Mental Health & Wellness Yoga Teacher Training | Online
Uncover the science and therapeutic theory behind psychological wellness, and learn to powerfully utilize yoga practices to support a variety of mental health issues.
Mental Health & Wellness Yoga Teacher Training | Online
$1,390.00
Training Description
Adapt practices to achieve mental health inclusivity, effectively support uniqueness, and become a better ally for your students and clients.
Mental health is undoubtedly one of the most important considerations in teaching yoga. Aside from the numerous ways yoga can be a powerful mental wellness supplement, it’s also an important area to be aware of contraindications and cautions.
As teachers, it’s essential that we have the tools to not only apply yoga practices as a powerful antidote for anxiety and distress, but also be able to support and appropriately refer students experiencing more significant forms of mental or emotional turbulence.
In this advanced 55-hr online training, we’ll examine the latest research on psychological health and its role in a yoga practice.
Led by 3 powerhouse teachers including applied psychologist Diane Malaspina, Ph.D, mental health researcher Valerie Knopik, Ph.D, and our founder Tiffany Cruikshank, L.Ac. This training will equip you with the knowledge and experience to provide personalized mental health support for your yoga students.
You’ll develop an applied understanding of how to leverage yoga practices to soothe anxiety, provide relief in the face of stress, and create healing and true transformation mentally and emotionally.
If you’re looking to provide outcome-based mental wellness support to your students and clients, you won’t want to miss this!
Join
Anytime
Complete At
Your Own Pace
CEUs Upon Completion
Unlimited Course Access
Training Details
The Mental Health & Wellness training kicks off with a deeper look at the biological and environmental factors that make us ‘the way we are.’
We’ll examine the research behind how nature and nurture shape our unique mental health and the foundations of how learning and cognitive development shape our perceptions as it relates to mental health, and the common stressors that lead to psychological difficulties, including but not limited to: depression, anxiety, trauma and addiction.
This training will cover:
- An in-depth look at the science and therapeutic theory behind psychological health and wellness
- Interactive exercises and case studies to integrate the material
- The application of yoga and related approaches to work with and troubleshoot a variety of mental wellness ailments that may arise with yoga students and private clients
PLUS, a variety of more nuanced and complex topics, including:
- The effects of meditation and movement on the brain, and ways to improve mental fitness, adaptability and resilience through yoga
- Effective strategies to navigate stress and the resulting inflammation
- The biology of behavior and emotion (i.e. genetics, epigenetics, neuroscience)
- The lens of arousal and how experiences affect anxiety
- Characteristics of trauma, how yoga practices can be supportive, and sensitivity tips to skillfully teach a trauma-informed approach
- Cognitions, nerve cells and signaling, and how learning shapes us
- Positive psychology, and strategies to powerfully support individual differences in mental health
- TCM theory to individualize practices for common mental health issues
- Acupressure points to support mental wellness
We created this online training to be flexible with your schedule so you can complete it at your own pace.
After signing up, you’ll get instant access to six curated sections of pre-recorded lectures, asana practices, and take-home assignments. There will also be case studies, journaling prompts, and stress management planning exercises to help you integrate the information along the way.
We also have scheduled “office hours” via Zoom to help support you throughout the training. If you’re unable to join the Zoom calls, you can post your questions online and watch the recording within the online portal whenever you like.
Live Office Hours Schedule (subject to change):
- Monday, April 29th at 9am PST/12pm EST
- Monday, May 20th at 9am PST/12pm EST
- Monday, June 17th at 9am PST/12pm EST
This training will count as 55 ‘in-person/contact’ hours towards your 500-hour/1000-hour Yoga Medicine certification. Directly following the training you will be invited to take an online exam to receive your certificate of completion and training hours.
There is no deadline by which you need to complete the training as you’ll have unlimited access to all the training materials — even after completion! These online training hours will also be recognized as 55 continuing education hours (CEUs) by Yoga Alliance.
For teachers dedicated to a higher standard of learning looking to deepen their knowledge.
The Mental Health & Wellness Yoga Teacher Training is a 55-hour advanced online training for yoga teachers, physicians, healthcare providers and fitness instructors with yoga experience who are interested in learning more about this invaluable curriculum.
To fully benefit from this training, we recommend that anyone considering enrollment is actively working with students and clients within a yoga or therapeutic setting.
Yoga Medicine® believes that an experienced yoga teacher is an impactful asset to our healthcare systems. With our credentials, students and healthcare facilities can trust that their yoga teacher is trained with a depth of knowledge in the fusion of research, science and traditional practices as well as a range of experience.
Hazel Sligting
500-Hour Yoga Medicine Teacher
“As a teacher currently working in Qatar, a vast majority of my students are expats who are here without their family and support structures. I find that a lot of students are drawn to my classes for the community and that they are having troubles dealing with the stress and loneliness that comes from moving to a foreign country. The information in the Mental Health & Wellness Module is going to be invaluable for understanding what is actually going on internally with those who are having mental health issues, and for being able to support both my group and private clients. The Mental Health Training will definitely influence how I teach those that I know have mental health issues. I have also been teaching singing bowls meditation for the past three and a half years too, and I will definitely introduce more pranayama practices during these classes. Overall I think that this knowledge is going to help me no matter what type of class I am teaching!”
