Issue 21

“When I look inside and see that I am empty, that is wisdom. When I look outside and see that I am everything, that is love. Between those two, my life turns.”

~Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

For many years, I wondered if there was a way to reconcile the Buddhist notion of emptiness with my own experiences on and off the mat of fullness–my sense of connection to everything. When I came across this quote by the Nondualist teacher Nisargadatta, I felt the apparent duality dissolve.

Why would such a philosophical point matter, you might ask, when there is so much fear and heartache in the world, when so many of us are struggling with root chakra issues like job security and financial stability? For me, when I can embrace the nothing inside that needs nothing, as well as the everything outside that connects me to all that I am, then fear and constriction around money and basic survival needs diminish. I can act from a place of clarity to fulfill those needs for myself and for others.

If you are worried now, please take a moment to breathe into the wisdom you are. Take a moment to breathe out love. Nothing and Everything. You are not separate from the wisdom and love of the cosmos. Nor are you separate from those who suffer. When you act in harmony with this knowledge, from this place of connection, you are in service to all.

A loving namasté,

Amy

In This Issue

NEWS: New Website Launched

RESEARCH: Depression During Pregnancy

LifeForce Yoga for Professionals – A Training on CD

NEWS: LifeForce Yoga® Bhavana

CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS

MEDIA MENTIONS

LIFEFORCE YOGA® RESOURCES

RESOURCES AMY RECOMMENDS

NEWS: NEW WEBSITE LAUNCHED!

I’m happy to announce that after months of work, we have just launched the new LifeForce Yoga website, still at the old address of www.yogafordepression.com! There are many new resources there for you, an easy navigation system, beautiful imagery and Hannah Caratti’s lyrical chanting of “Chandi” on the home page.

I would like to thank website designer, Loretta Mossburg of Plexus Design www.plexusdesign.com, and the friends whose opinions I solicited at each homepage draft. I would also like to thank Hannah Caratti www.yogahealingarts.net for her contribution of music, Rose Kress, Melissa Mimms, Dan Duncan, Leo Gosselin and Christine Austin for photography, and Judy & Stu Singer for tech support over the years.

In keeping with the launch of the site and the new look, we are redesigning all our LifeForce Yoga print material as well. Special thanks to Christine Simpson and Karen Scott of Great Scott Design www.gr8scottdesign.com for their creative work!

RESEARCH: Depression During Pregnancy Affects Premature Delivery

The outcome of a study reported in the peer-reviewed October issue of the online journal Human Reproduction, (www.humrep.oxfordjournals.org) showed that depressed women were twice as likely to have a premature delivery. Given that preterm births are a leading cause of infant death, treating depression in early pregnancy is vital to the health and wellbeing of both mother and infant. Since antidepressant treatment during pregnancy is controversial at best, complementary treatments like yoga are an important alternative to psychopharmacologicals, which could put the fetus at risk. Prenatal Yoga classes may be as important to a healthy birth as they are to the optimum mental and physical wellbeing of the mother.

NEWS: LIFEFORCE YOGA FOR PROFESSIONALS – A TRAINING ON CD

LifeForce Yoga Workshop on CD for Professionals:

Empower Your Clients to Manage Their Moods

This 12-hour+ workshop was recorded live at the Cape Cod Institute, August 4 – 8, 2008 on 11 CDs.

Learn and practice Yogic strategies to help clients focus, relax, and have greater access to feeling states. Discover for yourself the physiological changes occurring in the body during Yoga practice that produce the immediate “feel good” affect, and experience the shift in your own outlook as we practice simple exercises that can change your life and the lives of your clients.

For more information and to order click here.

Amy will be offering this workshop again, July 20 – 24th at the CAPE COD INSTITUTE

The CAPE COD INSTITUTE is a summer long series of 26 week-long in-depth continuing education courses for mental health and

management professionals, taught by leading contributors to knowledge and practice. Sessions are held Monday-Friday mornings, leaving the afternoons free for leisure and study. The courses are approved for continuing education credit for various professional groups.

For Further Information:

CAPE COD INSTITUTE

www.cape.org

Toll Free: 888-394-9293

E-mail: prolearning@behavior.net

NEWS: LIFEFORCE YOGA BHAVANA:

New LifeForce Yoga Resource

LifeForce Yoga Bhavana

LifeForce Yoga Bhavana:

Say Yes to Yourself ~ A Guided Relaxation Experience

Align heart and mind to find your life’s mission. This guided relaxation experience (Bhavana) helps you reconnect with the burning bush in your heart and say “yes” to that heart’s desire and to Yourself. This original and inspiring guided visualization practice incorporates mantra, pranayama breathing, some gentle stretching, and a writing exercise.

