Important Announcement for LFYPs

Dear LFYPs,

We hope you are thriving!  What follows is important information about the changes in the LifeForce Yoga Practitioner Training, how they effect you, and what to do to maintain your listing as a LifeForce Yoga Practitioner on the website.

As a result of changing standards in the Yoga Therapy community and feedback from both LFYPs and the clients/students they serve, we are making changes in the LFYP training program that support your work and may also effect your standing as a LifeForce Yoga Practitioner.  These changes go into effect on January 1st, 2014.

Please take some time to read through all the way to the end. We have also included a PDF of Amy’s contribution to Yoga Therapy Today (IAYT publication) that covers scope of practice issues.

Supporting LFYPs

We are working hard to provide you with support that you can pass on to your clients and students. Every week, we are posting articles and practice articles to our website blog, Facebook and Google+. Many of these postings have a link to the “find a practitioner in your area” page.  This supports your business as an LFYP.

Here are the guidelines for using LifeForce Yoga, including sharing the LFY blogs with your students and social media friends in your own blog and/or newsletter.
Guidelines for Using LifeForce Yoga

New Prerequisites, Hours & Requirments for attending the LFYP Training

The prerequisites to take the training, the training hours and the qualifications for certification as an LFYP are more rigorous than they were.  We want to insure that the LFYP is well equipped and feels confident in using the skills she/he learns in the training to support those they serve.  We also want to offer support LYFPs as they begin LFY home practice.  This will not only help them clear their own space each day but it will help them feel more comfortable introducing LFY practices to their students and clients.

LFY practices are continually modified as are their applications, based on continuous monitoring of client/student response, as well as current research.  We want to offer you, as a LFYP trained before these changes, a way to stay up-to-date on the evolution of practices.  Additionally, we have heard from a number of consumers that when they’ve contacted a LifeForce Yoga Practitioner in their area, they have not always received a response.  Below the current new prerequisites and training requirements for new LFYPs that go into effect on January 1, you will find a list of requirements to keep your own status active on the website.

The prerequisites and training requirements have been upgraded. In order to take the LFYP-1 Training, participants need to have completed the following:

  • LifeForce Yoga to Manage Your Mood weekend workshop, or equivalent program
  • Read Yoga for Depression by Amy Weintraub
  • Practice with the LifeForce Yoga to Beat the Blues – Level 1 or Level 2 DVD (suggested practice of 30 days)
  • Practice with the LifeForce Yoga Chakra Clearing Meditation CD (suggested practice of 30 days)

LifeForce Yoga Certification

In order to be certified as a LifeForce Yoga Practitioner Level 1, the 64 hour residential training is no longer sufficient. As of 2014, new LFYPs who wish to be certified must now complete the following:

  • The 7-day residential training, or all 3 modules of the Modular LFYP Training
  • Leading/facilitating several practice sessions (during the training)
  • Leading/facilitating a 50 minute final session (during the training)
  • Completion of Practice Teach Report (during the training)
  • Completion of Self-mentoring Report (during the training
  • Completion of Quiz
  • Completion of Application
  • Completion of Training Evaluation
  • Completion of 3 Mentoring Sessions post Training
  • Completion of Self-Directed 40 Day Challenge
  • Details here: http://yogafordepression.com/level-one-certification/

Maintaining Certification as an LFYP

With the upgrade in certification standards and the increase in referrals, we want to be sure that everyone listed on the website is current with the LFY practices and procedures. Therefore, in order to maintain your listing as an LFYP on our website:

  • Download the revised manual every year by February 15th. (It’s free) – The manual can be found here: http://yogafordepression.com/lfyp/ Login information is at the bottom of this email.
  • Take 12 hours of continuing education in LifeForce Yoga by December, 2014. This is required every two years.

Options for taking your 12 hours CEs:

  • Attend a LFY program
  • Assist a LFY program
  • Take advantage of the online webinar series
  • Mentoring sessions
  • More options may be provided in the future.

Scope of Practice

The Two-Way Street: Integrating Yoga into Mental Healthcare and Mood Management into Yoga Therapy, by Amy Weintraub, published in the Winter 2013 Issue of Yoga Therapy Today (a publication of International Association of Yoga Therapists). We highly encourage all LFYPs to join as members and list LifeForce Yoga as your main school.

Level 2 Training

The next Level 2 training will take place in Tucson, AZ, May 12 – 19, 2014.
To take the Level 2 training, you will need to have completed 2 of your 3 mentoring sessions, however it is strongly recommended that you have completed all 3. Forms for mentoring sessions can be found in the LFYP portion of the website.
Registration details.

Each day begins with a luscious 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 into the techniques from Level 1 with a 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 II 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.

Accessing the LFYP Website

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

Login information can be found in your manual.

We want to support you in the good work you do in the world!

a warm Namasté,

Amy Weintraub, Founding Director
Rose Kress, Director of Programming and Education

 

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.

One thought on “Important Announcement for LFYPs”

  1. Mary Robinson says:

    Exciting — thank you so much for providing these great resources so conveniently!

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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
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“Words do not do justice to all that I learned. This workshop changed my life!” — Jen Nolan, Teacher, Cortland, NY
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“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
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