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ELEVATE YOUR TEACHING

INTRODUCTION TO YOGA + MENTAL HEALTH TRAINING

Are you ready to take your yoga teaching to the next level?

Join Clinical Psychologist and Senior Yoga Teacher Dr Lauren Tober for this six hour introductory training for Yoga Teachers.

In this trauma-informed online training you will to learn how to support your students experiencing depression, anxiety, trauma and stress (and nourish your own mental health in the process).

Four out of five yoga students report practicing yoga for the mental health benefits. It's important you know how to support them.

Come join us, and be part of the change.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

In this innovative training for Yoga Teachers, you'll learn about mental illness through a western and a yogic lens, so you will understand the framework and speak the language of both worlds.

You will also learn how to create a safe and nourishing container for your students to thrive, and dive into therapeutic skills 101, best practices to teach for mental health (including what NOT to teach) and how to support your students if they cry or are triggered in class.

You will get loads of both theoretical and practical information to bring into your teaching right away.

Western Psychology

WESTERN PSYCHOLOGY

Yoga Psychology

YOGA PSYCHOLOGY

Safe Container

CREATING A SAFE CONTAINER

Therapeutic Skills

THERAPEUTIC SKILLS

Yogic Practices

YOGIC PRACTICES

Mental Health Crisis

MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

Western Psychology

WESTERN PSYCHOLOGY

Yoga Psychology

YOGA PSYCHOLOGY

Safe Container

CREATING A SAFE CONTAINER

Therapeutic Skills

THERAPEUTIC SKILLS

Yogic Practices

YOGIC PRACTICES

Mental Health Crisis

MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS

Elevate your teaching and learn trauma-informed ways to support your yoga students experiencing depression, anxiety, stress and trauma.

BY THE END OF THIS TRAINING YOU WILL

Understand the signs and symptoms of depression, anxiety, trauma and stress

Be able to create a safe and trauma-informed teaching environment

Know which yoga practices to teach, and which to avoid for mental health

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Be able to support a student who cries or who is triggered in class

Intro to yoga and mental health devices

HI! I'M DR LAUREN TOBER.

As a Clinical Psychologist and Yoga Teacher of nearly two decades, I'm passionate about supporting Yoga Teachers to really understand mental health.

While 79.4% of yoga students report practicing yoga for the mental health benefits, Yoga Teachers just aren't taught this in their teacher training programs, so aren't equipped to help.

I'm on a mission to change this.

Will you join me?

Dr Lauren Tober

WHAT'S INCLUDED

Lectures

On-demand lectures with Dr Lauren Tober on mental health and yoga

Practices

Learn what practices to teach, and what to avoid for mental health
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Yoga Class

A 60 minute yoga class, embodying all the principles of Mental Health Aware Yoga
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Audio recordings

If you prefer to listen rather than watch, you can download the audio recordings of the lectures

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Questionnaires

There is a short multiple choice questionnaire after each lecture to support with integration

Certificate

Download your certificate of completion and count the training towards your CPD
WHAT THE TEACHERS ARE SAYING

"If you're interested in supporting your community with yoga, I highly recommend the Mental Health Aware Yoga training with Dr Lauren Tober.

It's vital that we educate ourselves with this work so we impact our students' well-being in a positive way."

Delamay Devi
DELAMAY DEVI
YOGA TEACHER, TRAINER + MENTOR   |   BYRON BAY, AUSTRALIA

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Can you give me some more details about what is included in the course?

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

By the end of the training, you'll have an introductory 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, to understand the signs and symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress and trauma.

In the second pillar, we look at mental health through the lens of Yoga Psychology, specifically exploring the gunas.

In the third pillar, you’ll learn some ways to Create a Safe Container in your classes.  We'll take a broad look at what this involves and then hone in on two key elements of this, consent and predictability.

In the fourth pillar, you'll learn about Therapeutic Skills for Yoga Teachers, and in this introductory training we'll look at how the language we use can either harm or uplift our students.

In the fifth pillar, we’ll explore traditional and evidence-based Yoga Practices for mental health, including which practices to teach, and which to avoid.

In the sixth pillar of Mental Health Aware Yoga, we’ll discuss what to do in a Mental Health Crisis, including how to respond when students cry, what to do if a student is anxious or overwhelmed in your class.

 

How is this introductory course different to the Mental Health Aware Yoga training?

Essentially, the difference is in the length and depth of the training.

This Introduction to Yoga and Mental Health training is a shorter course, designed to orientate Yoga Teachers to supporting their students experiencing mental health challenges.  It takes approximately six hours to complete. Graduates will have an understanding of the signs and symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress and trauma, and develop introductory skills to create a safe container and design yoga classes for their students experiencing these symptoms.

