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Subtle Yoga Teacher Training for Behavioral Health Professionals

The next program begins August 23, 2012 at MAHEC in Asheville

In this groundbreaking yoga training, mental health and substance abuse treatment professionals will learn skills and techniques to help your clients improve their lives through the timeless benefits of yoga.

With Ashley Lester, RYT200, LCSW

Learning and practicing new ways to engage and support recovery is paramount in the behavioral health field as approximately half of the people with mental health diagnoses currently go without specialized services. “Too many Americans are not getting the help they need and opportunities to present and intervene early are being missed,” states Pamela S. Hyde, J.D. from the SAMHSA.

To address the need for accessible and effective treatment there is a current paradigm shift towards integrated care that is client centered and holistic. Senate hearings and the Institute of Medicine suggest that the future of cost-effective behavioral health service delivery is integrative – “patient-centered care which focuses on healing the whole person – mind, body and spirit in the context of community.” As the need and demand for accessible and affordable integrated behavioral health increases, behavioral health providers will need to include holistic and body centered interventions into practice.

Yoga, an ancient health science and system, can be used in a prevention and treatment context to bring physical, mental/emotional and spiritual balance. Research shows positive effects with cancer, depression and anxiety treatment. A recent study from Boston University School of Medicine found yoga to provide a more positive effect on mood and anxiety than other forms of exercise.

The techniques used in this training series are simple and safe and have been used for centuries by people seeking health, mindfulness and balance. These techniques are somatically-oriented processes (postures, visualizations and breathing practices) and also include meditation, lifestyle assessment and modifications, and ethical thinking and decision making.

Yoga also offers a philosophical framework to better situate and understand behavioral health conditions from a holistic body and mind integrated approach. Participants will have the opportunity to learn how to integrate this ancient science into modern behavioral health and use safe and effective yoga with individual clients or groups as well as how to use the timeless techniques of yoga for self-care and self-actualization. This course qualifies participants to register as yoga teachers (RYT200) through the Yoga Alliance and also offers behavioral health CEUs.

Topics Covered

Over the course of this 10 weekend program, you will learn:

  • Asanas – safe, effective, alignment-based postures and movement practices
  • Other somatic practices – including breathing practices (pranayamas), visualizations (mudras and yoga nidra), and specific approaches to using yoga for specific challenges/conditions
  • Ethics – a universally-oriented decision making framework
  • Meditation – accessible techniques to help calm and focus the mind
  • Yoga interventions for specific issues – sequences and protocols for addressing specific challenges
  • Teaching Techniques – gain a solid foundation in how to teach yoga classes to various populations

Learning Objectives

  • Learn a range of behavioral health-oriented yoga postures and practices.
  • Learn how to teach these practices in a safe and effective manner to individuals and groups in different contexts.
  • Learn processes for increasing your self-reflective capacity.
  • Learn how to incorporate yoga into your professional practice.
  • Develop your own regular meditation and yoga practice.
  • Learn how incorporating yoga into your practice addresses the social forces affecting the future of behavioral health

Improve Your Professional Practice

Yoga can help your clients:

  • Decrease physical pain and discomfort
  • Improve affect regulation
  • Improve self-awareness
  • Improve body/mind integration
  • Gain deeper purpose/meaning in life

Yoga can improve the quality of care you offer by helping you:

  • Become more mindful
  • Become more present with yourself and your clients
  • Become more relaxed and focused for clients and co-workers
  • Become more attuned to your “witnessing consciousness”

Yoga can help support clinician self-care by:

  • Clearing space/energy after client leaves, before your next session begins
  • Providing a self-care toolbox of centering and stress reducing techniques during and after your work day.

Ground Breaking Yoga Training

The Subtle Yoga RYT200 Training for Behavioral Health Professionals at MAHEC is unique in many ways. It is the first training program of its kind to be offered by a major continuing education provider for health professionals in the country. This program is a unique opportunity for sustained immersion in the ancient art-science of yoga which can lead to a deeper awareness of self and clients. Participants will gain the ability to teach safe and effective yoga. You will be instructed by Kristine Kaoverii Weber and Ashley Lester, RYT200, LCSW and our faculty of yoga and behavioral health experts including: Beka Hedly, RN, RYT200, Linda Cammarata, RN, RYT and Larry Cammarata, PhD. and Brian Lewis, MD.