  1. Introduction 2:23
  2. Calm Strength – Intro 1:51
  3. Calm Strength – Bhavana 4:26
  4. Yes to Yourself – Intro 7:07
  5. Yes to Yourself – Set-up 5:59
  6. Yes to Yourself – Clearing the Space with Movement 9:43
  7. Yes to Yourself – Clearing the Space with Breath 7:40
  8. Yes to Yourself – Bhavana 13:41
  9. Yes to Yourself – Automatic Writing 2:37
  10. Yes to Yourself – Closing 3:20

Total Running Time 53:47

Written & produced by Amy Weintraub

Music composed and performed by Bill Cashman

Recorded by Bill Cashman at the Cavern Studios Tucson

To order your own copy of LifeForce Yoga Bhavana, click here.

CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS: Winter/Spring

After the January Retreat and LifeForce Practitioner Training in Tucson, I look forward to seeing many of you at Kripalu at the end of the month for LifeForce Yoga® to Manage Your Mood.

In February, I’ll see some of you on the West Coast of Florida at Joyful Yoga in Bonita Springs, or in Arizona at the Bisbee Yoga Expo.

After the first Tucson Book Festival, March winds will blow me to Chicago for a weekend at Generations Yoga and then on to Washington D.C. for one of the highlights of my year-teaching and learning from some of the most brilliant thinkers and creative therapists in the world at the annual Psychotherapy Networker Symposium. March ends with my second visit to Willow Street Yoga, this time at their Silver Spring, MD location.

In April, I’ll be offering workshops in Tampa at the Lotus Pond, at Kripalu with author, yogi, and psychopharmacologist Richard Brown, M.D., and at the Yoga Therapeutics Conference at Kripalu.

In May, I look forward to returning to Mount Madonna in Watsonville, California.

In June, I’m happy to be teaching for the first time in London. I’ll lead a weekend mood management workshop and a LifeForce Yoga Practitioner Training for Yoga Teachers and Health Professionals.

KRIPALU CENTER

Lenox, MA (January 30 – February 1, 2009)

LifeForce Yoga® to Manage Your Mood

This weekend will help you cultivate the compassionate inner space that allows you to embrace life’s challenges with a peaceful mind and a courageous heart. In this inspiring workshop, you will learn and practice breathing exercises, easy postures, guided meditations, and other experiential yogic tools for managing your mood.

BISBEE YOGA EXPO

Bisbee, AZ (February 13 – 16, 2009)

Give the Mind A Bone: LifeForce Yoga® Chakra Clearing Workshop

Breathe-yes; meditate–of course! But how, when you’re in the middle of a busy day or a stressful situation? Lean a meditation that ticks the mind into mindfulness even in the midst of chaos.

LifeForce Yoga®: From Blues to Bliss ~ All Day Intensive

You’ll learn strategies that can help alleviate both depression and anxiety and methods to safely release chronically held tension and repressed emotion in the physical and emotional body.

UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

Tucson, AZ (March 13 – 15, 2009)

Tucson Festival of Books

The first annual Festival of Books

promotes a region-wide public celebration of reading and literacy.

GENERATIONS YOGA CENTER

Chicago, IL (March 20 – 22, 2009)

LifeForce Yoga® to Manage Your Mood

In Yoga, one size doesn’t fit all-all bodies, all levels of experience, all moods. Learn to assess the mood–yours and your students–and design a menu of practices to meet it.

PSYCHOTHERAPY NETWORKER SYMPOSIUM

Washington D.C. (March 26 – 29, 2009)

Psychotherapy Networker Symposium

Amy is the LifeForce Yoga® Facilitator leading morning yoga, afternoon meditations, an all-day Creativity Intensive, and a clinical-applications workshop.

WILLOW STREET YOGA

Silver Spring, MD (March 29, 2009)

LifeForce Yoga® to Manage Your Mood

In a safe and accepting environment, Amy will teach you yogic strategies that can help you maintain your optimum mental health and methods to safely release chronically held tension and repressed emotion in the physical and emotional body

THE LOTUS POND

Tampa, FL (April 3 – 5, 2009)

LifeForce Yoga: From Blues to Bliss

In this inspiring workshop, you will learn and practice breathing exercises, easy postures, guided meditations, and other experiential yogic tools for managing your mood that are not often taught in regular yoga classes. Amy will guide you through practices to help you dissolve the obstacles that keep you from knowing the joy that is your birthright.

