• Message from Amy
• Message from Rose
• Congratulations to New LFYP Graduates
• Interview with Bucky Farquhar by Ashley Lynn Caputo, LFYP-2
• Level 2 Practitioner Training

Message from Amy

Dear LFYPs,

I hope this message finds you in good spirits. This is a busy time here since the new book from W.W. Norton will be out in April. Yoga Skills for Therapists is garnering wonderful advanced praise thanks to many of you who contributed. Here are the LFYPs who appear in the book:

Joy Bennett, LFYP-2, ERYT-500, IYT-500, Felicity Boyer, MBA, RYT, LFYP-2, Deborah Lubetkin, PsyD, LFYP-2, Ann Friedenheim, MA, RYT, LFYP-2, Joe Walter, MSW, CMFT, RYT, LFYP-2, Laura Orth, LICSW, LFYP-2, Francoise Adan, MD, LFYP, Susan Tebb, PhD, LSW, RYT, LFYP-2, Dory Martin, LCSW, LFYP, Sue Dilsworth, PhD, RYT-500, LFYP-2, Kathryn Shafer, PhD, RYT-500, LFYP-2, Laurie Schaeffer, HN-BC RN, E-RYT 500, LFYP, Mickie Diamond, LCSW, RYT, LFYP, Nancy Nicholson, LCSW, RYT, LFYP, Alexandra Kedrock, LCSW, RYT, LFYP, Patricia Rogers, LFYP and Cindy Naughton, LMFT, LFYP. Rose Kress took most of the pictures and assembled the Glossary. Thank you all for your contributions!

Here’s the Press Release about the book:

You can preorder the book at: http://books.wwnorton.com/books/detail.aspx?ID=24012, enter code OAW1958 to receive a 20% discount.

If you are teaching or presenting and would like copies of the book available for your attendees, please call the publisher, W.W. Norton, to order wholesale copies: 1-800 233-4830. If you need them sooner than April 7th, contact Kevin Olsen, the marketing and publicity director at kolsen@wwnorton.com.

We had a wonderful January training in Tucson, and, thanks to new LFYP Bucky Faraquar, the group has banded together to support each others’ daily practice.  Please see Ashley Lynn Caputo’s interview with Bucky below. Thanks to faculty and staff: Maria Kali Ma, Sue Dilsworth, Caren Strait and, of course, Rose Kress!

I’ve just returned from Kripalu and the Asheville Yoga Center, where I was tremendously supported by LifeForce Yoga precious beings Joy Bennett, Wendy Chabot and Susan Schrott at Kripalu and Donna Eash and Tricia MacDonald in Asheville.

While in Asheville, I also taught in the Inner Peace Yoga Therapy Training and enjoyed reconnecting with three LFYPs who were taking the training in Asheville: Mary Pullin, Dawn Hamilton and Dena Saedi. This year Inner Peace will hold its training at Mount Madonna in Watsonville, CA, and in 2013 it will be in Tucson at the Desert Renewal Center.

http://innerpeaceyogatherapy.com/

The 2012 training is offering $100 off until the end of February.

Your work in the world continues to inspire me. May LifeForce Yoga continue to inspire you!

A warm namasté,

Amy

Message from Rose

As a gentle reminder, when promoting your LifeForce Yoga work, teaching classes, editing, etc, please remember to include the word yoga. It gets easily dropped.Please note that it is “LifeForce Yoga(R)” – LifeForce is one word with the ‘F’ capitalized and Yoga is also capitalized. You only need to use the registered trademark symbol, ®, at the beginning of any document. If you have questions, please let me know.

You may have noticed that the website had been changed and updated — hooray! It has been a lot of work, but we have a wonderful new webmaster. As always, check your listing and let us know if anything has changed. We are still in the process of working with the LFYP pages, please be patient with us.

Please Note — the password and URL have changed for the LFYP portion of the site!

http://yogafordepression.com/lfyp/ (please note that there is no “www” in this link)

• Login: Shiva
• Password: K=6[)svA4&QK

This is where you can download the most recent version of the Level 1 Manual, mentoring forms, new Power Points that include research and trauma, and Sue Dilsworth’s new Power Point on yoga and psychotherapy that she developed for the level 1 training.

Here’s a direct link to the new manual:

LifeForce Yoga Level 1 Practitioner Training Manual

New LFYPs

Congratulations to the graduates of the LFYP Level 1 Training that took place in Tucson, AZ, January 8 – 15, 2012:

• Colleen McHorney from Prescott, AZ
• Mary Magers from Prescott, AZ
• Nikki Aiello from Phoenix, AZ
• Sierra Ohrel from Tucson, AZ
• Wendy White from Tucson, AZ
• Risa Ross from Valencia, CA
• Mickey Reed from North Haven, CT
• Paulette Thomas from Atlanta, GA
• Sara Rolley from Carlisle, MA
• Kathy Fogle from Harwich, MA
• Lisa Moore from Baltimore, MD
• Laurie Thorner from Colombia, MD
• Donna Bialozor from Frederick, MD
• Lisa Ham from Allendale, MI
• Judy Kuiper from Grand Rapids, MI
• Mary Jane Gazda from Harrison Twp, MI
• Cathy Caldwell-Bowman from Muskegon, MI
• Laura Morledge from Billings, MT
• Nichole Finger from Connelius, NC
• Lynn Ciccone from New Lebanon, NY
• Harvey Vinsky from Toronto, ON
• Sandra Gordon from Camp Hill, PA
• Rebecca Stern from Philadelphia, PA
• Mary Noone from Valley Forge, PA
• Tzivia Stein Barrett from Dallas, TX
• Judi Eskovitz from Vienna, VA
• Rachel Delbos from Williamsburg, VA
• Renee Couture from Burlington, VT
• Ana Sierra from Tacoma, WA
• Bucky Farquhar from Seattle, WA

Interview with Bucky Farquhar

by Ashley Lynn Caputo, LFYP-2

Bucky Farquhar, a January, 2012 LFYP level one graduate was inspired to invite her fellow graduates to become involved in a 40 day LifeForce practice challenge, done at home and shared on-line. She is quite an inspiring practitioner.

What contributed to you coming up with this idea?

I wanted to deepen my practice after graduation. I knew I was going to do a 40 day challenge which meant for me: being on my mat at 6am each day. I intuitively knew it would change how I viewed my life. And I was curious as to what that would be, which was terrific because I had recently moved from Philadelphia to Seattle. I then realized others in the January Level I Training & retreat might be interested in doing this too, so I asked if anyone wanted to join me.

I said I would start email conversations, facilitating the group process and if there was interest I would host a 1 time per week call too. A number of people said yes. I’m pleased my idea of a 40 day challenge was met with such enthusiasm. We’ve created a community on Facebook where we could learn from each other as well as offer support. Many are loving it,

How many people were in your training, and how many joined you in the challenge?

We were a group of 32 yoginis and one yogi. 14 of us are involved in the on-line forum discussing the challenge, sharing our successes with clients and having fun. Some people were willing to sign up for Facebook private group and participate in the group. I was pleased that some were willing to leave their comfort zone to do this.