Halley Dzendolet
500-Hour Yoga Medicine Teacher
“I have taken the Mental Health and Wellness, Nervous System and Restorative Yoga, and Mindful Trauma-Informed Yoga modules. The wealth of knowledge I gained from Yoga Medicine® was immensely beneficial for my recent presentation to 60+ mental health professionals for the Trauma Care Institute, the training branch of the Trauma Support Services of North Texas. Thanks to my training with Yoga Medicine®, I confidently provided up-to-date, quality information and infographics, enabling and encouraging mental health professionals to utilize yoga more, both professionally and personally. The feedback I received was overwhelmingly positive both during the presentation and in the official evaluations.”
Tiffany Cruikshank
Founder of Yoga Medicine®, L.Ac, MAOM, E-RYT
Tiffany is a yoga therapeutic specialist, author, licensed acupuncturist and Chinese Medicine provider.
She’s trained over 15,000 yoga teachers, athletes, medical professionals, physical therapists, bodyworkers and coaches on how to fuse anatomy, western medicine and cutting-edge research with traditional yoga practices to therapeutically support individuality and holistic wellness.
Today, she’s dedicated to helping teachers and students nourish their health and feel their best through a combination of modern science, traditional modalities, and experience.
Meet the teachers...
Valerie Knopik
PhD, E-RYT500, Yoga Medicine® Therapeutic Specialist, YACEP
Valerie is endowed Professor and Department Head of Human Development and Family Science at Purdue University. With a Ph.D. in Psychology, Valerie is active in mental health research, focusing on how our internal biology and our external physical environment (including yoga, mindfulness, and meditation) can interact to positively change our mental health landscape.
Valerie is the lead author of the leading textbook in her field, Behavior Genetics (7th edition). She also serves as Associate Editor of the journal Behavior Genetics, a consulting editor for Child Development, and is on the editorial board of Psychological Medicine. For the last 20 years, her primary area of interest is the joint effects of genetic and environmental (specifically prenatal and early postnatal) risk factors on the development of child and adolescent mental health, associated learning and cognitive deficits, and later substance use.
Formally trained in classical ballet, as well as a former runner, Valerie has always been a believer in staying active but yoga is the perfect marriage of her work in mental health and her love of movement and anatomy. Valerie’s sincere hope is that, while the physical asana practice might be the introduction to yoga (as it was for her), her students can utilize the asanas as a tool to find cohesion of body, mind, and spirit in order to experience fullness and purpose in their lives.
Diane Malaspina
M.S.Ed., PhD, Yoga Medicine® Therapeutic Specialist
Diane is a psychologist and yoga teacher with over 20 years of experience in the health and wellness field. Her teaching and practice are a creative blend of slowing down and balancing the nervous system paired with stabilizing yoga postures to support sustainability in life and the yoga practice.
Diane delivers cutting-edge wisdom with user-friendly approaches honed in her rich hands on experiences as an applied psychologist, university educator and veteran yoga teacher. She blends neurobiology and psychological science with yoga and mindfulness practices that empowers individuals, families and organizations to heal, cope with stress, and transcend struggles to orient toward growth and possibility.
Diane teaches meditation workshops, leads retreats, offers 200- and 300-hour yoga teacher training programs in her community, and runs a thriving private practice helping clients heal from chronic stress and burnout and reclaim thriving physical, mental and emotional health.
Our Promise
We believe bridging the gap between yoga and medical systems is a crucial therapeutic adjunct to modern healthcare.
That’s why all of our offerings strive to reach the same goal: to empower teachers and students through deeper yoga education.
We train our community of teachers to understand the body and the full spectrum of therapeutic yoga modalities so they can build a personalized practice to suit the individual across any yoga style, state of wellness, body shape, gender, anatomical differences, age, or capacity.
With our credentials, students can trust that their teacher is well-trained with a range of applied and highly specialized therapeutic experience!
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to be enrolled in the Yoga Medicine 500-Hour program to attend this Yoga Teacher Training?
No!
The Mental Health & Wellness Online Yoga Teacher Training is designed for yoga teachers, physicians, healthcare providers, and coaches who are interested in learning more about this invaluable curriculum.
If you have a consistent yoga practice and a desire to deepen your knowledge, then we would love to have you join!
If you are new to Yoga Medicine and would like to join the 500-hour program, then please complete the online application. Upon successful completion of this training, the 55 ‘in-person/contact’ hours would automatically be applied towards your 500-hour.
More information about the 500-hour program can be found here.
How do I access the online training?
After your payment has been successfully processed, you’ll immediately get a confirmation email with all your access details and next steps!
When you register, you will also receive complimentary access to the following online courses: Conducting a Therapeutic Evaluation and Recognizing Red Flags in a Therapeutic Yoga Setting, which you can complete at any time to support your therapeutic offerings.
Do you offer refunds?
Immediately after your payment is processed, you will receive access to this training’s online portal and materials. For this reason, refund requests for online trainings are not accepted.
We appreciate your understanding.
Apply This Training Towards a 500-Hour Certification
If you are enrolled in Yoga Medicine’s 500-hour or 1000-hour program, then this training counts as 55 ‘in-person/contact’ hours towards your certification, as well as continuing education hours with Yoga Alliance!
If you are a yoga teacher interested in pursuing continued education with Yoga Medicine, then you have the option to apply to our 500-hour program (in which case, these teacher training hours will automatically apply towards your 500-hour certification process).
To learn more about our 500-hour certification program, click here.
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