The online Mental Health Aware Yoga training is a much longer and in-depth training for Yoga Teachers.  It takes approximately 60 hours to complete the training. Graduates will have a deeper understanding of depression, anxiety, stress and trauma through both a Western and Yogic psychology lens, and will develop an in-depth knowledge of creating a safe container and designing yoga classes for their students experiencing mental health challenges.

The Introduction to Yoga and Mental Health training is 100% online with no face-to-face contact with Dr Lauren Tober.  Students work through the material at their own pace over a six month period, and receive their certificate of completion when they have watched all the lectures and completed the multiple choice questionnaires.

The online Mental Health Aware Yoga training is also 100% online.  Students work through the material at their own pace over a six month period, and have the option of attending live monthly group mentoring sessions with Dr Lauren Tober and the other participants.   Throughout the training, students complete a multiple choice questionnaire and at the end they complete final assignments and have an individual feedback session with Dr Lauren Tober or a senior mentor.

Graduates of the Introduction to Yoga and Mental Health training are invited to join the full Mental Health Aware Yoga training.

Graduates of the full Mental Health Aware Yoga training are invited to join the global Teachers' Directory on the Mental Health Aware Yoga website (no charge) and the Teachers' Community to continue attending the live group mentoring sessions and access masterclasses, resources and more (small charge).

I am a Hatha / Ashtanga / Restorative / Svastha / Yin / Vinyasa / Flow / Prenatal / Chair Yoga Teacher. Is this course suitable for me?

Yes!

This work is designed to apply to ANY style of yoga teaching.

It’s important to know that 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.

I am a Psychologist / Social Worker. Is this course suitable for me?

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 start bringing the worlds of psychology and yoga together.

If you haven’t started or completed your Yoga Teacher training course, then please do that first. We’d love to welcome you to this or the Mental Health Aware Yoga training down the track!

With your background as a 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 4 pillars I hope will give you insight into teaching yoga to students with mental health challenges. The course really pulls these two worlds together.

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.

I am not a therapist. Is this course suitable for me?

Yes, 100%!

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

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

Do I have to attend any part of the training at a specific time?

No!  One of the beautiful things about this online training is that you can work through the material at your own pace and in accordance with your own schedule.  You can access the material 24/7.

Will I get to learn directly from Dr Lauren Tober?

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

There are no live sessions with Lauren included in this introductory training.

If you would like this, you can either join the full Mental Health Aware Yoga training, or book additional private mentoring sessions during or after the course, at an additional cost.

I'm not very techy, can I do the course?

Taking the online 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.

How do you know that 79.4% of students practice yoga for mental health reasons?

Great question! 

In a landmark study in 2005, 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.  While this research is more than a decade old, we haven't found any more recent research than this on the topic, however it is likely that this has only increased.

You can find the journal article here:
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.

This training program is based on scientific research, traditional yogic wisdom, and Dr Lauren Tober's decades of personal and clincial experience, so you'll find lots of references like this in the training.

Is this course accredited?

Yes!

This 6-hour training is accredited with Yoga Alliance.

While this short course is not registered with Yoga Australia, unlike Yoga Alliance, they do not require professional development courses to be registered with them, you simply upload your certificate of completion onto their website.

Once you complete the course, you will receive a certificate of completion (PDF) to lodge with your accreditation body.

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.

I noticed the prices are in Australian Dollars. I'm from another country, can I still join?

Yes, absolutely!

Just purchase as usual (the currency conversion will be done automatically).

And lucky you, the Aussie dollar is usually pretty poor in comparison to other currencies, so you’ll probably get the course at a steal!  Sign up now before we change our minds and introduce multiple currencies!

WHAT THE TEACHERS ARE SAYING

"I can hardly think of any supplementary training for Yoga Teachers that is more relevant than Lauren's Mental Health Aware Yoga training! I will recommend all of our trainees - and in fact all Yoga Teachers - to do this training to educate themselves in these very important topics. Because in all yoga classes that we teach there is likely to be several students affected by stress, anxiety, depression or trauma - and we want to be able to hold the space and teach the yoga that support their inner journeys in the best possible way, too, right?

Bodil from Yoga Mudra
BODIL STENTEBJERG   |  YOGA TEACHER, TRAINER + STUDIO OWNER  |  COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

I'M READY, LET'S GO

SIGN UP TO THE INTRODUCTION TO YOGA AND MENTAL HEALTH ONLINE COURSE + GET STARTED TODAY

$97

If you decide to join the next 60-hour online Mental Health Aware Yoga training, you will get a discount of $97 off the cost of the course (essentially making this intro training free)

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