Yoga for PTSD
iRest Yoga Nidra for Trauma
Molly Birkholm
There are many reasons iRest Yoga Nidra is being broadly used in communities with high rates of trauma, including the military, homeless, human trafficking survivors, refugees, hospitals, and first responder populations. Clinical research is providing valuable insights into how these practices can be highly effective with insomnia, chronic pain, depression, and anxiety.
iRest is a secular, trauma-sensitive form of Yoga Nidra guided meditation. Many elements of it can be used not just in the practice, but also in 1-on-1 private sessions and in daily life. The session will include a short opening iRest, a lecture and discussion on the essential elements of iRest Yoga Nidra, a 1-on-1 co-meditation experience, as well as a deep 1 hour iRest Yoga Nidra experience. (2 hours)
Taming the Komoto Dragon Within: When talking about a problem won’t work.
Find out more about the inner workings of the most primitive parts of our brains and how to remap this difficult to reach neural connections.
Suzanne Connolly LCSW
You actually have many brains in one and they all perform different duties. While they all have important functions, there are primitive parts of the brain that sometimes outlive their usefulness. We usually think, for instance of Post Traumatic Stress as something that is deep-seated and resistant to change. Yet, when you understand how trauma is stored and how to connect with that part of the brain with mind-body approaches, the road to recovery is often surprisingly easy. (60 minutes)
Tapping: An Introduction to Thought Field Therapy
Suzanne Connolly, LSCW
Enhance your Yoga Sessions using Tapping: An Introduction to Thought Field Therapy, the evidence based original tapping technique that is changing the world one heart at a time. Learn the basics of Thought Field Therapy, a proven, highly-effective, non-invasive brief therapy technique that was developed and refined over the last 35 years by the late psychologist, Dr. Roger Callahan and his wife Joanne Callahan. TFT utilizes a sequence of self?tapping to stimulate specific acupuncture points while recalling a traumatic event or cue. It facilitates the relaxation response while the person experiencing exposure to the problem by simply thinking about the problem. The improvement is almost always relatively quick and, in most cases, long-lasting. The National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP) a searchable online database of mental health and substance abuse interventions (a service of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Agency (SAMHSA) within the federal Department of Health and Human Service) has listed Thought Field Therapy as an effective evidence-based practice for improving personal resilience/self-concept, for improving self-regulation, and for reducing trauma-and stressor-related disorders and symptoms. They have also listed Thought Field Therapy as promising, for reducing depression and depressive symptoms; for improving general functioning and wellbeing; for reducing phobia, panic, and generalized anxiety disorders and symptoms; and for reducing unspecified and other mental health disorders and symptoms. https://nrepp.samhsa.gov/ProgramProfile.aspx?id=60#hide1
FOR PROFESSIONALS: As a therapist or health practitioner, you’ll invite your client to identify a problematic thought or memory that they wish to heal. This could be an anxiety, a past trauma, anger, feelings of guilt, shame or embarrassment, addictive urges, or even physical pain. Then, typically, they’ll watch that disturbance, addictive urges or pain diminish as you instruct them to tap on certain areas of the face and hands in a specific order. Even the most skeptical clients usually report that TFT reduces the intensity of their unwanted feelings. While no therapist can offer a guarantee; clients typically cannot get back the original feeling of upset, even if they try. Addictive urges and physical pain require the person to self?treat between appointments. Thousands of psychotherapists, medical doctors, nurses and others in the caring professions around the world use Thought Field Therapy as a complimentary alternative technique to help others in need.
FOR YOGA Professionals: TFT can help your clients release the unwanted feelings, negative patterns and emotional burdens that they carry with themselves day to day. It’s a simple tapping technique that they can use anywhere, anytime, whenever they need to. While the process is simple, their body and their mind will work together in a highly sophisticated way to eradicate the core of the feelings that get in the way of living a full, rich and satisfying life. Traumas, guilt, fears, shame, anxiety and depression are a few of the most common reasons people use TFT. Numerous scientific studies have proven its effectiveness around the globe. Whether you want to use TFT for yourself or you want to integrate it into your yoga practice you will take away a tool that will likely have life to change effects.