You had mentioned some excellent parameters for one to consider setting for oneself including: “What is an acceptable minimum daily practice for me?” and “how many days of doing less than I planned is okay with me?” or ”Is one pose or breathing technique enough for one day?” These are savvy questions! What have you found people have shared the most?

The forum is a confidential, closed discussion one. But I can say that, in general, people have written about their enjoyment of doing their practices every morning. They have written about successes with clients and colleagues. And some have talked about their own challenges. I found when I asked these questions of myself that I notice I am clearer as to what is an okay practice for that particular morning. I don’t necessarily have answers or a specific structure that guide me. I am humbly more clear what will disappoint and discourage me. And I am delighted that others are sharing the ride.

What brought you to the LifeForce Yoga practitioner training from Seattle, WA?

I am a “young” yoga teacher, I plus years; a twenty year yoga student and a co-active life coach for 10 years, and family therapist for 17 years before that. I feel like I can combine a number of my skills by adding Amy’s premise to my experience. I was inspired by a weekend Amy taught here in Seattle at 8 Limbs last fall to go to Tucson for the Retreat.

And I wanted to enjoy LifeForce yoga in my life in a more committed way. Now, with the group doing the challenge, there is a lot of enthusiasm, friendship, and support from all over the country. And the learning has a collegial quality to it. And I am looking at new teaching opportunities with LifeForce Yoga incorporated here in the Seattle area also.

Register for LifeForce Yoga Practitioner Training
for Depression & Anxiety – Level 2

Registration for the Level 2 Training, May 7 – 14, 2012, Tucson, AZ is ongoing.

Each day begins with a deep LifeForce Yoga Practice led by Amy or Rose. We will have two daytime sessions, where each practitioner will share her or his use of LifeForce Yoga strategies in their work. You will dive more deeply into the techniques from Level 1 with a new manual that includes scripts for practices and processes. Your own personal practice will deepen. Each practitioner will walk away with a greater sense of connection, to Self, as well as to the sangha of LifeForce Yoga Practitioners. We hope that you will join us in May!

Level 2 continues training in the Yogic strategies for balancing mood, with more practice teaching. The emphasis here is working one-on-one and leading workshops. Level 2 will focus on developing skill levels in assessing, teaching and working with students and clients in groups and individually to facilitate and empower them to manage their moods with yogic principles, practices, and strategies.

In this course, you will actively lead, with script in hand, what you may only have experienced in Level 1. Ancient yogic practices will be considered in the light of current research in the field of yoga and mental health. There will be many opportunities to practice, in small groups and one-on-one, the many yogic strategies covered in both the Level 1 and 2 Trainings.

General Daily Schedule and Registration

*we begin at 7pm on the 12th and end at noon on the 18th*

Once you have registered, you can download the required mentoring forms from the LFYP website at http://yogafordepression.com/lfyp/ (please note that there is no “www” in this link).

• Login: Shiva
• Password: K=6[)svA4&QK

Please note, we ask that you complete two mentoring sessions prior to the training. If this is not possible, please contact Rose at rose@amyweintraub.com.

© Yoga for Depression, 2012. | Permalink | No comment

Feeling out-of-balance? Out-of-touch? Welcome your mood as a wake-up call. Jumpstart your journey to happiness with evidence-based practices that can change and transform your life. Join the authors of Yoga for Depression and Unstuck for a healing journey home to a happier Self. Cultivate the compassionate inner space that allows you to embrace life’s challenges with a peaceful mind and a courageous heart. Empower yourself to be the agent of your own healing with LifeForce Yoga and Mind-Body Medicine. Release what’s no longer serving you—without a story attached! In this inspiring workshop, you will learn and practice breathing exercises, easy postures, guided meditations, and other experiential tools for managing your mood and moving more fully into your life.

You’ll leave feeling refreshed and renewed, with timeless and up-to-the-minute strategies to revitalize your practice and manage your mood. Psychotherapists, health professionals, and yoga teachers will learn techniques they can use for self-care and to help their clients focus, relax, and have greater access to their feelings.

Faculty: Amy Weintraub, MFA, LFYP-2, ERYT-500, James Gordon, MD

Recommended Reading/Practice:

Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey Out of Depression (The Penguin Press) Yoga for Depression (Broadway Books), Yoga Skills for Therapists (W.W. Norton, 2012), LifeForce Yoga® to Beat the Blues – level 1 & level 2 (DVD) LifeForce Yoga® CD Series.

Upcoming Dates:

Nov 9 – 11, 2012, Kripalu Center, Stockbridge, MA
Registration opens May 2012

© Yoga for Depression, 2012. | Permalink | No comment

Amy Weintraub, who recovered from years of depression when she began practicing yoga nearly 25 years ago , has dedicated many years to refining the techniques for mood management, which she has shared through workshops around the world and through her popular book Yoga for Depression. Her new book, Yoga Skills for Therapists, will be available in 2012. LifeForce Yoga is an evidence-based practice that has given countless individuals the motivation and tools they need to manage and even to overcome the pain of depression and anxiety.

Peg Duros and I, both yoga instructors and psychotherapists at the Center for Contextual Change, attended the LifeForce Yoga Practitioner Training earlier this year in Tucson. We both had such positive experiences at the training that we were excited and honored to assist Amy with her weekend workshop at YogaView Wilmette this fall. For yoga instructors and yogis who are mental health or healthcare workers, the Tucson training and retreat is a great opportunity to learn how to help your students and clients and also have a personally transformative experience. Trainings are held three times a year, in Tucson, at Kripalu Center in Massachusetts, and at Sivananda Ashram in the Bahamas.

The weekend workshop at YogaView, from Friday evening to Sunday morning, was for anyone who felt that yoga might help them to manage difficult moods or stress-related issues as well as for yoga and health professionals. Ken Oba, who attended the Friday evening workshop, commented: “As a yoga novice looking for relaxation, LifeForce Yoga suits me well. The warmup and breathing exercises were relaxing and fun. Amy’s voice was very calming as she guided us through the exercises. I appreciated her concern for my high blood pressure.

Friday evening’s workshop was offered either as a stand-alone or as part of the entire weekend. Amy explained that her goal was not to simply teach us asana, but to give us tools to complement an existing practice or to help get one started. LifeForce Yoga is based on meeting the body where it is. As Amy explains, it’s not likely that someone who is feeling depressed will want to get up and do sun salutations. But this person might be willing to do a restorative pose or a quiet breathing practice. Once the body and mind are engaged, they could then gradually transition to more energizing practices. Similarly, if someone is feeling anxious, a restorative pose might feel intolerable. But starting with vigorous breathing, active kriyas (breath combined with movement), or strong poses would more likely meet the mood. Once some of that extra energy is discharged, the body can slowly transition to more quieting poses, breathing practices, or even meditation.

