About Amy Weintraub

Biography | Media | Articles & Appearances

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Amy Weintraub, MFA, E-RYT 500, author of Yoga for Depression (Broadway Books) and founding director of the LifeForce Yoga Healing Institute, is a leader in the field of yoga and mental health.  She offers professional certification in LifeForce Yoga® Practitioner Trainings for Depression and Anxiety and speaks at medical and psychological conferences internationally.  Amy is involved in ongoing research on the affects of yoga on mood.  Her evidence-based yoga protocol for managing mood is featured on the LifeForce Yoga^® CD Series that includes Breathe to Beat the Blues, LifeForce Yoga Nidra, and LifeForce Bhavana and the first DVD home Yoga practice series for mood management, the award-winning  LifeForce Yoga® to Beat the Blues, Level 1 & Level 2.  She edits a bi-monthly newsletter that includes current research, news and media reviews on Yoga and mental health. 

Amy is the LifeForce Yoga® Facilitator at the Psychotherapy Networker Symposia, and was a Colloquium Speaker at the Boston University Graduate School of Psychology.  She leads PESI Seminars around the U.S. and has offered her trainings at the Cape Cod Institute, the University of Georgia, and the University of Arizona.  She has been a consultant for a number of research projects on Yoga and mental health and is a co-author of "LifeForce Yoga® Mood Study," published in the International Journal of Yoga Therapy.  She regularly presents at Kripalu Center, Omega Institute, Mount Madonna Center, Sivananda Ashram, Yogaville, and Yoga studios throughout the United States and abroad host her retreats and trainings annually.

Amy has done many Yoga trainings in the United States and in India, including Kripalu Center in Lenox, Massachusetts, the Desikar family in the U.S., Lakulish Institute in Gujarat, India, Vivekanandra Kendra in Bangalore, India and the Narayana Gurukala in Tamil Nadu, India. Richard Miller, Ph.D., is her mentor.

Amy has won numerous literary prizes for her short fiction, including national prizes from Writer's Digest Magazine, Explorations and Wind. Her novel-in-progress, and her film documentaries have received awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, San Francisco State University, and many other national competitions. She also edits books on spiritual psychology, including the much-praised Yoga and the Quest for the True Self by Stephen Cope (Bantam, 1999). She holds the Master of Fine Arts degree in Writing and Literature from the Bennington Writing Seminars, Bennington College and currently lives in Tucson.