(2 hours)
Myofascial Release, Taking Yoga Healing to the Next Dimension
Lori Zeltwanger
Myofascial Release & yoga are both powerful avenues for realignment and activation of your fascial system. Myofascial Release utilizes a gentle hands on pressure into tissue restrictions and facilitates unwinding of those restrictions in a way that enhances the premise of adjustments and takes people deeper into the healing aspects of their yoga practice. Myofascial unwinding is a dynamic movement which enhances your mind body connection and facilitates listening from the inside out. This activates your body’s inner wisdom to emerge. (2 hours)
Heart of Yoga: The Promise of Healing
Mark Whitwell
THE HEART OF YOGA PEACE PROJECT IS DEDICATED TO DEVELOPING YOGA COMMUNITIES IN TROUBLED AREAS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. WE USE YOGA AS A COMMON, NON-RELIGIOUS PRACTICE TO CULTIVATE AWARENESS AROUND THE UNIFYING PRINCIPLE OF PEACE.
Our aim is to support communities in active conflict zones by teaching aspiring yoga teachers the heart of yoga. We believe that even in stressful environments, daily yoga practice enhances overall well-being. Whether practiced in the first or third world, the principles of yoga enhance the quality of life in Everyone. It is our mission to bring yoga to those who need it the most.
The Heart of Yoga Peace Project is dedicated to:
- Helping communities suffering from political and social unrest
- Providing yoga education to members of these communities
- Supporting the development of daily, personal practice
- Training teachers in afflicted areas how to teach yoga in their community
- Supporting peace in the world
STUDENTS WHO TAKE THE TRAINING LEARN:
- How to integrate body, breath and movement into a seamless process
- How to practice and teach the principles of the Heart of Yoga
- How to develop their own daily, personal yoga practice
- How to adapt yoga to individual needs, health, age and cultural backgrounds
- How to bring the principles of yoga into everyday life
(3 hours)
#unstoppable Trauma Sensitive Training – Yoga Tools & Practices
Gina Garcia & Melissa Leach
We all come from different walks of life and along the way we all experience trauma and challenges. With the #unstoppable tool kit and training you will learn how to be resilient and unstoppable when you encounter challenges or perceived setbacks.
This training showcases how to use the #unstoppable toolkit which is rooted in the Baptiste Methodology. The tools include asana, meditation, breathing techniques, relaxation techniques and self inquiry and how you use them to be more resilient and unstoppable. Through an embodied experience of these tools in your own practice and in your life, you will learn how to share these tools with others. (2 hours)
Trauma in the Second Degree Intergenerational PTSD in Military Families and Veterans
Pamela Stokes Eggleston
Yoga and meditation offers several practices for healing and transformation. With military and veteran families, these tools can uniquely aid in easing stress, burnout and fatigue. Additionally, understanding the nuances of secondary PTSD and intergenerational trauma is important to working with veteran and military families. Many military and veteran families are depleted due to multiple deployments and PCS moves. In this workshop, Pam will speak to her experience as a military family member and wounded warrior caregiver and weave it in with the science backing secondary and intergenerational PTSD. (90 minutes)
Breathing Through Emotions
Essie Titus
Breathing Through Emotions Session: This session will include multiple breathing techniques coincided with mindful movement. Encouraging participant to establish a daily routine of breath awareness and turning toward balance. We will identify specific coping mechanisms and the potential to disassociate that create obstacles on our path. Often times we lack the dialogue and tools to fully express ourselves. Specific practice for specific feelings such as anger, grief, sadness, fear, anxiety, and depression. This session has been designed to support a routine of asana, pranayama, systematic relaxation, mantra, and meditation for an internal feeling of comfort and safety regardless of external circumstances. (90 minutes)
Serving Yourself & Serving Others
Gina Garcia & Melissa Leach
When we talk about serving others, we rarely talk about serving ourselves. We teach, we reach out, we share, we give, we serve and yet we don’t make it a priority to take care of ourselves.
This workshop is one of the most important elements to doing this service work. Because when we serve ourselves, we serve others. You’ll learn tools and practices to keep you inspired and energized in your journey of teaching. No more burn out and fatigue. It’s time to take a new approach and prepare yourself for doing this work for a life time. (2 hours)
Last years training available as a digital conference at Yoga International
Yoga for PTSD
