LifeForce Yoga

What is LifeForce Yoga?

Tree pose

LifeForce Yoga is intentionally designed to work with and manage mood. The practices support students and clients in self-regulation, and many of the yoga techniques can be done in a chair, in bed, and do not require a yoga mat. Most practices are evidence-based and have been adapted for clinical settings. Developed by Amy Weintraub, the practices are rooted in traditional active meditation and self-inquiry that embraces the polarities in our lives. LifeForce Yoga interweaves the power of an ancient discipline with current scientific findings to help you release what’s no longer serving you—without a story attached!

Practices include:

  • Pranayama and kriya breathing techniques that regulate the emotions
  • Meditations that lift the mood
  • Creating Affirmation (sankalpa)
  • LifeForce Yoga Bhavana (Imagery)
  • LifeForce Yoga Chakra Clearing Meditation
  • LifeForce Yoga Nidra
  • Tones that regulate the emotions (mantras)
  • Yoga asanas suitable for multilevel practitioners
  • Nondual Self-Inquiry through writing and Dyad Sharing

In LifeForce Yoga, we welcome practitioners from all traditions. We recognize that the many styles of Yoga practice that are flowering in the West are like doorways. Eventually, each door opens the practitioner to a deeper connection to Self, an awakening to the felt sense that we are not separate. Yoga, no matter what lineage you have trained in or “style” you practice, begins as you practice regularly, to unite the polarities within and without. LifeForce Yoga has developed protocols that can be woven into whatever style of yoga you currently practice. The strength of our practices is that they adapt to individual needs, beliefs and values and are therefore used in health care settings worldwide.

Among the many doorways to Yoga or union that exist in the West, some focus on fitness and strength, which is the literal meaning of “Hatha”—physical force. Others focus on structural therapeutics. Other doorways take as their mission to raise the Kundalini energy, or to reach Nirvana or union with the Divine. But reaching implies absence. LifeForce Yoga understands that there is no separation from the Divine, that we are intimately, eternally connected. LifeForce Yoga is practiced as the first yogis practiced, resting on the fundamental belief that all that we need is already within us; that beneath the current mood, the roles we play and the masks we wear, we are the wholeness we seek.

To make it simple, LifeForce Yoga is a practice of compassion that creates a big enough container to embrace and accept all the dualities of mood. The practice is adapted to the student, so each individual can move into a more balanced (sattvic) and positive emotional, mental, and physical state of equanimity and self-awareness. This means we move slowly, assessing with the student/client each practice and its effect. When working with groups or individuals, we teach strategies that clear the temporary obstructions and that empower the student to access his or her own true nature. We encourage the student in the understanding that he or she has within the tools to heal and to sustain that healing with regular practice.

No matter your lineage or the yoga “style” in which you practice, LifeForce Yoga can offer you strategies to enhance your mood without changing your basic practice. The daily practice of LifeForce Yoga will diminish your sense of separation, which is the literal source of depression. The connection you feel to that which is most authentic within you and your connection to others will be enhanced.

Download the LifeForce Yoga Mood Handout

Amy Framed

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What People Say

“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 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 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.
“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 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 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
“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
“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
“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
“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 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
“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 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.
“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
“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
“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 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
“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 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
“I gained tools for working with my own depression and with my clients’ depressions.” — Robert Sgona, LCSW, RYT, psychotherapist, Yoga teacher, Camden, ME.
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 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
“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
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