Beloved Yoga Interfaith Healing and Art Circle

Interfaith Healing and Art Circle

You're warmly invited to our upcoming Interfaith Healing & Art Circle, a soul-nourishing gathering hosted by Beloved Yoga in collaboration with the Interfaith Council of Metropolitan Washington (IFC) and the Ovissi Foundation.

This month’s sacred theme:
Belonging & Exclusion: Finding and Creating Communities of Care

Together, we’ll explore what it means to feel truly seen and supported—through heartfelt conversation, creative expression, and communal healing.

What to Expect:

• A meaningful opening dialogue between Dr. Sousan Abadian and Maryam Ovissi

• Small group conversations with gentle prompts and objects for reflection

• A guided art-based healing experience (no prior art experience needed!)

• A healing tea bar to sip and settle the spirit

• Closing reflections and optional sharing

Maryam Ovissi

Maryam Ovissi, Trauma-Informed Yoga Therapist & Yoga Teacher

C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, RCYT, RPYT, YACEP

"Yoga is a proven system and philosophy that provides tools for the individual to develop a self-care routine that meets them where they are. As a teacher, I am only the guide.”

~Maryam Ovissi

This philosophy is the foundation of Maryam Ovissi’s approach to wellbeing and has guided her through more than two decades of work in the yoga and health industry. Maryam is the founder of Beloved Yoga, a studio and wellness center operating in Northern Virginia since 2005. Her vision for making Yoga accessible for all came to fruition in February 2018, with the opening of the flagship location of Beloved Yoga: A Sanctuary for All, a serene, safe, multi-studio space in Reston, Virginia. Maryam’s passion for sharing the original teachings of Yoga with reverence, integrity and accessibility for all is what motivates her to be of service to the Yoga commUnity.

Maryam is a certified Yoga Therapist with the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) and under the tutelage of Bhekaji Lynch, she received her 500-hour Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT) accreditation with Yoga Alliance. Maryam’s personal mission as a teacher of Yoga is to provide an opportunity for her students to have access to tools that allow self-healing, self-empowerment and self-realization. Her unique style provides space for multi-level practitioners to journey through Yoga in group, semi-private and private classes. In her private Yoga teaching, Yogic tools are offered that serve the person and their personal intentions.

“Transforming trauma into teachers is one of the greatest secrets for discovering peace and happiness in this life. In my opinion, Yoga is one of the most effective tools to support this transformation. “ ~Maryam Ovissi

Moved by the declining mental and physical health statistics of Americans today, Maryam created Beloved Yoga’s signature Befriending Yoga Therapy program to offer classes that serve a range of clients and a variety of health conditions. Trauma-informed teachers offer private and semi-private classes designed for a variety of health issues including lower back pain, hip and knee replacements, spinal fusions, invasive surgeries, traumatic physical injuries, chronic conditions, emotional stress and mental imbalances from cognitive to stress-induced confusion. Maryam’s specialties in trauma lie in her experience with medical trauma, including invasive surgeries, cancer and all the layers of treatment around cancer, as well as complex medical conditions that create medical trauma. Maryam co-developed Befriend the Journey with Cancer with Anu Kaur.

Maryam received a Master of Arts (M.A.) in Arts Management from Boston University in 1998, and soon thereafter she became an avid student of Yoga. She began studying privately with her first teacher, Simin Yahaghi, in California. Maryam has been teaching Hatha, Hatha Flow, Vinyasa, Prenatal and Baby & Me classes since 2001. She honors the lineage and teachings of Sri Krishnamacharya through her principle teachers, the Mohan Family. Maryam upholds the principle that the Yoga practice is a personal and individual journey and not a one-size-fits-all practice. Although A.G. & Indra Mohan, Dr. Ganesh Mohan, Bhekaji Lynch continue to serve as her main teachers, she claims nothing can replace the gifts and wisdom born forth by showing up for herself every day through Sadhana (personal practice). She stays committed to the path of the student.

Recognizing the need for teachers who offer safe instruction and instill the ancient teachings of Yoga, Maryam founded the Beloved Yoga School in 2008 to offer teacher training programs. Under the guidance of Maryam, the Beloved Yoga School offers Yoga Alliance registered trainings and Approved Professional Development programs by IAYT, including a 200-hour teacher training, a 300-hour advanced teacher training, a prenatal teacher training, and the Beloved Yoga Certification Program: Trauma-Informed Yoga, Pranayama & Yin. The Beloved Yoga School meets the standards set by Yoga Alliance and is a member school of the International Association of Yoga Therapists.

Maryam’s love expands to embrace the creative spirit. She serves on the board of the Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art and the Southgate Community Center and is on the Advisory Board of the Gender and Policy Center, George Mason University. Maryam makes time to explore creativity in her own life through writing poetry and mark making. She released Soundscapes to Contemplate, a compilation CD of her poetry set to conscious electronic mantra music by artist and producer Saeed Younan. In 2020, she published Care of the Whole Self: Yoga Inspired Tools to Befriend the Self. Visit her website to learn more: maryamovissi.com

Dr. Sousan Abadian

Scholar | Healer | Interfaith Leader

Dr. Sousan Abadian is an internationally recognized speaker, educator, and healing practitioner whose work sits at the intersection of leadership, cultural transformation, and spiritual renewal. Currently serving as Executive Director of the Interfaith Council of Metropolitan Washington, she has spent over two decades bringing people together across lines of faith, culture, and difference to support personal and collective healing.

A seasoned interfaith healer, Dr. Abadian designs and facilitates sacred spaces where participants can access inner sovereignty, ancestral wisdom, and deeper connection with the natural world. Her experiential circles and workshops—often grounded in story, ceremony, and somatic insight—have served global cohorts of psychotherapists, peacebuilders, faith leaders, and changemakers. Her trauma-informed and spiritually rooted approach draws from multiple wisdom traditions and decades of study, service, and embodied practice.

Dr. Abadian earned her Ph.D. in Political Economy and Government from Harvard University, along with advanced degrees in International Development and the Anthropology of Social Change. Her pioneering doctoral research on healing collective trauma in Indigenous communities was described by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen as “highly original.” A former Fulbright Scholar, she recently consulted with First Nations communities in Canada to help integrate Indigenous wisdom into educational curricula.

She is also a lifelong student and teacher of spiritual traditions. While Zoroastrian by heritage and recognized for her contributions to the renewal of that tradition, her path has been deeply ecumenical. Dr. Abadian has also practiced within Sufi, Jewish, and Christian contemplative streams, and has long cultivated interfaith understanding as both a spiritual commitment and a leadership practice. Her work is rooted in a belief that healing ourselves and healing the world are inseparable—and that every tradition holds sacred tools for our collective renewal.

Dr. Abadian is the author of Generative Cultural Renewal: An Effective Resource in Ending Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting & Other Harmful Practices and the unpublished memoir Free Me to Love, an intimate account of her own healing journey. After three decades in the Boston area, she now lives in Washington, D.C., continuing to cultivate work rooted in wholeness, justice, and reverence for the sacred in all things.

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