LifeForce Yoga uses the yogic tools of sankalpa (intention), bhavana (imagery), asana (yoga poses), pranayama (breathing), nada (chanting/sound), mudra (hand gestures), meditation, and yoga nidra (yogic sleep, or deep relaxation). The practice includes “attention to the breath, safe attention to body sensation, cultivation of both compassionate equanimity and self-awareness, and the cultivation of a witness consciousness.” Very much rooted in current research into the effects of yoga, the handout for the weekend describes the cultivation of witness consciousness as “engaging the cerebral cortex in self-regulating the emotional limbic brain.” As a psychotherapist who works with trauma survivors, I appreciate that this language takes the mystique out of yoga and recognizes it as a scientifically sound practice.

Amy’s emphasis on yoga as a life-affirming practice was evident from the very beginning of the workshop. She introduced the archetypes of Shiva and Kuan Yin, which she carries with her as tiny figurines. These archetypes represent self-awareness balanced with compassion. The first practice was tratak (candle gazing), during which we were encouraged to allow the light of the candle to shine at the brow point and then in the heart. Amy described these types of practices as “throwing the mind a bone,” that is, giving an overly active mind something of substance to “chew” on, rather than simply focusing on the breath. With attention to the heart, the group was then invited to allow their “heartfelt prayer” (sankalpa) to arise along with an image of calm strength (bhavana). Sankalpa and bhavana also give the mind an active and empowering focus.

A lively warmup for the joints to the music of Krishna Das, followed by introductions in which we paired off, was a great ice-breaker. It’s hard to take yourself too seriously when “your hips are leading the dance.” The joint warmup is also a great way to get the body moving in the morning or whenever you’re feeling stiff or lethargic. Amy takes special care in her workshops to create “a safe container.” These informal introductions gave participants an opportunity to connect in a nonthreatening way.

On Friday evening, the group was led in a series of pranayama that is appropriate for both energizing and calming the body. The kriyas known as power hara, pulling prana, and breath of joy were helpful for releasing pent-up anxiety and cultivating a positive awareness of the body. These were followed by more quieting practices. One of the simplest LifeForce Yoga practices, which has been proven to shift mood, involves exhaling while dropping the chin to the chest and turning up the corners of the mouth (smiling!) and then lifting the head on an inhale. (LifeForce Yoga practices are available on video and CD/mp3 download from yogafordepression.com and are described in Amy’s book Yoga for Depression).

The evening ended with shanmuki mudra with brahmari (bee breath). Amy described how this combination helped one of her students, a psychologist who is now a LifeForce Yoga practitioner, to manage his symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder. The mudra assists in pratyahara (sense withdrawal), while the sound focuses the mind. This inward focused practice can also be very effective for rumination. The homework was to try three of the practices before breakfast the next morning. As Amy suggested, even if you’re depressed, you could practice breath of joy on the way back to bed from your obligatory morning visit to the bathroom. Just that might be enough to help you meet the day.

Saturday morning’s practice was a self-inquiry exercise done with a partner. This practice was meant to help deepen our awareness of ourselves as more than we appear to be, moving beyond illusion through a partner’s simple inquiry, “Who are you?” This is a very powerful practice through which deep truths can emerge. As Merari Fernandez, a bilingual psychotherapist and yoga instructor, remarked, “The exercises and techniques used in the workshop helped us find answers to simple but yet profound questions such as who we really are. These questions confront our shadows and reveal how our past insists on determining our present. The practice of yoga acknowledges the past but also provides the space to break free from it and be reborn to a present moment of safety and compassion.”

The morning ended with a pranayama practice and a delicious yoga nidra, offering participants the opportunity to settle into a state of deep relaxation riding the soothing waves of Amy’s gently calming voice.

Saturday afternoon’s practice was designed to meet the tamasic (depressed) mood, starting quietly and building to more active asana. One of my favorites is the Victory Goddess, which is a graduated (standing) goddess pose combined with the energizing chant “Di-Ri-Ha!” There were lots of victorious smiles after that one! This practice included energizing bija (seed) mantras and other chants that stimulate the body and mind. Another favorite of mine is “Ma-Ha-Ha!” chanted enthusiastically with heart lifted to the sky in Front Warrior. We ended with the energizing version of the LifeForce Yoga chakra (energy center) clearing meditation.

Sunday morning’s practice, designed to meet the rajasic (anxious) mood, started strong with energetic kriyas including pulling prana and power hara. Active standing asana eventually transitioned to slower, mindful poses on the floor, accompanied by the cooling bija mantras. A quiet yoga nidra allowed gentle self-awareness and compassion to arise. Coming out of deep relaxation, we performed the cooling version of the LifeForce Yoga chakra-clearing practice, and then participants shared in triads what gains they would take with them into their own yoga practice.

The workshop ended with a circle and Amy calling on those who have preceded us, taught us, guided us, and challenged us, as we repeated for each: “Look at what I am doing with my Life!” After the weekend with Amy, we could truly say those words with self-compassion, joy, and enthusiasm.

Francine Kelley, LPC, RYT, is a psychotherapist at the Center for Contextual Change whose practice is focused on Mind, Body & Spirit Healing, which provides clients with a whole-person approach to mental health therapy including LifeForce Yoga ® , mindfulness, creative therapies, body-centered psychotherapy, EMDR, and Reiki as well as traditional talk therapy. Francine also teaches yoga at Bloom Yoga Studio and Galter Life Center in Chicago. She can be reached at francinek@centerforcontextualchange.org.

© Yoga for Depression, 2012. | Permalink | No comment

Yoga is not a cure for breast cancer, nor is it a shield from its occurrence.  I had breast cancer in 2000, perhaps linked to hormone treatment—mega doses of estrogen in my late teens and early twenties.  No one can say for sure.  And other yoga friends have been shocked by a diagnosis.  It’s easy to be disbelieving, when we think we’re living an immune system-bolstering “sattvic” lifestyle, but yoga sisters have not been spared from this life-threatening, and in one yoga friend’s case, life-taking disease.  But for those of us who have been treated for breast cancer, yoga has certainly helped.  In the research section below, I’ve summarized three recent studies related to mood in breast cancer survivors who have received therapeutic yoga treatment.

Yoga research is advancing.  We are no longer just showing that yoga works to lift mood, energy and decrease levels of anxiety, depression and fatigue, but researchers are beginning to compare different approaches to Yoga with each other.  I’ve summarized two studies below that compare different yoga and meditation-based modalities with one and other to determine which modalities are most effective in balancing mood.

Other recent studies summarized below look at the effects of chanting “Om,” the effect of sudarshan kriya breathing on anxiety, and the effect of sensory-based yoga on combat related stress.  I am quite heartened by the fMRI study regarding “Om chanting” which has a quieting affect on the limbic system and may make vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) obsolete!  I’ve been calling yoga teachers, particularly those of us who use mantra chanting in asana practice, “Amygdala Whisperers.”  It’s wonderful when scientific research corroborates yogic wisdom.