KRIPALU CENTER

Lenox, MA (April 20 – 24, 2009)

Kripalu Yoga Therapy Conference

LifeForce Yoga Therapy: Meeting Negative Beliefs and Feelings on the Mat

In this workshop, you will learn a yogic inquiry practice (svadhyaya) that addresses the negative beliefs and feelings associated with depression and anxiety. When your student or client says, “I can’t,” or begins to cry, this strategy shows you how to dive beneath the story, through the body’s wisdom, to mine the depths of self-limiting beliefs and shift negative self-talk. Through a demo and practice, you will learn to apply the technique to your own self-inquiry, as well as in your yoga therapy and teaching practice.

KRIPALU CENTER

Lenox, MA (April 24 – 26, 2009)

LifeForce Yoga Meets Complementary Medicine to Manage Mood

In this new program, you will learn and experience profound changes with the LifeForce Yoga strategies along with Coherent Breathing and Open Focus Meditation-two self-regulation techniques that balance the nervous system, relieve anxiety, increase well-being, and improve focus. During the weekend, we will look at current research on the use of herbs and nutrients in managing mood.

DESERT RENEWAL CENTER

Tucson, AZ (May 7 – 13, 2009)

LifeForce Yoga Practitioner Training ~ Level 2

For those that have completed the Level 1 Practitioner Training. Explore the depths of LifeForce Yoga with this additional training. You will learn new techniques and expand on the ones that you already know. For more information on what the training entails, email Rose, rose@amyweintraub.com

MOUNT MADONNA

Watsonville, CA (May 15 – 19, 2009)

LifeForce Yoga: From Blues to Bliss

Amy leads a 5 day Lifeforce Yoga retreat in the mountains of northern California.

KRIPALU YOGA CENTRE

Dorking, Surrey, ENGLAND (June 12 – 14, 2009)

LifeForce Yoga to Manage Your Mood

Amy brings LifeForce Yoga to the UK for the first time. For more information and to register, contact Carly, events@gingerpai.com

THE SPECIAL YOGA CENTRE

London, ENGLAND (June 20 – 24)

LifeForce Yoga Practitioner Training ~ Level 1

Designed for Yoga teachers, mental health professionals, and serious students. Learn to apply ancient Yogic strategies to empower your students and clients to manage their moods. For more information and to register, contact Carly, events@gingerpai.com

CHANTING OPPORTUNITIES

Bindu MJ Delekta, my long time friend in Yoga, has added a chanting page to her beautiful Sacred Circle of Yoga website. Bindu’s voice is haunting and deep, and I am grateful for her spirit that shines through the chants on both the level One and Level Two LifeForce Yoga to Beat the Blues DVDs. You can listen to her chants, read the English translations and what they mean to her and see the lovely accompanying photographs at www.sacredcircleofyoga.com. Bindu offers Yoga retreats, Yoga therapy sessions and classes at her studio on Martha’s Vineyard.

I met Yoga teacher and psychotherapist intern Hannah Caratti at Richard Miller’s Santa Sabina Retreat last May, and have continued with almost daily chanting of the Dawn Chant by Sri Shankaracharya that she led at the retreat. Hannah has a lovely voice, and I highly recommend her CDs, which you can purchase, along with her Gentle Yoga practice DVD from her web site at www.yogahealingarts.net. Yes, this is the same Hannah who chants “Chandi” on the homepage of our new LifeForce Yoga website!

Senior Kripalu meditation teacher and kirtan leader Bhavani Lorraine Nelson has a new CD that includes the folk singer/songwriter Linda Worster and the musician and composer Mark Kelso. A New Dawn includes the beautiful “Dawn of an Eagle” and “Home in the Mountains” that Kripalu visitors and friends have enjoyed for years, as well as many new meditative songs by Bhavani and her friends. To order her new CD and others, including her meditation CD, previously reviewed in this newsletter, visit Bhavani at www.bhavanilorrainenelson.com.

