Advanced YTT: “Using Yoga Therapy as an Adjacent Therapy for Depression and Anxiety”
Advanced YTT: “Using Yoga Therapy as an Adjacent Therapy for Depression and Anxiety”
Modern lifestyles and stresses create issues, such as depression and anxiety. There is a way to help stave off these increasingly common imbalances with yoga.
Paired with western medicine and therapeutics, the yoga teacher (with proper advanced teacher training from a RYS-300 school) can work alongside health care professionals to alleviate the burdens of mental health disease.
Understanding Depression and Anxiety
Depression is described as a state of constant sadness and despair to the point of interfering with daily life. Overwhelming negative thoughts and self-loathing are frequent symptoms of depression.
Related to depression and malaise is anxiety, the brain that won't stop spinning. Anxious people experience nervousness, extreme unease, and sometimes bouts of panic attacks. Both conditions are associated with the mind, and both negatively affect the physical body via the nervous system.
The human nervous system is vast and complicated, and the autonomic nervous system (ANS) guides our organs and holistic systems to keep going without our direct influence. Within the ANS is the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), the portion of our body that creates the fight or flight response. Organs and muscles prepare to keep you safe in the face of stress. Blood, oxygen, and other resources divert from rest, digestion, and calmness to create an escape route from danger.
The body's counterpart, the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), relaxes the body's primary functions and maintains a peaceful existence. The body becomes free to carry on with digestion and calmed circulation and breathing. Stressors and challenges, like depression and anxiety, stir up the sympathetic nervous system, throwing off the body's balance and creating a continuously stressed state.
How Yoga Can Support Mental Wellness
Using yoga in a health care setting is advantageous because it naturally stimulates of the parasympathetic nervous system. The primary components of yoga - pranayama, meditation, and asana - influence the mind and the body by tipping the scales in favor of the parasympathetic system. This is why the reactivity created by depression and anxiety will often subside with the help of a yoga teacher that has advanced teacher training in health care settings (RYT300).
With thoughtful instruction and spiritual guidance from a trained Yoga teacher (an RYT300 with a focus in healthcare) or certified yoga therapist, the client will practice yoga to experience a mind free of judgment, negativity, and doubt. Mental health challenges involve how we perceive ourselves, and yoga is the path to a more realistic and loving view of ourselves.
Furthermore, physical movement through asana, either active or restorative, works on the body's literal balance, strength, and healing.
Together, these aspects support transforming depression and anxiety into healthier lifestyles, and intrusive thoughts are no longer welcome.
Consider Advanced YTT from an RYS300 school or Yoga Therapy school that trains in teaching yoga managing depression and anxiety in a healthcare setting.
As a yoga teacher, enrolling in advanced yoga teacher trainings (at a certified Yoga Alliance RYS300 school) will help you gain experience in making yoga accessible, even when students experience depression and anxiety.
Practicing yoga for mental health is more than offering heart-opening poses for combating depression and folds and inversions for constant worry. Enrolling in advanced yoga teacher trainings will help you gain expertise and experience with teaching different styles of yoga, such as restorative, therapeutics essentials and yin. Advanced YTT courses (at an RYS300 school or IAYT-accredited yoga therapy school) will help you understand more about the physical manifestations of depression and anxiety and modify yoga asana for improved mental wellness.
Additionally, learning nuanced language and meaningful sequencing will improve with further yoga teacher education. Mindful communications and motivational interviewing between yoga teacher and client allow the client to form their plan. The teacher also has insights and information to create a positive experience, including phrasing and guidance to coax incessant and destructive thoughts into oblivion.
There are opportunities to broaden your yoga teacher education further, perhaps working towards advanced yoga teacher certifications. Learning more about Ayurveda, yoga therapies, anatomy and physiology will help one understand wellness from new angles. Yoga is a powerful force that has many benefits alongside traditional treatments for mental imbalances.
We Invite You to Enroll in Advanced Yoga Teacher Training Online at Prema Yoga Institute (RYS300 | IAYT-accredited)
We hope this article gave you some insight on how a yoga teacher can pursue advanced teacher trainings in healthcare to better serve clients. We’d love to take this opportunity to invite you to consider enrolling in Online Advanced YTT at Prema Yoga Institute (RYS300). Prema Yoga Institute is a certified Yoga Alliance RYS300 and offers many valuable trainings for yoga teachers interested in utilizing yoga in a healthcare setting. Visit PYI’s website to begin or continue your journey to better serve your clients.
