Mindfulness + Meditation + Yoga

Neuroscience is now validating what meditators and yogis have known for centuries.  Mindfulness, meditation, and yoga are powerful tools to use in mental health and clinical settings to help clients learn to regulate their moods. 

As a therapist or mental health professional, you may be interested in learning to use the evidence based practices of mindfulness, meditation, and yoga practices in your clinical setting and interactions with clients. 

I am a Certified LifeForce Yoga Practitioner with a specialization in Trauma, trained in Mindfully Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), as well as having studied + takent in depth workshops with Amy Weintraub,  Pema Chodron, Dan Seigel, Jack Kornfield, and other teachers and experts  in our field. 

Through our consultation, mentoring and our work  together, we can explore how mindfulness, meditation and yoga can be helpful in your work with clients.

We will outline recent findings in neuroscience and tie them to attachment and interpersonal theories in order to support the use of these transformative mind / body / spirit approaches to therapy.  With an integration of teaching and experiential exercises, utilizing the wisdom traditions of LifeForce Yoga teachings, Buddhist psychology, and yogic philosophy integrated with western neuroscience to ground the practices, you will learn how, when and why to use these mind / body / heart approaches in your  clinical setting.

This learning will include:

• Evidence-based, easy-to-introduce strategies for managing anxiety, depression, addiction and trauma. 
• Helpful clinical insights and case examples
• Outlining how to emphasize safety, trust, and skillful adaptation to the individual, making it easy to apply the wisdom of yoga effectively in the therapeutic context.
• Teachings on the neuroscience, attachment theories, interpersonal psychology and Buddhist psychology to ground the practices and create a container for healing 
• Various meditations from both the yoga and Buddhist traditions
• Lifeforce Yoga teachings (yoga for mood management) 
• Restorative and yin yoga poses
• The therapeutic use of sound

Mindfulness: 

"Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: On purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally."    Jon Kabat-Zinn

Mindfulness is a way in which we practice seeing and being in the world at any time, anywhere.  We can explore how to use mindfulness in your every day life, as well as deepening compassionate presence for yourself and others. 

Meditation:

This is considered a more formal practice.   It is the practice of moving your attention away from distracting thoughts and focusing on the present moment.

 It involved sitting on the meditation cushion with guided practices combining

Yoga

Yoga includes breathwork to regulate mood (pranyana), use of hands for regulation (mudra), sound, intention setting, and basic body postures to use in the office. 

You will learn to apply these techniques to empower clients to self regulate, and increase feelings of self efficacy and control. 

You do not need to use a mat or be a registered yoga teacher to use these practices in the clinical setting. 

All of these can be done in the chair or from the couch.