LIFEFORCE YOGA® RESOURCES

2 Award-winning, LifeForce Yoga® to Beat the Blues,

75-minute videos (DVD) practice,

  • led by Amy Weintraub
  • Programmable Chapters
  • Original music
  • Includes a Study Guide booklet
  • Shot on-location in Tucson, AZ by Emmy-award winning Director of Photography, Dan Duncan.

In both Level 1 & Level 2 DVDs, Amy Weintraub, MFA, E-RYT 500, author of the book Yoga for Depression (Broadway Books), offers a comprehensive sequence of breathing techniques, toning, and postures to lift and balance the mood.

Level 1LEVEL 1 – In this gentle, beginning, yet invigorating video yoga practice, Amy invites practitioners into the loving embrace of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, Quan Yin, “she who hears the cries of the world.” In the sacred space Amy creates, students begin to feel and safely experience their bodies and their emotions. The practice culminates with Yoga Nidra, or deep relaxation, in which participants integrate the experience and return to full wakefulness feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.

***Winner of 4 Bronze Telly Awards***

Music by William Chapman, Krishna Das, & MJ Bindu Delekta

Level 2LEVEL 2 – Amy offers modifications throughout this more challenging sequence of postures. Here, Amy invokes the energy of Shiva in his incarnation as the Fire Dancer Nataraja, guiding viewers to stay present to the sensations in their bodies, cultivating self-awareness as they burn away what is no longer serving them. The practice ends with an invitation to allow the awakened prana to guide the practitioner into her own flow of poses before transitioning into Yoga Nidra.

Music by Master Charles ~ Synchronicity & MJ Bindu Delekta

“A rare gem. This is a DVD that I will enjoy, and continue to learn from, for years to come.”- Richard Miller, PhD – President, Center of Timeless Being; author, Yoga Nidra: The Meditative Heart of Yoga

“No matter what your mood, Amy’s unique LifeForce Yoga® program will bring you balance and joy. I loved this practice!”-Lilias Folan, PBS Host; author, Lilias! Yoga Gets Better with Age

“This is a wonderful testament to self-acceptance, the sentiment at the core of beating the blues.”-LA Yoga

RESOURCES AMY RECOMMENDS

Resources by leaders in the field of yoga and mental health that Amy recommends (books, CD’s & DVD’s) are available at Carol Hendershot’s online store Expressions Yoga. Many of the resources Amy uses during her workshops can be found here, including the music

For wholesale orders, please contact Rose Kress at info@amyweintraub.com.

iREST YOGA NIDRA

Tools for deepening your awareness from the Center of Timeless Being by Richard Miller, Ph.D.

www.nondual.com

International Association of Yoga Therapists

This organization maintains a vast database of Yoga research, a library, publishes a yearly journal, and a tri annual newsletter with current research and articles. In addition, IAYT maintains a searchable online member database, which folks can use to locate a Yoga therapist/teacher in their vicinity. (They currently do not do any verification of training and experience). If you are a health professional, a Yoga teacher or therapist, or have an interest in Yoga therapeutics, I encourage you to become a member.

www.iayt.org

Have a Healthy Mind

Dr. Richard P. Brown and Dr. Patricia L. Gerbarg offer integrative approaches for mental health and brain function that include herbs, nutrients, yoga, yogic breathing and meditation based on their research and clinical experience as psychiatrists and psycho-pharmacologists.

www.haveahealthymind.com

About the Author

Amy Weintraub

Amy Weintraub E-RYT 500, MFA, YACEP, C-IAYT, founded the LifeForce Yoga® Healing Institute, which trains yoga and health professionals internationally, and is the author of Yoga for Depression and Yoga Skills for Therapists. The LifeForce Yoga protocol is used by health care providers worldwide. She is involved in ongoing research on the effects of yoga on mood.