Enrollment Now Open for “Yoga for Cardiac Care”
Teaching stress management and body awareness to cardiac patients is now approved by the American Heart Association’s official guidelines. As yoga professionals, we can translate ancient, evidence-informed techniques to help the students enforce a heart healthy lifestyle, adhere to regular physical activity, increase post-surgical mobility, and reduce anxiety and depression. Perfect for yoga teachers, psychologists, physical and occupational therapists. This is an in-person course with an online option; featuring teacher, Sonja Rzepski, C-IAYT and guest faculty Dr. Millie Lee.
In this course:
Explore how a yoga & meditation practice can significantly support students at risk or living with heart disease.
Learn the cardiac science and physiology behind the "down-regulating" aspects of chair yoga, Yoga Nidra, meditation and pranayama. • Learn the risk factors of heart disease.
Review cardiac anatomy, types of coronary artery disease, testing, procedures, surgeries, and contraindications, with a cardiologist.
Teaching the spectrum of students from - at risk to post-operative recovery.
Adjusting the appropriate yoga for chair or supported supine positions.
Adapting the practice for weight management, depression, and anxiety. • The science of correct pranayama for the cardiac student.
How the Ashtanga 8 limb path and the Yoga Sutras are applied to the cardiac student.
Nidra Meditation specifically for the cardiac student.
Adjustments and sequencing for the cardiac student.
Meditations for recovery, heart healthy lifestyle adherence, and mental balance.
How to use the doshas (body/personality types) diagnostically in teaching cardiac students.
*Students may take this course as an online option; please see pricing below.
Enroll in Online Advanced Yoga Teacher Trainings at PremaYogaInsitute.com
Prema Yoga Institute is longer limited to New York City and is now available online with interactive trainings through 2022. PYI is an IAYT-accredited program based in New York city with a certified Yoga Alliance RYS300, teaching students around the globe through online classes. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you advance your yoga practice and teaching!
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Yoga Teacher Training - Yoga-Based Stress Management in Healthcare
Yoga Teacher Training - Yoga-Based Stress Management in Healthcare
We sometimes view stress as outside forces that influence how we navigate life, but the physical manifestations of stress come from the body. When faced with health challenges or a crisis, the added pressures and unknowns of tests, diagnosis, and treatments may compound pressures and anxieties.
Our nervous systems are programmed to work under distressing conditions for short periods of time, but it's not peaceful, comfortable, or even healthy for us when stress won’t quit. We address diseases and injuries with medicine and therapies - but the stress management portion of healing might be overlooked.
Stress management for clients is something that a yoga teacher may excel in. Especially if the teacher has advanced yoga teacher training (like a Yoga Alliance RYT500 from an RYS-300 school) with a focus in understanding yoga-based stress management and general healthcare.
Read on to learn more about stress, stress-management, and how yoga comes into play.
Understanding The Nervous System and Stress
Stress directly affects the body and its functions. The nervous system regulates organs and their functions, pain, movement, sensations, and stress responses.
The autonomic nervous system (ANS) takes care of our body's necessary functions that allow us to carry on, like our heartbeat, digestion, and breathing. Within the ANS is the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). The "fight or flight" response dictated by the SNS moves resources to muscles for running, the heart for pumping blood, the eyes to take in more light, and the stimulation of sweat glands. These changes are your body's reaction to stress - get ready to rumble or run.
The ANS also has the counterpart to this reactionary system, the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). The PNS takes the opposite path - relaxation and peace. The heart rate slows, breaths become deeper, and digestion ramps up. Your body, and subsequently your mind, become calm.
Regarding yoga-based stress management, yoga supports the parasympathetic nervous system and can transform how we respond to stressors in the long term. And there is plenty of research to support this.
The Science Behind Yoga-Based Stress Management for Clients
Stress shows up as hormones, like cortisol, and proteins such as cytokines in the body. Increases in these substances in the body are a physical reflection of increased stress and inflammation in the tissues. We know that yoga reduces stress, and now there is research into just how this happens in the body.
