Archive SYF2019 SYF Gives Back Teacher Training

Sedona, Arizona USA

SYF Gives Back is something we’ve been doing from the start. Utilizing this event as platform to serve and in our case, we’ve been offering some form of trauma informed yoga training at SYF since the beginning. We have trained hundreds of yoga teachers and brought awareness to the devastating effects of Post Traumatic Stress in our communities across the country. We’ve called this program all sorts of things from Yoga for Veterans and Yoga for First Responders to Yoga for PTSD, with one simple aim: Provide the tools to alleviate the effects of trauma, of suffering. A trauma sensitive yoga training takes into account the specific aspects of traditional yoga practices that ameliorate the effects of trauma and stress on the human nervous system. Yoga is and has always been the healing balm to soothe the injured human nervous system, ergo a Yoga for PTSD training, a trauma sensitive yoga training, trauma informed yoga training… Call it what you will, we know what outcomes have emerged from this training. We know that by training hundreds we have impacted thousands. This year we are going back to our roots, quite literally… as it was the Mindful Yoga Therapy team who were key members of the first cadre we put together for Mindful Therapeutic Yoga Practices for Veterans.

Heather and I are pleased to announce that the SYF Gives Back Program this year, true to the theme Traumatic Stress: Resiliency & Healing with Yoga, is…

Mindful Yoga Therapy is an Embodyoga® based, empirically informed, clinically tested program comprised of five practices: Pranayama (breathing), Asana (postures connected with breath), Yoga Nidra, Meditation, and Gratitude. Each practice is a tool that can be used to cope with Post Traumatic Stress, and together, they form a comprehensive system—a toolbox—that will carry a trauma survivor into a life of strength and resilience.

Founder & Director

Suzanne has studied extensively with Beryl Bender Birch at The Hard and The Soft Yoga Institute and also with Patty Townsend in the Embodyoga Teacher Training programs at Yoga Center Amherst. She is now on faculty at both schools where she teaches in both teacher training programs, and is the Director at Mindful Yoga Center and it’s teacher trainings.

At the Himalayan Institute, Suzanne completed the year long Living Tantra program and the Sage Program taught by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait.

For at least a decade, Suzanne has worked with veterans who suffer with PTS. This work led her to study and learn the practical aspects of what benefits Veterans in a yoga program receive. Her experiences along the way have taught her that teachers require additional training tailored to the specific needs of Veterans.

Suzanne co-authored a book, the Mindful Yoga Therapy Practice Guide. She also produced two CDs—Yoga Nidra by Suzanne Manafort and “Breathe In Breathe Out”, a group of short breathing practices designed for Veterans with PTS.

Suzanne is on the Board of Directors of the Give Back Yoga Foundation. In 2009, she was designated a Wells Fargo Second Half Champion for her work with Veterans.

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serving her family with Yoga, every day.
Photographed by Robert Sturman

Sedona, Arizona

Founder & Director

Suzanne has studied extensively with Beryl Bender Birch at The Hard and The Soft Yoga Institute and also with Patty Townsend in the Embodyoga Teacher Training programs at Yoga Center Amherst. She is now on faculty at both schools where she teaches in both teacher training programs, and is the Director at Mindful Yoga Center and it’s teacher trainings.

At the Himalayan Institute, Suzanne completed the year long Living Tantra program and the Sage Program taught by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait.

For at least a decade, Suzanne has worked with veterans who suffer with PTS. This work led her to study and learn the practical aspects of what benefits Veterans in a yoga program receive. Her experiences along the way have taught her that teachers require additional training tailored to the specific needs of Veterans.

Suzanne co-authored a book, the Mindful Yoga Therapy Practice Guide. She also produced two CDs—Yoga Nidra by Suzanne Manafort and “Breathe In Breathe Out”, a group of short breathing practices designed for Veterans with PTS.

Suzanne is on the Board of Directors of the Give Back Yoga Foundation. In 2009, she was designated a Wells Fargo Second Half Champion for her work with Veterans.