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What People Say

“I came hoping to learn to move past some of the obstacles blocking my creativity. Over the course of this weekend, I feel I’ve gained a certain measure of faith in myself and in my ability to change. I also had some realizations that I believe will be very helpful to me. I feel encouraged. Both the content and presentation of this program were so well-thought out that I can’t think of any way to improve it.” — Andrea Gollin, writer & editor, Miami, FL
“I gained tools for working with my own depression and with my clients’ depressions.” — Robert Sgona, LCSW, RYT, psychotherapist, Yoga teacher, Camden, ME.
“I have gained an incredible opening and clearing of old obstructions. I hope to return to my life and fill this opening with things I love to do and that give me joy!” — Lisa Shine, administrative assistant, Ballston Lake, NY
“I have found the LFYP training to be incredibly useful in giving people specific tools to use in maintaining physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual balance, and further opening their intuitive abilities.” — Nancy Windheart, RYT-200, LFYP, Reiki Master, Animal communication teacher, Prescott, AZ
“Yoga Skills for Therapists is the ideal resource for those who want to bring yoga practices into psychotherapy or healthcare. Weintraub, a leader in the field of yoga therapy, offers evidence-based, easy-to-introduce strategies for managing anxiety, improving mood, and relieving suffering. Helpful clinical insights and case examples emphasize safety, trust, and skillful adaptation to the individual, making it easy to apply the wisdom of yoga effectively in the therapeutic context.” — Kelly McGonigal, PhD, author, Yoga for Pain Relief, Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Yoga Therapy
“I have found the pranayama (breathing practices) especially easy to introduce in a clinical setting. Some people have benefited quickly in unexpected and transformative ways.” — Liz Brenner, LICSW, LFYP, Watertown, MA
“I have been reminded that I am not on this path alone, that others are sharing the journey that sometimes seems so difficult. I have also been reminded of the importance of daily practice and I will do that. The whole program has been an incredible experience for me. Thank you!” — Lorraine Plauth, retired teacher, Voorheesville, NY
“I began a fantasy during the meditation exercise... almost as if I’d been there. It’s now an on-going work of fiction.” — Serian Strauss, Tanzania
“My patients can now have the same effects as many medications without having to actually take medication!” — Deborah Lubetkin, PSY.D, LFYP, West Caldwell, NJ
“This program changed my life in a significant way. It helped me connect with the spirit which is something you can’t get from psychotherapy and medication.” – G. W., artist, Pittsburgh, PA
“I feel profoundly transformed, both physically and emotionally. The connection between mind, body and spirit was clearly evident to me, but revealed to me through this workshop as an integrally vital link to overall health.” — Nadine Richardson, program manager at rehab agency, Monroe, CT
“My personal practice will change, as well as my yoga classes. I have a better understanding of yoga!” — Andrea Gattuso, RYT, Yoga Teacher, Hackettstown, N.J.
I absolutely love this stuff! I have been using it with my clients and I am just finding it to be so incredibly helpful. There seriously something for everything. Although I am not as skilled as I hope to be someday, even at my level of training I’m finding that I am beginning to figure out what to do. It just blows my mind! - Christine Brudnicki, MS, LPC
“This workshop has changed so much — my self-image and my life. My own heart’s desire is 100% clear. I gained tools to help myself and others to live life fully.” — Marcia Siegel, Yoga teacher, therapist, Carlsbad, CA.
“I learned lots of ways to reduce the anxiety and depression of my patients and myself.” – Aviva Sinvany-Nubel, PhD, APN, CNSC, RN, psychotherapist, Bridgewater, N.J.
“A client who returned said, "When I came before, you helped me understand and get where I wanted to go. Now you show me yoga practices I use to help myself understand and get where I want to go.” — Sherry Rubin, LCSW, BCD, LFYP, Downingtown, PA
“I utilize the LFY techniques in both a class room setting and one-on-one environment. The skills have infused my teachings with compassion, mindfulness, and awareness.” — Kat Larsen, CYT, LFYP
“I integrate strategies like mantra tones and pranayama, but above all I invite myself and those I teach to cultivate svadhyaya, to practice self-observation without judgment.” — Barbara Sherman, RYT 200, LFYP, Tucson, AZ
“This workshop helped me rededicate my energies and begin to work through some of the blocks I’ve felt creatively.” — Steve Mark, college professor, New Haven, CT
“My life is already changed! I will use the tools I learned in my own practice and in my work. I feel safe and seen.” — Susan Andrea Weiner, MA, teacher/expressive arts facilitator, El Cerrito, CA.
“I have gained a softer heart, more receptive mind, and tools to enrich both personal and professional aspects of my life.” – Regina Trailweaver, LICSW, clinical social worker, Hancock, VT.
“Giving my clients a strategy and permission to quiet their minds and rebalance the sympathetic nervous system has been very beneficial to them and in our work together.” — Sue Dilsworth, PhD, RYT 200, LFYP, Allendale, MI
“I gained perspective of who I am in the world and this will change my life significantly.” — Mary Ford, artist, Southport, CT
“Words do not do justice to all that I learned. This workshop changed my life!” — Jen Nolan, Teacher, Cortland, NY
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