CPD Workshop - Introduction to Yoga Therapy

CPD Day - Introduction to Yoga Therapy for somatic seekers of health, truth and body/mind wisdom

With Judy Hirsh Sampath (approved as BWY CPD)

Who knows what you will find when you enter through the door of your own body. When you tune into somatic sensation of your inner experience, whether you notice a melodrama in your hip, a farce in your funny bone or a rollercoaster in your belly, you may be curious about what you find, and what it all means.

This soulful and sensitive approach to yoga therapy is an introduction for yoga practitioners, teachers and circle facilitators who love learning and enquiring deeply using a student-centred and trauma sensitive approach as well as light-heartedness and wonder.

Yoga therapists may be inspired to use material for their own marketing purposes, and find new ideas for describing what they do. 

Health seekers may wish to explore if yoga therapy is right for them for 1-2-1 sessions.

Judy will be sharing some presentation material, guide a warm up with somatic movement, embodied mindfulness and meditative practices, and offer ways to integrate the wisdom that has been received from the body and integrate it into making lasting change off the mat. She encourages group discussion and sharing unique experiences, Q&A, and will offer a yoga therapy demonstration followed by a yoga nidra to complete the day.

Aims of the Day

Definitions and terms

Presentation - the difference between yoga teaching and yoga therapy

Key components for yoga therapy

Accessing the body as a doorway into deeper layers of being

Explore the koshas as a compass

Guide present-centred awareness with embodied practices

Tracking somatic sensation

Move from Insight into off the mat action

Sankalapa setting exercise

Receive a guided a yoga nidra practice

(Observe yoga therapy demo if appropriate)

Learning Outcomes

Participants will:

Understand the difference between yoga teaching and yoga therapy

Practice present-centred awareness and embodied mindfulness to access the body's wisdom

Discern when to BE more and THINK less

Awareness of the power of language and how guide the koshas as a somatic compass in a trauma sensitive way

Discuss what blocks deeper wisdom and how to access it

Experience yoga nidra with sankalpa based on the days learning

Timetable 

10am introduction & definitions

The difference between a yoga teacher and a yoga therapist

Guided embodied experience

Embodied mindfulness - & somatic experience group discussion

Integration to sankalpa

1-2pm lunch break

2-4pm The Koshas in yoga therapy

Yoga therapy demo

Discussion, Q&A

Yoga Nidra Practice

4pm End

Pre Work for the day

You may wish to prepare by self-reflecting on one or all of the following questions

What is my intention for joining this day?

What happens when I use my body as a vehicle for self-enquiry?

How has yoga changed my life?

Level the Course is aimed at

Experienced yoga/movement practitioner and yoga teachers.

For yoga therapists looking to find new ways to promote and market what they do.

Curious health seekers who want to explore if yoga therapy is right for them for 1-2-1 sessions.

Tutor Bio

During an intensely emotional period in her life, Judy came to a profound insight through yoga therapy – “What would happen if I focused on what is right with me instead of trying to fix what is wrong with me? My body loves me and all I need to do is love it back”. The truth was simple in theory and Judy has been exploring ways into the body’s wisdom ever since and how to receive messages and take wise action to integrate body/mind wisdom into her life.

As a yoga therapist and educator, she engages health seekers, truth seekers and wisdom holders in becoming experts in themselves - to find their own answers, to make wise choices, to stress less and feel good, whole and enough.

She leads classes, workshops and courses in yoga and yoga therapy as ways to gain deeper self-awareness, self-acceptance and great compassion for self and others. She is continually writing new courses in an effort to meet the present moment - as she evolves and the world revolves, big changes are happening.