I write this newsletter on the day my publisher is sending my new book, Yoga Skills for Therapists to the printer.  I’m excited and also feel like hiding under a rock.  But I feel the manuscript gently held by the kind words of advanced readers like Dan Siegel, Tara Brach, Stephen Cope, Richard Hanson, Rama Jyoti Vernon, Lilias, James Gordon, Richard Brown, Patricia Gerbarg, Shirley Telles and so many others. You can read more about the new book and consider placing an advance order.

Namasté,

Amy

In This Issue:

• Research: Yoga Helps Breast Cancer Patients with Mood, Immune Response and Fatigue
• Research: Spiritually-oriented Yoga Better then Exercise-oriented Yoga for Overall Mental Health
• Research: Chanting Om Shown to Deactivate the Limbic System—a Known Treatment for Depression
• Research: Sudharshan Kriya Also Helps Anxiety
• Research: Sensory-Enhanced Yoga Helps Combat Stress in Iraq
• News: Trauma Recovery from a Yoga Perspective – YOGA HUB  workshop
• News: Embodied Practices online course with Trauma specialist Deirdre Fay starts January 27
• Review: Spontaneous Happiness by Andrew Weil, MD
  
• Review: Ocean of the Heart: Shri Ram Jaya Ram and Tejase: The Essence of Illumination by Todd Norian
  
• Calendar Highlights

Research: Yoga Helps Breast Cancer Patients with Mood, Immune Response and Fatigue

In two separate studies, Yoga has been shown to help Breast Cancer Patients. In one 3-month study done in Bangalore, India, 45 patients were randomized to a daily yoga intervention and 46 to standard supportive counseling. The subjects, with an average age of 50.5 years, were assessed at baseline and after the intervention. The yoga intervention was resoundingly effective in improving psychosocial states, reducing anxiety, depression, fatigue, cognitive function, and quality of life, as compared to the control group.

The yoga group also showed a significant decrease in early morning (6:00 am) cortisol levels, which is a measure of stress. After the intervention, there was also a significant increase in the percentage of natural killer cells in the yoga group, compared with the control group. Previous research has demonstrated that natural killer cells, which are naturally occurring cytotoxins, play a therapeutic role in the treatment of human cancers.

www.medscape.com/viewarticle/755571

In the second study, after three months of twice-weekly yoga classes, a group of breast cancer survivors in California reported significantly diminished fatigue and increased “vigor.” A control group of women who took classes in post-cancer health issues, but didn’t do yoga, had no changes in their fatigue or depression levels.

Cancer. 2011 Dec 16. doi: 10.1002/cncr.26702.

www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/30/us-yoga-fatigue-idUSTRE7BT19I20111230

A third recently published study published in the Western Journal of Nursing Research, discovered that Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), a form of meditation that also incorporates yoga can help breast-cancer survivors “improve their emotional and physical well-being.” The study, which was conducted by researchers at the University of Missouri, concluded that “breast cancer survivors who learned Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction lowered their blood pressure, heart rate and respiratory rate, and their mood improved.”

www.redorbit.com/news/health/1112447746/breast-cancer-survivors-could-benefit-from-yoga-study-says/

Research: Spiritually-oriented Yoga Better then Exercise-oriented Yoga for Overall Mental Health

Now that yoga has been shown in previous research to raise GABA levels and elevate mood, as compared to walking exercise, researchers have begun comparing and contrasting styles of yoga. In two recent studies, different approaches to the use of yoga were compared. In a study at the University of Southern Mississippi that compared yoga as exercise to a more integrated yoga practice that included an ethical/spiritual component, only the integrated yoga group experienced decreased anxiety-related symptoms and decreased salivary cortisol from the beginning to the end of the study. In the study, 81 mild to moderately depressed undergraduate students were divided into three groups: exercise-yoga, integrated yoga, and a control group. Over time, participants in both the integrated and exercise yoga groups experienced decreased depression and stress, an increased sense of hopefulness, and increased flexibility compared to the control group.

Altern Ther Health Med. 2011 May-Jun;17(3):22-9.

In a second comparative study in London, researchers compared Iyengar Yoga (posture base with less emphasis on breathing) to Mindfulness Meditation and also to a style of yoga-like meditative exercises called “brain wave vibration training (BWV)” that incorporates a self-patting massage, specific breathing in postures, and rhythmic movements of the head and neck to music. The authors report: 35 healthy adults completed 10 75-minute classes of BWV, Iyengar, or Mindfulness over five weeks.

Participants were assessed at pre- and postintervention for mood, sleep, mindfulness, absorption, health, memory, and salivary cortisol. Better overall mood and vitality followed both BWV and Iyengar training, while the BWV group alone had improved depression and sleep latency. Mindfulness produced a comparatively greater increase in absorption. All interventions improved stress and mindfulness, while no changes occurred in health, memory, or salivary cortisol. In conclusion, increased well-being followed training in all three practices, increased absorption was specific to Mindfulness, while BWV was unique in its benefits to depression and sleep latency, warranting further research.

Research: Chanting Om Shown to Deactivate the Limbic System—a Known Treatment for Depression

In a study conducted at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience in India, chanting Om was found to have a similar effect as the implantation of a vagus nerve stimulator (VNS). The VNS, which requires invasive surgery and affects the vocal chords, has been shown to be beneficial in the treatment of both epilepsy and depression. But the same areas of the brain are affected with the chanting of “Om.” Both implantation of the VNS and ‘OM’ chanting produce limbic deactivation, the opposite of what happens when we are depressed or fearful or traumatized.

The researchers compared 15 seconds of “OM” (5 – O; 10 – m) to 15 seconds of the sound “Ssssss…” and to 15 seconds of rest.  Using fMRI, as well as other measuring methods, the researchers found significant deactivation in the amygdala, anterior cingulate gyrus, hippocampus, insula, orbitofrontal cortex, parahippocampal gyrus and thalamus during ‘OM’ chanting. The “ssss” task did not produce any significant activation/deactivation in any of these brain regions. It is theorized that like the VNS, ‘Om’ chanting creates a vibration sensation around the ears that is transmitted through the auricular branch of the vagus nerve. This transmission would then deactivate the limbic system.

Bangalore G Kalyani, Ganesan Venkatasubramanian, Rashmi Arasappa, Naren P Rao, Sunil V Kalmady, Rishikesh V Behere, Hariprasad Rao, Mandapati K Vasudev, and Bangalore N Gangadhar “Neurohemodynamic correlates of ‘OM’ chanting: A pilot functional magnetic resonance imaging study” International Journal of Yoga. 2011 Jan-Jun; 4(1): 3–6.

Research: Sudharshan Kriya Also Helps Anxiety

Previous research has shown that Sudarshan Kriya (SKY), developed by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and taught by the Art of Living Foundation, decreases the symptoms of depression. The current study, published this month by the International Journal of Yoga, demonstrates its effectiveness for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). The study, which took place in Canada and involved researchers in both Canada and the US, looked at SKY, a multicomponent yoga-based, breath intervention program as an adjunctive treatment in patients suffering from generalized anxiety disorder. Of the 31 study completers, 73% had a positive response and 41% had a complete remission of symptoms. The study participants were outpatients at a treatment center who not only met the criteria for GAD, but who had failed to achieve remission despite previous treatments with CBT and/or Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MSBR). During the study, the patients continued to take stable doses of psychotropic medications.