Registration with Yoga Alliance

This program fulfills the Yoga Alliance standards for becoming a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) at the 200 hour level. This is the basic level of training required by Yoga Alliance and garners an RYT200 qualification. There are 10 weekend sessions. Please be sure that you can attend all sessions (see Requirements for Certification below). You will be required to commit to a daily meditation and asana practice. There will also be reading and homework. It is important to consider the amount of time you have to dedicate to this program; the deeper the commitment the more you will learn and achieve.

2012-2013 Schedule

The program will be offered in three, seven day intensive modules. Here are the dates.

1. August 23-29

2. October 17-24

3. January 23-30, 2013

To apply, please contact MAHEC.

Reading List

Required: • The Anatomy Coloring Book – Wynn Kapit, Lawrence M. Elson. Any edition is fine.

• Chakras: Energy Centers of Transformation – Harish Johari. Johari mostly draws from the traditional texts, The Serpent Power and The Great Liberation (the most authentic descriptions of the traditional tantric chakra system).

• Freedom from Addiction: The Chopra Center Methods for Overcoming Destructive Habits – David Simon, MD and Deepak Chopra, MD. Combines yogic and ayurvedic techniques.

• The Secret Power of Yoga – Nischala Joy Devi or a preferred translation of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.

• Yoga as Medicine – Timothy McCall. This is an excellent resource guide.

• The Yoga Tradition: Its History, Literature, Philosophy and Practice – Georg Feuerstein, et al. An important reference for yoga philosophy, history, practice.

 

Further Reading/Resource List:

• 30 Essential Yoga Poses – Judith Lasater. A great primer for asanas.

• Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha - Swami Satyananda Saraswati. An excellent reference for therapeutic application of these four practices in the tradition of Sivananda from the highly regarded Bihar School of Yoga.

• The Bhagavad Gita: The Beloved Lord’s Secret Love Song – Graham M. Schweig. It was a toss-up between this and Miller’s translation and Miller won. If you love the Gita, you will love this book also.

• Emotional Yoga: How the body can heal the mind – Bija Bennett. An excellent viniyoga resource. Accessible with great short practices.

•  Healing Depression the Mind-body Way – Nancy Leibler, PhD and Sanda Moss, MSPH. Excellent theory and methodology. It would be on the “required” list except that Weintraub’s has better research.

• Light on Yoga: The Bible of Modern Yoga – B. K. S. Iyengar, Yehudi Menuhin. A great asana reference.

• Overcoming Trauma Through Yoga: Reclaiming Your Body – David Emerson, Elizabeth Hopper Ph.D., Bessel van der Kolk M.D., and Peter A. Levine Ph.D. Here top scientists, yogis and somatic practitioners join forces to provide an excellent explanation of trauma and how yoga can heal.

• The Revolutionary Trauma Release Process – David Berceli, PhD. Very accessible information about trauma and a simple routine for releasing stress patterns.

• Scientific Keys Volume 1: The Key Muscles of Hatha Yoga – Ray Long. A bit pricey, but the illustrations are amazing. This is a fantastic anatomy resource.

• Yoga Anatomy – Leslie Kaminoff. Reasonably priced and full of very useful information.

• Yoga and the Quest for the True Self – Stephen Cope. One of the country’s foremost experts in yoga and psychology.

• Yoga: The Spirit And Practice Of Moving Into Stillness - Erich Schiffmann. Schiffmann’s relaxed approach to asanas practice is refreshing.

• The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: Commentary on the Raja Yoga Sutras – Sri Swami Satchidananda. A fun read on a subject that some find not so fun.

• Yoga for Depression – Amy Weintraub. Excellent source for research Yoga for Transformation – Gary Kraftsow. Deep and accessible information.

• Yoga for Wellness – Gary Kraftsow. An excellent Viniyoga resource.