The course is accessible and adaptable.


    All movements can be modified. Many people with hip, low-back, pelvic floor, or core injuries find this course supportive because it emphasizes length, stability, and nervous-system regulation rather than force, intensity, or stretch.

  • Just:

    • A small amount of space

    • A pillow and a couch (or a weight bench)

    • A step

    • Access to a treadmill and an exercise ball for one of the prescribed workouts.

    Most movements are simple and designed to be done at home.

  • Most participants report:

    • More freedom through the front body

    • Less gripping or bracing

    • Improved gait and balance

    • Greater mental clarity and ease throughout the body

    • Better performance in daily movement (walking, running, climbing stairs)

    • And a sense of “inner spaciousness” that’s hard to describe but unmistakable

    The work is subtle, but the results accumulate.