HYBRID MENTAL HEALTH TRAINING FOR YOGA TEACHERS

In this innovative mental health training for Yoga Teachers, you will learn how to deeply support your students experiencing mental health challenges in your yoga classes or private sessions.

By the end of the training, you’ll have an in-depth understanding of the Six Pillars of Mental Health Aware Yoga.

In the first pillar, we look at mental health through the lens of Western Psychology including depressive, anxiety and trauma disorders as well as stress and co-morbidity.

In the second pillar, we explore the foundations of Yoga Psychology, including Patañjali’s model of yoga psychology, mental health and the gunas, koshas and kleśhas, yoga as cultivating sattva, saṃskāra and non-dualism.

In the third pillar, you will learn how to Create a Safe Container, including the sacred role of the teacher, professional boundaries, creating a safe and nourishing environment for your students, ethics, touch and hands-on assists, scope of practice, mentoring and self practice, self care and self enquiry.

In the fourth pillar, you will learn Therapeutic Skills for Yoga Teachers, including meeting your students where they are, the rhythm of a yoga class, skillful language, effective listening and unconditional positive regard.

In the fifth pillar, we will explore traditional and evidence-based Yogic Practices for mental health, including yoga and mental health research, assessing (not diagnosing) your students, āsana, prāṇāyāma, meditation, contraindications (what to avoid), compassionate non-judgemental witnessing presence, sankalpa bhâvâna and teaching themes.

In the sixth pillar of Mental Health Aware Yoga, you will learn what to do in a Mental Health Crisis, including how to respond when students cry, what to do if a student has a panic attack , trauma reaction or discloses suicide ideation or self harm.

Following completion of the Mental Health Aware Yoga training, Yoga Teachers will be able to:
– Articulate why knowledge of mental health is important for Yoga Teachers.
– Identify Western Psychology diagnostic criteria for depression, anxiety, trauma and stress.
– Discuss basic yoga psychology, including Patañjali’s 8 limbs, gunas and koshas.
– Create a safe container for students in a yoga class.
– Use appropriate therapeutic skills in a yoga class.
– Assess their own and their students’ emotional needs and practice/teach appropriate yoga practices to meet these needs.
– Identify what to do in a mental health crisis.

Dr Lauren worked with an education and instructional course designer to make this course the best educational experience possible.

Yes!

Mental Health Aware Yoga is designed to apply to ANY style of yoga teaching.

Mental Health Aware Yoga is not a new brand or style of yoga, but rather a set of principles that can be applied to any style of yoga that you’re teaching.

If you are already trained as a Yoga Teacher (or currently undertaking your training), then yes!

This training would be a wonderful bridge for you to bring the worlds of psychology and yoga together.

The course doesn’t train people to become therapists, but with your qualifications and experience, you will no doubt be able to draw on your existing knowledge and experience in this area, and integrate it with all the yoga practices and concepts we cover in the course.

With your background as a Mental Health Professional, it’s likely that you will already have the some of the knowledge that we cover in the Western Psychology and Mental Health Crisis sections (two of the six pillars of Mental Health Aware Yoga), however the other four pillars will give you much insight into teaching yoga to students with mental health challenges. The course really pulls these two worlds together, and will help you to integrate what you learnt in your Yoga Teacher Training course with what you already know as a therapist.

The training doesn’t give you set class plans for different diagnoses, yoga for mental health is not that simple, but it will give you a framework and a lot of different practises, that you can bring together to share with your students.

There have been many therapists, including Psychologists, Social Workers and other Mental Health Professionals, who have taken this program, and have told us that they have benefited greatly and are using the knowledge they learnt in the course in their classes and clinical practice.

If you haven’t started or completed your Yoga Teacher training course, join us for the Yoga Skills for Health Professionals training instead.

Yes, 100%!

While many therapists are undertaking the Mental Health Aware Yoga training, the program was designed specifically for Yoga Teachers.

The only prerequiste for the training is that you’re already a Yoga Teacher (or Teacher-in-Training).  You do not need to be a therapist.

In the training you will learn therapeutic skills for Yoga Teachers, like meeting your students where they are, the rhythm of a yoga class, skillful language, effective listening and unconditional positive regard.

Yes! Unlike the self-paced online Mental Health Aware Yoga Training, there are two complusory events to attend with the hybrid training. There is a one hour orientation Zoom call prior to the training (online), and then two days in-person.

While we encourage you to attend the Zoom call live, if you are unable to attend live, you can watch the recording afterwards.

To receive your certificate of completion, you must attend the entire 2 days of the in-person event.

As soon as you join the training, you will have access to our online Shala, where you can access the lessons, yoga classes, questionnaires and assignments that must be completed prior to the in-person event.  This online component is pre-recorded and self-paced, so you can access it whenever you like, and work through the course material at your convenience.

We think that they hybrid training is the best of both worlds; you get the flexibility  and structure of the online component and the intimacy and connection of an in-person event!

However, if you’d prefer 100% online training, then we have you covered. Go here to see our online training.

Prior to attending the in-person component, you will get access to the online component of the training, including lectures, yoga classes, multiple choice questionnaires and assignments.

The assignments are designed to support you to integrate and embody the teachings and include journalling, practicing yoga and trying out some of the concepts from the training in your yoga teaching (if you’re not currently teaching, you can practice teaching with friends instead).