Martin A Katzman¹, Monica Vermani², Patricia L Gerbarg³, Richard P Brown⁴, Christina Iorio⁵, Michele Davis⁶, Catherine Cameron², Dina Tsirgielis²(2012). “A multicomponent yoga-based, breath intervention program as an adjunctive treatment in patients suffering from generalized anxiety disorder with or without comorbidities has been published by the International Journal of Yoga.” International Journal of Yoga, 5,1: 57-65

www.ijoy.org.in/article.asp?issn=0973-6131;year=2012;volume=5;issue=1;spage=57;epage=65;aulast=Katzman

Research: Sensory-Enhanced Yoga Helps Combat Stress in Iraq

In a soon to be published article in American Journal of Occupational Therapy, researchers in the US and Iraq, of whom several have been directly involved in developing yoga programs for soldiers and their families (Warriors at Ease and Yoga Warriors International), conducted a randomized controlled trial using sensory-enhanced yoga. In this style of yoga, cues are provided to stay present to body sensations, particularly in hands and feet. In the study that involved 70 military personnel deployed in Iraq, treatment participants showed significantly greater improvement than control participants on 16 of 18 mental health and quality-of-life factors. There was a decrease in sensory seeking, which could indicate a further reduction in hyper-arousal.

Stoller, C. C., Greuel, J. H., Cimini, L. S., Fowler, M. S., & Koomar, J. A. (2012). Effects of sensory-enhanced yoga on symptoms of combat stress in deployed military personnel. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 66, 59–68.

News: Trauma Recovery from a Yoga Perspective – YOGA HUB  workshop

I’ll be discussing what happens in the brain when trauma occurs, how it affects our biochemistry after the event, and how yoga can help bring our inner pharmacy back into balance.  I’ll lead a centering practice for trauma that creates a safe and sacred container, which, in addition to fostering the therapeutic bond, allows the trauma releasing work to proceed, often without a story attached.   We will discuss and practice yoga techniques that lay the groundwork for trauma recovery and then gradually begin to restore equilibrium in the traumatized individual.  We’ll discuss how safe yoga practices that include pranayama, mantra, mudra, bhavana (visual imagery) and movement can empower the student or client to be the agent of his or her own healing.

I’m one of  35 speakers during the Virtual World Yoga & Meditation Conference: February 7th through 11th, 2012. You can attend live by phone or computer or download and listen later. To register please click here.
Feel free to share this code with family and friends who may be interested in wellness.

News: Embodied Practices online course with Trauma specialist Deirdre Fay starts January 27

I am always inspired by psychotherapist Deirdre Fay’s work. She weaves her knowledge of yoga and meditation as well as Internal Family Systems into her embodied work with clients. This new 6-part online series is accompanied by a beautiful manual that includes over 170 pages of good information and exercises. If you want to release those nagging inner patterns that seem to weave their way psychologically and emotionally through the cells of our bodies, I highly recommend this audio course. It is a structured, supported way to practice entering the body safely every day.

Here’s a sample on You Tube.

Read more.

Review: Spontaneous Happiness

by Andrew Weil, MD

With his 13th book, Andrew Weil, the pioneer in integrative medicine (IM) has bushwhacked the inevitable trail from body mind medicine into the vast terrain of mental health. For most of us who’ve been on this trail, following the ancient yogis and Buddhists and Taoists, the information in Spontaneous Happiness is welcome validation. Referencing the work of Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert, Weil tells us that, “science confirms the advice of saints and sages over eons: emotional wellbeing must come from within, because reaching external goals often disappoints.”

Weil calls himself a “lifelong medical multiculturalist,” who went public with his advocacy of integrating traditional methods of healing into contemporary evidence-based medicine long before it was popular. As the author of books selling approximately ten million copies and a popular website that is the go-to health resource for millions of people around the world, he is ideally suited to bring mind body medicine into both the arena of traditional mental health treatment and into popular consciousness.

Despite the title, Spontaneous Happiness is not really about achieving happiness. “The notion that a human being should be constantly happy is a uniquely modern, uniquely American, uniquely destructive idea. Rather, Andrew Weil does an excellent, modern-day job, backed by current scientific evidence, of teaching readers what those saints and sages taught—how to sustain an emotional equilibrium, a homeostasis that is healthy enough to withstand the challenges of life in a human body-mind.

Having set the stage with an overview of depression and a discussion of the limitations of the biomedical model for treating it, Weil presents evidence-based strategies from Eastern and Western traditions and a discussion of how to integrate them into mental health care. What follows is a comprehensive exploration of the body-based treatments and effective how-to’s.

We come to know Weil, not simply as the expert, but as the guy who gets stuck sometimes in negative mood states, just like the rest of us. He shares anecdotes from his own life, never claiming that he has achieved spontaneous happiness (defined as a state that can only come from within) or even emotional wellbeing all the time. But from the work-in-progress that is his life of success and failure, joy and grief, weakness and strength (not so different from you and me), he has had enough experience of “what emotional health feels like” to be a guide to sustaining an “emotional sea level”—a place of basic comfort “both when things are going well and when they aren’t.” Weil defines this as “emotional resilience.” In this state, “you don’t have to resist feeling appropriate sadness; you learn that your moods are dynamic and flexible and that they soon return to the neutral balance point, the zone of contentment, comfort and serenity.”

Weil devotes a chapter to analyzing the sources of what has become the common and well-documented view that depression has become epidemic. Aside from the marketing of depression by big pharma worldwide, resulting in an increase of the diagnosis of depression and an exponential increase in antidepressant prescriptions, Weil cites the work of Richard Louv, who coined the phrase “nature deficit disorder.” We no longer live and work outdoors and we no longer work with our hands to sustain our lives. For ten thousand years, agriculture was our common occupation. In 1801, Weil tells us, 95 percent of Americans lived on farms.

By 2000, less than 2 percent of us were farmers. Technology makes life easier and more sedentary. The foods we eat are processed and less wholesome. And prosperity is isolating us from each other. We’re plugged in and tuned out from face to face interactions with others. In the yogic view, this disconnection and the isolation that our sedentary hand-held devices provide is the source of our suffering. Although Weil doesn’t discuss this directly, the physical labor in which our ancestors engaged meant they were breathing more deeply, too. Again, from a yogic perspective, the lack of prana (accessed when we take deep, full breaths) is another reason why we can become lethargic and depressed.

Weil does battle with the reigning biomedical model predominate in psychiatry since the revision of the 1980 revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-III). He says that psychiatrists, “still referred to as witch doctors and shrinks,” suffered from a “collective inferiority complex with regard to their place in the medical hierarchy” and therefore embraced psychopharmacology in a misguided attempt to be seen as “biologically correct.”