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March 14 – 17th, 2019

Thursday 8am – 5pm

• Opening Circle
• The Tool Box – A complete holistic and embodied program
• Why Yoga for PTSD?
• The Guiding Principles to Mindful Yoga Therapy
• Mindful Yoga Therapy Asana Class and its Adaptations
• Hyperarousal, PTSD and MYT the nervous system
• Yoga Nidra

Friday 8am – 12pm

• Mindful Yoga Therapy’s 4 Breathing Practices

Saturday 8am – 12pm

• Mindful Yoga Therapy Meditation Class

Sunday 8am – 12pm

• The full “Tool Box” as a practice.
• 12-Week protocol
• How to bring this into the world

For many of us, the practices of yoga have changed our lives. That statement may seem dramatic, but it’s true. These practices teach us to turn inward, to pay attention, and to notice without judgment. They enable us to find balance in our bodies and minds, as well as develop our overall well-being. Because of those benefits, yoga is an invaluable asset for veterans who are coping with trauma-related psychological difficulties.Yoga practices are a powerful complement to professional treatment for Post Traumatic Stress. A mindful, embodied yoga practice can provide relief from symptoms and develop the supportive skills that veterans need in their everyday lives. Yoga does not cure Post Traumatic Stress, but it has proven to aid in a veteran’s healing journey.Mindful Yoga Therapy is an Embodyoga® based, empirically informed, clinically tested program comprised of five practices: Pranayama (breathing), Asana (postures connected with breath), Yoga Nidra, Meditation, and Gratitude. Each practice is a tool veterans can use to cope with Post Traumatic Stress, and together, they form a comprehensive system—a toolbox—that will carry veterans into a life of strength and resilience.The healing effects of these ancient yogic practices have begun to receive recognition from modern scientists. Research has discovered and validated what the yogis have known for centuries: yoga is one of the most effective ways to encourage and stimulate the healing process.Clinical trials have demonstrated that even the best yoga teachers need to acquire a specific set of skills and considerations to work in trauma recovery programs. This 15-hour training program is for 200-hour certified yoga teachers. Mindful Yoga Center also offers 200-hour teacher training.

Sedona, Arizona

For the sixth year in a row SYF, a consciousness evolution conference aims to assist yoga teachers, service providers and others in bringing the tools and benefits provided in a trauma informed yoga training to populations affected by PTSD, TBI, and other stress related illnesses. Early on we focused on ‘yoga for’ specific populations, Yoga For Veterans and Yoga For First Responders, before we concluded that ultimately, Yoga, as it comes to us from the traditions, is and has always been the healing balm to soothe the injured human nervous system, ergo a Yoga for PTSD training… Trauma sensitive yoga training at SYF brings awareness to specific aspects of Yoga that are especially beneficial to Trauma Survivors. Click the buttons below to see past curriculum and faculty.

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SYF Gives Back Faculty and Alumni, Essie Titus… serving her family with Yoga, every day. Photographed by Robert Sturman

Yoga for PTSD

trauma informed yoga training
trauma sensitive yoga training

yoga for ptsd. works… period. yoga for ptsd. works… period. yoga for ptsd. works…period. Yoga for PTSD. Works… Period.

by Marc Titus | January 18, 2016 | Sedona Yoga, Trauma Sensitive Yoga, Yoga Conference, Yoga Festival, Yoga Festival Experience, Yoga Pre-Conference | 0 Comments

LoveYourBrain yoga has been the single most positive experience that I’ve had during my recovery. I’ve been through over nine concussions and never found something that I could do to make myself feel better besides waiting it out and weathering the...

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“Yoga has been yoga since the beginning… when one looks closely at the ancient texts and the modern experience, nothing has changed really. We are still allowing the mind to rule, we lack discipline here. This is where yoga can help! A definition of Yoga is stilling the fluctuations of the mind; our thoughts. What we advocate in this training and aim to provide are traditional yoga practices that ameliorate the effects of trauma, stress and post-traumatic stress.

The notion of a trauma sensitive yoga training or a trauma informed yoga training, then is true in every sense of the wording! However, it has always been this way, not some recent discovery or buzzword… Yoga has always been the healing balm for the out of balance nervous system. That’s what practicing it does. Balance the autonomic nervous system.

Modern western yoga, tends to emphasize the physical aspects of Yoga, mainly the postures, or asana. These are good practices and when utilized properly can be phenomenally healing to an overactive, traumatized nervous system.

The wrong practices at the wrong times, however can have the opposite effect and amplify the nervous system… Face Palm! I didn’t catch on to that for quite some time and more difficult it made it! The most important thing I emphasize at this trauma informed yoga training is just that… We consider trauma and its effects on the nervous system; it is the primary perspective.

I suppose I prefer trauma informed over trauma sensitive yoga training. Perhaps as a society we have actually become too sensitive, giving too much power to those pesky thoughts, feelings and emotions… ya know the vrittis, fluctuations of the mind and all… 😉

This Yoga for PTSD Training will prepare you to be trauma informed with proven effective tools, techniques and practices that can change a life… For the Better.

Thanks for your interest!

Marc Titus

SYF Founder

PTSD Survivor

@cedarmesa

trauma informed yoga training trauma sensitive yoga training trauma informed yoga training trauma sensitive yoga training

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