About this course

For all levels, including yoga and health professionals.

Nearly twenty years of research, thirty years of practice, and Amy’s recovery from a debilitating depression inform this protocol of evidence-based yoga practices. This introduction by the author of Yoga for Depression and Yoga Skills for Therapists offers tools not taught in regular classes to support your own healing journey and those you serve.

Amy covers the yoga principles and research upon which the evidence-based LifeForce Yoga practices are based. Learn several brief yoga interventions that can be done anywhere and will offer you an energy boost, a calm and focused mind, and a balanced mood, even as you teach them to others—no mat required!

Key Features

Learn all this and more during this course!

  • Reduce anxiety and depression

    Identify, practice and prescribe a Yoga breathing technique to meet and then reduce anxiety

  • Increase self-acceptance

    Demonstrate and recommend imagery and affirmation to increase self-acceptance

  • Meditation for trauma recovery

    Identify and prescribe an accessible yoga-based meditation appropriate for trauma recovery

Yoga Therapy Certification Credit

3 Hours Credit with the IAYT

Essential lessons

  • The yoga philosophy that supports mood management
  • The research that supports yoga practices for depression and anxiety
  • The psychological aspects of the Chakra System
  • Guided imagery for mood management
  • Adapted and Accessible Evidence-based yoga breathing for emotional balance
    - Bellows Breath (Bhastrika)
    - Stair-step Breath (Analoma & Viloma Krama)
    - Bee Breath (Brahmari)
    - Power Hara
    - Pulling Prana
  • Mudras and mantras for emotional wellbeing
  • The LifeForce Yoga Chakra Clearing Mediation

Course curriculum

  • 1

    LifeForce Yoga Principles and Practices for Depression & Anxiety

    • Part 1 Handout - LifeForce Yoga for Healing Professionals & Self Care

    • Centering - Finding intention (Sankalpa)

    • Elements of Safe Practice

    • Yoga Philosophy and Mood

    • Meeting the Mood with Postures (Asanas) and Yoga Breathing (Pranayama)

    • Quiz
  • 2

    Yoga Research and LifeForce Yoga Practices for Depression & Anxiety

    • Part 2 Handout - LifeForce Yoga for Healing Professionals & Self Care

    • Centering with Visual Imagery (Bhavana) for Mood

    • Foundational Research - Yoga for Mood

    • Yoga Breathing Practices and Meditation for Mood

    • Yoga in Psychotherapy

    • Quiz
  • 3

    LifeForce Yoga Chakra Clearing Meditation (LFYCCM)

    • Part 3 Handout - Chakra Clearning Meditation Guide

    • Introduction - Giving the Mind a Bone

    • The Psychological Application of This Practice

    • A Psychological Understanding of the Nadis and the Chakras

    • Learning the LifeForce Yoga® Chakra Clearing Meditation

    • Bellows Breath (Guided)

    • Bee Breath (Guided)

    • LifeForce Yoga® Chakra Clearing Meditation - Mudras and Mantras (Led With Guidance)

    • LifeForce Yoga® Chakra Clearing Meditation (Led Without Guidance)

    • LifeForce Yoga® Chakra Clearing Meditation - Adapted for High Anxiety States

    • Quiz

Meet Your Teacher

I was once a television producer suffering from depression. When I began to practice yoga, my writing aligned with my life’s purpose, and I began to write articles and books, including Yoga for Depression (Broadway Books), Yoga Skills for Therapists (W.W. Norton). In 2004 I founded the LifeForce Yoga Healing Institute®, which today serves students, clients and trains yoga and mental health professionals around the globe. Sounds True will be publishing my Yoga for Depression and Anxiety Card Deck in Spring 2021 and my novel, TEMPLE DANCER is forthcoming, September, 2020.