Weil points out that despite the fact that since 1998 we’ve had hard evidence that the most commonly prescribed antidepressants work no better than placebos, prescriptions for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have multiplied around the globe. What he proposes is a model of integrated treatment that may include medication, but not, in most cases, as a first line treatment. That model was manifest at the first national conference on integrative mental health in 2012 that he and Dr. Victoria Maizes convened, where nutrition, sleep, and Eastern modalities, including yoga (I was fortunate to present the yoga and mental health component) were considered indispensable for an integrative approach to sustaining optimal mental health and treating depression and other mood disorders.

Citing Richard Davidson’s well-known research at the University of Wisconsin on the potential of meditation to alter brain function and structure, Weil documents the now-proven concept that “neuroplasticity is a fundamental characteristic of our brains.” What this means is that with training, “emotions such as happiness and compassion can be cultivated in much the same way that a person can learn … to play golf or basketball or master a musical instrument, and that such practice changes the activity and physical aspects of specific brain areas.”

Part 2 of Spontaneous Happiness, which takes up more than half of the book is called “Practice” and in it, Weil shares from the wealth of his forty years as a medical multiculturalist, the many mind-body approaches he has explored and found useful in the treatment of depression and mood disorders.

Part 3 provides an easy to follow 8-week program for readers to try on their own that builds week-by-week to include attention to diet and sleep, exercise, breathing practices and self-inquiry.

The appendix is a compendium of useful reference material both regular readers and health professionals.

Spontaneous Happiness, along with Unstuck by Dr. James Gordon and How to Use Herbs, Nutrients and Yoga for Mental Health Care by Drs. Richard Brown, Patricia Gerbarg and Philip Muskin, constitutes one of the classic references in the field of integrative mental health treatment for both lay and professional readers.

Review: Ocean of the Heart: Shri Ram Jaya Ram and Tejase: The Essence of Illumination

by Todd Norian

From one of America’s most heart-centered yogis and musicians comes two new CDs for yoga and relaxation. Ocean of the Heart is a soothing evocation of the great mantra Shri Ram Jaya Ram. Practitioners and teachers alike will appreciate the slow, serene flow of mantra and music on the 22 minute track and the 4 variations, each approximately ten minutes, designed to support a deep relaxation at the end of yoga asana practice.

On Tejase, Todd Norian sets an ancient prayer currently chanted at the beginning of Anusara Yoga classes. His original music illuminates the prayer and the practitioner in the light of the “true teacher within and without.” In Norian’s rendition, the prayer inspires heart-centered movement and devotion. As in Ocean of the Heart, there are 4 shorter tracks designed for relaxation after yoga asana practice. Listen for the sound behind the sound, the light behind the light, the tejase, which “is a Sanskrit word that means the vital essence of illumination.”

Calendar Highlights:

Feb 3 — Feb 5, Stockbridge, MA

Manage Your Mood with LifeForce Yoga – I am Bliss and So Are You!
Kripalu Center, 800-741-7353
www.kripalu.org/presenter/28

Feb 7 — Feb 11, Your Home

World Yoga and Meditation Conference
Amy will be presenting “Grief in the Tissues: Trauma Recovery from a Yoga Perspective” 888-YOGA HUB (888-964-2482)
www.yogahub.com/ref/amyw/7ccb8f61.html

Feb 10 — Feb 12, Asheville, NC

LifeForce Yoga to Manage Your Mood
Asheville Yoga Center, 828-254-0380
www.youryoga.com

Mar 10 — Mar 11, Tucson, AZ

Tucson Festival of Books
University of Arizona Campus, Amy will be presenting with Michele Herbert, author of The Tenth Door on Sunday, March 11 at 4pm at the U of A Bookstore. Festival is Free.
www.tucsonfestivalofbooks.com

Mar 21 — Mar 25, Washington, DC

Psychotherapy Networker Symposium
Omni Shoreham Hotel, Amy will be leading morning yoga, afternoon meditations, a full Creativity Day workshop entitled “Yoga and Self-Inquiry,” along with a clinical presentation “Yoga for Self-Regulation.”
www.psychotherapynetworker.org/symposium/symposium-2012/march-22/itemlist/tag/S12%20Amy%20Weintraub

Mar 25, Silver Spring, MD

LifeForce Yoga to Manage Your Mood
1:30 — 5:30pm, Willow Street Yoga Center, 301-270-8038
willowstreetyoga.com/workshops.php#3d4fa84ed60200001cd44a7441450000

Mar 30 — Apr 1, Atlanta, GA

LifeForce Yoga to Manage Your Mood 
Kashi Atlanta, 404.687.3353
kashiatlanta.org/workshopsWinter2012/workshops_Weintraub.htm

Apr 3 — Apr 5, Paradise Island, Bahamas

Easter and Passover Symposium and Celebration – Yoga and Sacred Healing
Amy will be presenting at this Symposium. Please note: the Symposium dates are April 1 – 10.
Sivananda Ashram, Bahamas, 866-446-5934.
www.sivanandabahamas.org

Apr 6 — Apr 12,  Paradise Island, Bahamas

LifeForce Yoga Practitioner Training for Depression & Anxiety – Level 1
Sivananda Ashram, Bahamas, 866-446-5934. This is a certification training for yoga teachers and health professionals. Joining Amy as faculty are Dr. Shirley Telles, as well as LifeForce Yoga Practitioners -Level 2, who are highly trained yoga and/or mental health professionals. Information on the LifeForce Yoga Practitioner Training can be found here: yogafordepression.com/training/
www.sivanandabahamas.org/course.php?course_id=3124&var=amy weintraub&range=a

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Amy Weintraub Interview: Creativity + Emotions + Yoga

Moods can mangle our creativity. Just ask AMY WEINTRAUB. Over 15 years ago, Amy was a depressed novelist living in New York City. Near-paralyzed by depression, she went on anti-depressants and hoped for a miracle. Instead, she found yoga. And dropped the anti-depressants. She also wrote a top-selling book.

Author of Yoga for Depression (Random House 2004), recipient of an MFA in Creative Writing from Bennington, an award-winning film maker, founder of Life Force Yoga Training led around the world, author of numerous CDs and DVDs, and a highly respected thought leader in emotions & yoga, Amy Weintraub these days is anything but paralyzed.

And she has much we can learn from when it comes to implementing quick tools for our creative flow and letting the body and breath be part and parcel of our creative enterprising and process.

She was generous enough to talk with me recently. The interview-conversation follows.

Highlights:

• Yoga’s Liftoff for a Depressed Novelist
• How Yoga Opens Our Creative Receptivity
• Creatives & Yogis as Amygdala Whisperers
• Teaching & Facilitating as Creative Work
• Wonder On & Off the Mat
• Amy’s Life Flow Yoga Training on Paradise Island, Bahamas
• Amy’s new book
• Special Bonus: An Easy Exercise to Lift Brooding Moods

© Yoga for Depression, 2011. | Permalink | No comment

Effective Practices for Mood Management

(W.W. Norton)

Coming March, 2012! Pre-order from the publisher today!

Yoga Skills for Therapists introduces healing professionals to the timeless teachings of yoga that are applicable in a clinical setting — no mat required. As a practical, hands-on guidebook, Yoga Skills offers clinicians the use and proper application of evidence-based Yoga strategies to better serve themselves and their clients in basic mood management and trauma release.