There is also a 1 hour pre-training online welcome call. We would love to meet you there live, however the call will be recorded and you can watch it later if you cannot make it live.

There is approximately 46 hours of online content (including the lectures, questionnaires, yoga practices assignments and welcome call) to be complete before the in-person component of the training.

There is approximately 46 hours of online training to complete before the in-person event, but this will vary from person-to-person, depending on the speed you work at and the depth of your integration and embodiment.  The more you put into this training, the more you will get out.

This 45 hours includes around 8 hours of video lectures, multiple choice questionnaires (these are actually fun!), yoga classes, reflections and assignments.

You will get access to the online component of the training as soon as you sign up, and to receive your certificate, it must be completed before the in-person event.

After successfully completing the training, you will be invited to join our global Teachers’ Community, at a small cost, and you can continue to access all the training material (as it’s updated) as well as additional group mentoring, masterclasses and resources.

Yes, this course is accredited with both Yoga Alliance and Yoga Australia.  You will receive a certificate of completion (PDF) once you have completed the course to lodge with your accreditation body.

The course takes approximately 60 hours to complete, including 14 hours at the in-person event, 17.5 hours online training (lectures and questionnaires) and 28.5 hours reflective practice and self-directed practicum tasks.

Yoga Australia members can claim 45.75 CPD points.

Yoga Alliance members can claim 14 contact and 46 non-contact hours.

During to COVID-19, Yoga Alliance have advised that “RYTs may count online courses taken during this time as contact hours for Continuing Education (CE) requirements.”

If you would like to claim CPD points with another organisation, you can take the certificate you receive upon completion of the training to your accreditation body; this is usually sufficient.

Yes!  All the online course material was created by Dr Lauren Tober, including the video lectures, yoga classes and practice library.

At present, Dr Lauren Tober is teaching the in-person component of the hybrid training, however this might change in the future.

You are also welcome to book additional private mentoring sessions during or after the course, at an additional cost.

Taking the online component of the course does require some computer skills.  But if you can use email and Facebook, it’s likely you have enough computer skills to take the course.

We have designed the course website to be super-intuitive and easy to use (not to mention beautiful).

We’re also backed up with an amazing IT support team, so if you have any issues, we’ll have you covered.

Our students who identify as not very techy, have told us they found the program very intuitive and easy to navigate.

The online component of the course is taught in our online Shala; a custom built membership website that hosts all our online courses and trainings.

Once you sign up, you will receive an email within a few minutes with your personal log in details for the Shala, and an invitation to join the members-only Mental Health Aware Yoga Facebook community.

The online component of the course consists of approximately 8 hours of video or audio lectures, plus full length yoga classes.

After each lecture you will complete a multiple choice questionnaire (no trick questions, if you have watched the lectures these are really straight forward) and after each section there are self directed practicum tasks including writing reflective journals, attending live yoga classes of your choice (in person or online), practicing pre-recorded yoga classes and practices with Dr Lauren Tober, teaching yoga classes using the principles of Mental Health Aware Yoga and more.

You will also receive an in-depth PDF training manual (over 200 pages) that you can work with online, or print out to bring to the in-person component.

The in-person component of the course includes in-depth discussions, participating and teaching yoga classes and practices, and the opportunity to build community with like-minded teachers.

The fact that you’re asking this question tells me you’re likely a great fit for the Mental Health Aware Yoga training!

In a landmark study several years ago, Penman surveyed 3,832 Australian yoga students and teachers and found that 58.4% of yoga students began yoga to reduce stress or anxiety and 79.4% of yoga students continued to practice yoga to reduce stress or anxiety (Penman did not mention other mental health issues in his research, so it’s likely to be even higher).

He suggested that mental health may be the primary health reason why people practise yoga.

Here is the reference:
Penman, S., Cohen, M., Stevens, P., & Jackson, S. (2012). Yoga in Australia: Results of a National Survey. International Journal of Yoga, 5(2), 92–101.

If you like to nerd out on this kind of research, you’re going to love the Mental Health Aware Yoga training!

Dr Lauren Tober is a Clinical Psychologist, Senior Yoga Teacher and certified iRest Meditation Teacher.

She has been working as a Psychologist since 2003, teaching yoga since 2004, training Yoga Teachers since 2010 and teaching online since 2011.

Lauren has been working the area of yoga psychology for many years, and is considered by many to a leader in this field.

We take the health of our students and teaching faculty seriously, and will follow the COVID guidelines set out by the government and venue of the training location at the time of the in-person component of the training.  We ask that you do the same.

We also ask that you only attend the in-person component if you are well, and do not attend if you have any illness that could be contagious, including COVID.

Please choose your purchase carefully, as no refunds, credits or transfers are available.

If you are unable to attend the in-person component of the training due to illness or genuine emergency, you may transfer to the online Mental Health Aware Yoga training instead at our discretion, at no additional cost.

While we will endeavor to deliver the in-person component of the training as advertised, should circumstances change due to reasons beyond our control (e.g. illness, government restrictions, flight delays, natural disasters etc), then we will make alternative arrangements that may include a different teaching faculty, new location, re-scheduling to a different time and/or delivering the program online.  If the changes mean that you are unable to attend the in-person component, then you may choose to transfer to the online Mental Health Aware Yoga training instead, at no additional cost.

You can read our full T&Cs here.