The LifeForce® Yoga Practitioner (LFYP)Training is open to all and offers certification for health care and yoga professionals. On other pages on this website you will find mood management support through workshops, individual sessions, research, books and audio visual materials for those with depression, anxiety, chronic pain and a history of trauma and for the professionals who serve them.
In the LFYP Training, you will learn an evidence-based practice for both depression and anxiety, as well as ancient strategies from both Tantric and Classical Yoga traditions for self-care. Learn Yoga practices supported by current research in psycho-neurobiology to help clear away the obstructions (chronic tensions, constricting beliefs, limiting emotions) that may be keeping you and those you serve from knowing and expressing your authenticity and your fullest potential.
Learn to create and sustain a safe container for students and clients so that learning can occur in an atmosphere of acceptance and love. Learn to assess mood and constitution from a Yogic perspective. Throughout the training, you will personally experience each exercise and have opportunities to observe your own sensations, feelings, and thoughts, as you are guided and then lead practices in dyads and small groups with supervision from the LFYP Faculty. Distinctions are made between those practices that may be safely led by a Yoga Teacher and those that may be suitable in a clinical setting, led by a psychotherapist or other health professional.
CEUs for mental health professionals and yoga teachers.
Full details on the LFYP Training
Faculty:
Amy Weintraub MFA, ERYT-500, C-IAYT, YACEP, Founder of the LifeForce® Yoga Healing Institute
Amy is the author of Yoga for Depression (Broadway Books, 2004) and Yoga Skills for Therapists: Effective Practices for Mood Management (W.W. Norton, 2012), has been a pioneer in the field of yoga and mental health for over twenty years. She offers the LifeForce Yoga® Practitioner Training for Depression and Anxiety to health and yoga professionals and offers workshops for every day practitioners. The LifeForce Yoga® protocol is being used in residential treatment centers, hospitals and by health care providers around the world and is featured on the LifeForce Yoga® CD Series 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 is an invited speaker at conferences internationally and is involved in ongoing research on the effects of yoga on mood. She edits a bi-monthly newsletter that includes current research, news and media reviews on Yoga and mental health.
Rose Kress, ERYT-500, LFYP-2, LFY Educator, Mentor, Director of the LifeForce® Yoga Healing Institute
Rose began practicing yoga in 1994 and teaching since 2004. In that time she has focused on the therapeutic aspects of yoga – for the body, mind and soul. Rose teaches classes and workshops throughout the Tucson area and has been blessed to teach at The Crossings in Austin, TX, at Yogaville in VA, at Kripalu in Lenox, MA, and Sivananda Ashram in The Bahamas with the LifeForce Yoga® Practitioner Training Program. She has also presented at a number of Yoga Festivals in Arizona. Rose integrates LifeForce Yoga® techniques into therapeutic yoga for back pain, cancer, pulmonary disease, structural wellness, and yoga therapy. She studies with Rama Jyoti Vernon and has taken the Functional Yoga Therapy Training with Maria KaliMa. Rose is the Program Manager of the LifeForce Yoga® Healing Institute and travels with Amy to assist her in LifeForce Yoga® Practitioner Trainings. She is a lead trainer in the Sol Center’s Yoga Training Program. Rose is also the author of 2 CDs, Mantra Chanting with Rose and Pathways to Relaxation.
Rickie Simpson PhD, E-RYT-200, LFYP-2
Dr. Simpson is a Board Certified Psychiatric-Mental Health Clinical Nurse Specialist specializing in individual, couples, group and family therapy. She integrates complementary methodologies and techniques to offer a highly personalized faith-consistent approach tailored to each client. She holds certifications as an Imago Relationship Therapist, a LifeForce Yoga Practitioner 2/Mentor and is an Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher at the 200-hour level (E-RYT-200) with the Yoga Alliance. She belongs to the International Association ofPractitioners of Encountered-centered Couples Therapy and maintains a board certification as a Professional Christian Counselor. Dr. Simpson is also one of the primary international investigators for evaluating the efficacy of Encountered-centered Couples Therapy. She maintains a private practice in Manassas, Virginia and is on the faculty of Stratford University teaching Nursing Research and Psychiatric Nursing.