These Yoga strategies are drawn from the author’s research and study of multiple traditions and lineages, resulting in a compendium of Yoga-based practices that are specific to mood management.(...)
Read the rest of Yoga Skills for Therapists (1,375 words)

© Yoga for Depression, 2011. | Permalink | 3 comments

Practice LifeForce Yoga regularly and begin to reconnect with your true nature, the wholeness you are beneath the current mood.

Train as a LifeForce Yoga Practitioner and empower your clients and students to manage their moods.

LifeForce Yoga offers hundreds of Yoga tools that are not always taught in regular classes, and many that are simple enough to do in a chair or while lying down. These practices help you strip away the obstacles that separate you from your source of wellbeing. Yoga changed my life and the lives of my students.

© Yoga for Depression, 2011. | Permalink | No comment

You may be reading this book because you or someone you love is suffering the torment of depression. If you are considering the beginning of a Yoga practice as a means to lessen your anguish and change yourself in some way, you would be on the right track. A daily Yoga practice will bring your physical body and your emotional body into balance, restoring a sense of well being and energy. You will feel more energy, love yourself more and have a happier life. But consider a somewhat different approach taken by the ancient yogis. Yoga teaches us to ask, why do we suffer when our natural state is sat chit ananda, the intelligent awareness of bliss? This is not some “blissed out” high, but a fully mindful state of stable equanimity, informed by “intelligent awareness.” Because beneath even the chaos of mania, the agony of depression, Yoga says, you are whole, or as yogi, psychotherapist and author Stephen Cope puts it, “We are vaguely aware that, at least in some parallel universe, we are unutterably fine just the way we are.”

When you step onto your Yoga mat, you are reminded of that wholeness, and the practice clears a pathway through your symptoms to the ground of your being, that which is your natural state. “Depression,” says international Yoga teacher and psychologist Richard Miller, “Is the feeling of separation from self.” The underlying yogic approach to treating depression is “informed by the knowledge that there is no separation.” The therapist “stands firm in the truth of oneness.” In other words, Yoga begins, not with the question—what is wrong with me? But what is right with me?

Here in the West, we are accustomed to thinking of mental health from the perspective of illness—how best to understand and treat our symptoms. But we practice Yoga as preventative and positive medicine. Just as the immune system is strengthened against the common cold and other viruses with daily practice, the emotional body is strengthened as well. The highs, the lows, the extremes of all the emotions are brought into balance by the practice. In every stage of Yoga, you will find relief from obsessive negative thinking. When you are first learning a pose and moving into it, you cannot possibly obsess about what you should have said in the meeting this morning. To learn the pose, your mind must focus on the details of alignment. Later, when you’re in the pose and you allow your mind to become absorbed in the sensations in your body, you are very far from your everyday troubles.

© Yoga for Depression, 2011. | Permalink | No comment

A Compassionate Guide to Relieve Suffering Through Yoga

(Broadway Books, 2004)

Read an Excerpt From Chapter One

Buy on Amazon

Here’s what the experts are saying:

“Yoga for Depression is a godsend: beautifully written, medically accurate, and very practical. I highly recommend it!” — Christiane Northrup, M.D., author of Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom and The Wisdom of Menopause

(...)
Read the rest of Yoga for Depression (605 words)

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That’s why I’ve created this gift for you, simply because you are interested LifeForce Yoga and/or ways to sustain optimum mental health for you and those you serve. Many of you may already own LifeForce Yoga CDs or DVDs, so this LifeForce Yoga Nidra is a gift of thanks. May it support your ease and joy.

Please click here Special Gift (directions for listening and downloading are on the page).

Please read on for reviews of new CDs, books and DVDs I like and events that may make you or someone in your life a little happier this holiday season.

A warm namasté,

Amy

Amy Weintraub
LifeForce Yoga Healing Institute

In This Issue

• Research: Mind-Body Programs for Trauma Survivors
• River of Sound: Chants for Awakening & Balancing the Chakras
• Yawning Yoga: A Goodnight Book for a Good Night’s Sleep
• Trauma Sensitve Yoga DVD

RESEARCH: Mind-Body Programs for Trauma Survivors

There’s a wealth of material for anyone interested in the application of yoga and mind-body solutions for trauma treatment in the current issue of the International Journal of Yoga Therapy. Gathered in “Mass Disasters and Mind-Body Solutions: Evidence and Field Insights” by researchers and authors Patricia Gerbarg, MD, and Richard P. Brown, MD,(How to Use Herbs, Nutrients and Yoga for Mental Health Care) and teaching colleague Gretchen Wallace is a survey of programs currently in use in treating trauma-related conditions following mass disasters. This article not only reports the results of the mind-body therapies in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but also discusses the challenges, cultural and otherwise,in delivering the treatment in traumatized communities.

The authors discuss their own program, Breath Body Mind (BBM), and report on the results of its implementation with 2010 hurricane survivors in Haiti, and with torture survivors in Rwanda. Additionally, they conduct interviews with Dr. James Gordon, Director of the Center for Mind Body Medicine and author of the popular book on natural treatments for depression, Unstuck, whose trauma-treatment programis implemented in Kosovo, Gaza and Israel, with American veterans and other places where mass disasters have occurred.

For example, we learn of the decrease in PTSD symptoms in a controlled study with teenagers who participated in Dr. Gordon’s 12-weekprogram in Kosovo. Included in article this survey article is a report on the research on yoga-based trauma interventions conducted by Dr. Shirley Telles, director of research at Patanjali Yogpeeth in Haridwar India, and the director of the Indian Council of Medical Research at the Center for Advanced Research in Yoga & Neurophysiology.

She and her colleagues studied the impact of a one-week yoga intervention developed by the Vivekanandra Kendra for survivors following the 2004 tsunami in the Adaman Islands and more recently, another one-week yoga training developed by Swami Ramdev for flood survivors in Bihar, India. Impressive outcome data from an earlier 2004study that utilized an 8-hour yoga-breath intervention for tsunami survivors is also included.

What links most of these studies is a focus on breathing practices as trauma treatment.Similar practices (BBM) were taught to first responders and others affected by the September 11th attacks, and to patients in a Toronto clinic suffering from treatment-resistant anxiety. In all of these studies, the authors could conclude that the mind-body intervention significantly reduced symptoms of PTSD. The authors also include reports from this intervention and its application with traumatized populations in the Sudan, in Rwanda, and in Nicaragua.

The authors do not shy away from discussing the risks in working in mass with trauma survivors, including such issues as cultural misunderstanding and the need for cultural and trauma sensitivity, minimizing the risk of adverse reactions and dealing with caregiver stress.

Much of this material is inspiring. The researchers and teachers go to places where emotionally-devastated communities face severe shortages of basic needs like food and shelter and sometimes even potable water. The providers are often exposed to extreme suffering. The article suggests ways of coping and treating the care-givers themselves. What I find most inspiring is that in order to continue to serve the affected communities when the treatment providers and researchers have gone home,in most of these interventions, community leaders are taught the strategies so that they can deliver them to those they serve.