One study followed a group of patients practicing yoga over several months while being treated for periodontal disease. Researchers found that for some participants, cortisol levels dropped. These patients also experienced lower depression and anxiety scores. (1)
In a similar study, long-term changes were tracked over a six-month time frame in patients with disease. This preliminary study measured anxiety with salivary cortisol levels in participants incorporating yoga into their healthcare regime. Additionally, this study tested memory before and after months of using yoga-based stress management techniques. Memory improved, and stress levels showed improvement. (2)
A comprehensive review of publications studying yoga-based stress management examined 35 unique studies, with 25 showing a decrease in anxiety after starting a yoga-based healthcare program. Out of the 35 studies, 14 marked physiological measurements for tracking stress reductions. This review showed an excellent start to link stress reduction to yoga directly. (3)
There is an extensive collection of data supporting yoga and stress reduction. Research is starting to demonstrate what we already know from experience - that yoga-based stress management is a powerful tool to work alongside modern medicine in the health care setting.
Every teacher that wishes to serve clients in need of stress management for their health should begin to consider pursuing advanced yoga teacher training with a focus in healthcare training.
Advanced Yoga Teacher Training - Teaching Stress Reduction with Yoga
How do we incorporate the nervous system, stress, and yoga into teaching yoga that improves relaxation and peace? There are several tools available to yoga teachers that can be learned with Advanced YTT.
Yoga combines several stress reduction techniques with the physical practices of asana and pranayama. Additionally, yoga encourages compassion, reflection, self-love, and service to others.
When teaching yoga, knowing your students and their learning styles is the best place to start. Many students prefer a challenging asana routine, while others need a dimly lit room to restore. Once you have preferences for movement, you can address breathing, kindness, and non-judgment.
There are dozens of layers to unpeel when working as a yoga teacher in a health care setting. Advanced teacher training can hone your skills about anatomy, the nervous system, physiology, and how ancient yoga traditions all work together. Perhaps you would like to dive into a concentrated course or start your education towards becoming a Yoga Therapist. You have possibilities.
Learn More About Integrating Yoga with Healthcare at Prema Yoga Institute – Online Training Now Available!
If you’re curious to learn more about integrating yoga with health care, reach out to us at Prema Yoga Institute. In fact, we’d love to invite you to enroll in our online courses. Our Advanced YTT has healthcare in mind, for example, our Yoga in Healthcare includes meditation and mindfulness teaching skills, that empower yoga teachers to interface more effectively with doctors and health care professionals.
Visit Prema Yoga Institute to learn more about our training, which is now available online with interactive trainings through 2022! Courses count as CE Credits with Yoga Alliance OR towards your RYT500 at Prema Yoga Institute.
Prema Yoga Institute is longer limited to New York City and is now available online with interactive trainings through 2022. PYI is an IAYT-accredited program based in New York city with a certified Yoga Alliance RYS300, teaching students around the globe through online classes. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you advance your yoga practice and teaching!
If you found this information useful, visit our Blog often or subscribe to our Mailing List for similar content.
(1) Katuri, K. K., Dasari, A. B., Kurapati, S., Vinnakota, N. R., Bollepalli, A. C., & Dhulipalla, R. (2016). Association of Yoga practice and serum cortisol levels in chronic periodontitis patients with stress-related anxiety and depression. Journal of International Society of Preventive & Community Dentistry. Retrieved October 6, 2021, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4784068/.
(2)Rocha KK, Ribeiro AM, Rocha KC, Sousa MB, Albuquerque FS, Ribeiro S, Silva RH. Improvement in physiological and psychological parameters after 6 months of yoga practice. Conscious Cogn. 2012 Jun;21(2):843-50. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2012.01.014. Epub 2012 Feb 17. PMID: 22342535.
(3) Li AW, Goldsmith CA. The effects of yoga on anxiety and stress. Altern Med Rev. 2012;17(1):21-35.
Yoga in Healthcare - Asana and Meditation for Chronic Pain
Yoga in Healthcare - Asana and Meditation for Chronic Pain
In 2016, an estimated 20% of American adults reported having chronic pain and 8% of American adults had high-impact chronic pain, according to the CDC.