In places where whole communities have been traumatized, providing members of those communities with the tools to teach yoga and breathing practices and meditation and other healing modalities, without concern for a 500 hour teaching certificate or a PhD in psychology is essential.These dedicated researchers stay linked to the communities where they have overseen the intervention. There is follow up, so that the providers know that not only did the traumatized survivors show improvement after the intervention, they can see that in teaching the community leaders these self-care practices, the improvement continues.

Most exciting for readers is that with this issue The International Journal of Yoga Therapy, articles are soon to be indexed on PubMed. In the meantime, if you would like to read this article, please visit www.haveahealthymind.com to contact the author, Dr. Gerbarg.

River of Sound: Chants for Awakening & Balancing the Chakras

by Rama Jyoti Vernon

Reviewed by Amy Weintraub

If you can’t get to a workshop with master yogini and international yoga teacher Rama Jyoti Vernon, this CD may be the next best thing. River of Sound is not background music. In fact, it’s not even music as those of us who chant Kirtan know it. If however you want a glimpse into the depths of what the Sanskrit language offers in terms of psycho-emotional and physiological realignment, this CD is an invaluable resource. In it, we learn and practice Sanskrit vowels and diphthongs (the vibratory combination of vowels), and bija mantras. As Rama guides us from the poetic wisdom of her heart and soul, she shares teachings of universal truth.

“Sanskrit is like a great river,” she says in the introduction, “It just keeps flowing. All we do with the sound is we change the banks of the river with our teeth, our tongue and our lips.”

From her decades of practice and study with the great Indian yoga masters of the20th century, she has a wealth of knowledge that has been tested in the laboratory of her own body-mind and with the thousands of students whom she has instructed.While most of her formulations are aligned with the primary teachings of Nada Yoga (study of sound), some are different. She instills confidence in the listener so that we trust her system and willingly practice along with her a sound for swatistana chakra at the pelvic region, for example, that may be different than what we have learned.

In the introduction to the bija mantras, Rama explains that the sounds have no meaning but that they are potent and powerful vibrations “that realign our sensory organs” and bring us into “greater attunement within ourselves” that opens us to an “expanded attunement with the universe.” Woven throughout her extemporaneous teachings about the chakras are references to Patanjali’s Sutras and wisdom from her own inspiring sutras, full of passion and poetry. The listener hears that poetic passion in descriptions of, for instance this one about anahata the heart chakra: “As light dawns within our being, we are not creating anything but rather releasing the impediments ofthe past that have hardened areas that have blocked the light that is always there.”As she describes the releasing effect of the bija mantra on vissudha, the chakra at the throat, she says that Saraswati, the Goddess of wisdom, poetry and music,”will dance upon the tongue as the throat opens.”You might, as I did, weave this CD workshop with Rama into your morning practice. Let it be your meditation and, as Rama says, “awaken to who and what we are.”

Order CD here: www.cdbaby.com/cd/ramajyotivernon2

If you’re a yoga teacher or serious student, you might be inspired to join Rama for her Tucson retreat in March. February 2 – 7, 2012, Tucson, AZ, http://ramajyotivernon.com/?p=218

Yawning Yoga: A Goodnight Book for a Good Night’s Sleep

By Laurie Jordan; illustrations by Aaron Randy

Reviewed by Amy Weintraub

This wonderful bedtime book is written for both parents and children with the intention of a calm and easy bedtime and a good night’s sleep. Jordan provides wise advice for parents at the beginning of the book, suggesting that they not force their child’s participation. “The parent’s role,” she says, “is to make sure the child is both physically and emotionally safe.” She follows this with 4 tips for a better bedtime that are good suggestions, whether you read the book to the child and practice the poses or not.

What follows is joyful and practical. Through poetry and beautifully funny, colorful and uplifting illustrations, Jordan takes children and their parents through poses that meet and acknowledge the active body mind, “The day is done and it’s time for bed, but your body’s still moving/and there are thoughts in your head.

Traditional poses are renamed for kid-appeal. Mountain pose becomes “Greet the Moon,” and modified shoulder stand becomes “Candlestick.” Jordan instructs the child to “Kiss your hands and your fingers for all they have done,” and follows that with a wonderful body scan called “Good Night Little Body,” that begins with a tension and release exercise called “Hugs.” In the end, the parent engages with the child in the practice by giving the child the “spaghetti test,” holding and wiggling the child’s feet and hands to make sure “arms and legs are nice and floppy and relaxed.”

The book leaves plenty of room for engaging a child’s imagination and creativity,suggesting, “Use your mind’s eye and travel afar,” as a way to create a safe and secure place before falling asleep. “What can you see, hear, and feel? Picturing that makes it seem so real.”

Where the illustrations are playful and fun, the index at the back includes pictures of real children practicing the poses in their pajamas, often in bed, with precise instructions for each exercise.

Parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts and neighbors-if there is a young child or two in your life, you can bet she and he will love this book, and the parents will thank you and author Laurie Jordan for an easy bedtime!

Trauma Sensitive Yoga DVD

by Beth Jones

Reviewed by Rose Kress

For trauma survivors, to say that the body can be an uncomfortable place to live is an understatement. Bessel van der Kolk defines trauma as the “inability to be present.” Yoga is a tool, that when utilized, can bring anyone to the present moment.Beth Jones states that this Trauma Sensitive Yoga DVD is “specifically designed to address the needs of survivors who are actively working with a therapist or who have healed through traditional talk therapy and wish to now address the body.” This DVD is meant to provide a gentle entryway into the body.There are three tracks on this DVD; a three-minute introduction and two 30 minute yoga practices.

The first track is an introduction to Beth and Trauma Sensitive Yoga. As she speaks about the practice, demonstrations of both practices play on the screen. Beth gives permission to do as much as you would like, but also gives a reminder that “when and if healing occurs, depends on the individual.” This practice is designed in such a way that the participant can go at their own pace, exploring what arises.

The second track is the Chair Yoga practice. Beth guides breathing and centering and short meditation for noticing the body before moving on to gentle warm-ups,like neck stretches and should rolls. Gradually she leads explorations of deeper stretches as well as positions that awaken strength in the body, such as seated leg extensions and runner’s lunge supported by the chair. The positions are simple and easy movements appropriate for any body and any level of yoga experience.

Beth gives clear directions with plenty of permission to move at your own pace, to door not do, or back off as needed. She leads the practice in such a way that every direction seems like an invitation to explore movement and breath. During and in between the postures simple body sensing occurs — often Beth is inviting you to feel the connection of the feet to the floor. The posture practice ends with legs up the wall, a great inversion for the lymphatic system, as well as the nervous system. Finally, the whole practice ends with relaxation pose.

The third track is the Floor Routine. The practice includes the same movements except they are done on the floor. Inserts of the chair practice occur at times when modifications may be needed.Beth sets out to provide a safe and easy practice for trauma survivors and she does that effortlessly.

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