As you advance in your yoga teacher training and career, you are likely to encounter clients with chronic pain and other diverse needs. To better understand and serve clients with chronic pain, it is wise to seek advanced yoga teacher training in therapeutic yoga courses.
Understanding Chronic Pain
Chronic pain is one of the most common reasons why patients see a doctor according to the CDC. Due to the ongoing nature of chronic pain, it is often difficult to treat. Chronic pain can be described as pain that extends beyond the expected period of healing. Chronic pain may originate in the body, brain or spinal cord. Physiologically, however, all pain is output from the brain.
Beyond the chronic pain itself, sufferers may experience stress, lack of sleep, anxiety, and depression. Risk factors for chronic pain include age, gender (female), socioeconomic status, occupational factors, history of abuse, and genetics.
Chronic pain is a serious condition and remains difficult for the medical community to treat with %100 effectiveness. Often, doctors will initially recommend non opioid medication or psychological treatments like cognitive behavioral therapy. As the pain progresses, students often seek behavioral changes - like a yoga or a meditation practice - to support their medical care and participate in their healing process.
Yoga Therapy – Asana and Meditation for Chronic Pain
In general, integrating a yoga practice into one’s wellness routine will support the body and mind as it works toward a peaceful and comfortable balance.
When dealing with chronic pain, yoga therapy uses a transformational approach, unlike the current medical model of a symptom management approach. For example, Advanced YTT in Healthcare will teach you how movement and meditation techniques of yoga can powerfully complement Western medical care. Training in evidence-based mindfulness meditations, Yoga Nidra, and breathing skills for behavioral medicine and chronic disease management allows yoga teachers to seamlessly integrate these methods into conventional treatment models.
The medical community acknowledges that mindfulness and meditation are integrative and complementary practices and are important parts of a larger healthcare plan. Courses like Yoga in Healthcare and Therapeutic Yoga Essentials examine the research and clinical evidence behind yoga and mindfulness techniques.
Advanced teacher training should also enlighten teachers on the applications of asana - the yoga poses - to potentially avoid future discomfort. You will learn to listen to your client and understand what type of Asana makes sense for their pain. Determine how to deconstruct the flow of the component parts and how to re-assemble it. Experiment with different positions, such as seated or upside down and gradually moving to weight bearing.
Pain is individual to each person, and each movement and mindfulness plan must be different as well.
“Pain Care” is a Health and Wellbeing Issue
The term “pain care” was used in “Yoga Science and Pain Care” to illustrate that pain is not a medical issue, but also a health and wellbeing issue. And as a yoga teacher with advanced training, you will learn how to be sensitive to your client’s needs.
Advanced yoga teacher training for health care will allow you to determine when to focus on the Niyamas to help clients that struggle with self-doubt. Or when to use guided imagery or Yoga Nidra for clients that must think and visualize movement before engaging due to physical pain or mental resistance.
When pursuing advanced yoga teacher training in health care, teachers will train in peer coaching techniques, like Motivational Interviewing, to overcome client resistance in promoting healthy choices in wellness practices. Motivational Interviewing requires empathetic guidance and will build trust that allows for clients to safely communicate with you.
Learn More About Integrating Yoga with Health Care at Prema Yoga Institute
Yoga teachers can be an important part of a client’s larger healthcare plan. Choosing to advance your skills with advanced yoga teacher training will expand your career and allow you to support more clients in need.
If you’re curious to learn more about integrating yoga with health care, reach out to us at Prema Yoga Institute. In fact, we’d love to invite you to enroll in our online courses. Our Advanced YTT has healthcare in mind, for example, our Yoga in Healthcare includes meditation and mindfulness teaching skills, that empower yoga teachers to interface more effectively with doctors and health care professionals.
Visit Prema Yoga Institute to learn more about our training, which is now available online with interactive trainings through 2022! Courses count as CE Credits with Yoga Alliance OR towards your RYT500 at Prema Yoga Institute.
PYI is an accredited program based in New York city, teaching students around the globe through online classes. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you advance your yoga practice and teaching!
Prema Yoga Institute is longer limited to New York City and is now available online with interactive trainings through 2022. PYI is an accredited program based in New York city, teaching students around the globe through online classes. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you advance your yoga practice and teaching!
If you found this information useful, visit our Blog often or subscribe to our Mailing List for similar content.