Bringing Trauma-Informed Yoga into Mental Health Clinical Practice

CPD

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Speaker

Joann Lutz, MSW, LICSW, E-RYT, C-IAYT Related seminars and products

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Joann Lutz, MSW, LICSW, E-RYT, C-IAYT, is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker, a Certified Yoga Therapist with the International Association of Yoga Therapists, an Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher with the Yoga Alliance, and a Certified Ayurvedic Yoga Therapist.

She is also certified in EMDR and Psychosynthesis. She had a private practice in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she incorporated trauma-informed yoga into groups for combat veterans, clients recovering from psychiatric disorders, and others. She has practiced and taught Integral Yoga for over 35 years, and was a guest teacher at Omega Institute; Harbin Hot Springs; Rowe Conference Center and Sivananda Yoga Retreat, Bahamas, among other venues.

Joann completed 40 hours of trauma-sensitive yoga training with The Trauma Center in Boston, MA. She has been training mental health professionals to bring trauma-informed yoga into their practices nationally and internationally for the past 7 years, bringing this work to universities, conferences, hospitals, ashrams and yoga centers. Her CEU course, “Bringing Yoga into Social Work Practice,” was published by the National Association of Social Workers, Ma. Chapter, in 2014.

Her paper, "Classical Yoga Postures as a Psychotherapeutic Intervention for Autonomic Nervous System Regulation" was published in Proceedings of the Yoga and Psyche Conference (2014), by Cambridge Scholars Press. Her book, Trauma Healing in the Yoga Zone, is forthcoming from Handspring Publishers.

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Joann Lutz receives compensation as a consultant, workshop presenter and trainer. She receives royalties as a published author. Joann Lutz receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Joann Lutz is a member of the National Association of Social Workers.

Objectives

1. Evaluate ways that autonomic nervous system dysregulation contributes to PTSD symptoms.
2. Ascertain symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder which can be decreased through trauma-sensitive yoga practice.
3. Analyze ways that trauma-informed chair yoga postures can be used in the individual or group psychotherapy session.
4. Determine the benefits of bringing yogic deep relaxation into the therapy session.
5. Identify yogic strategies to help reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression in clients.
6. Explain the potential for improved clinical outcomes resulting from incorporating yoga and three-part deep breathing practices.

Outline

The Yoga Tradition and Neuropsychology

• Yoga, Patanjali and MRI’s
• The importance of heart rate variability (HRV)

Embodied Psychotherapy

• The Triune Brain: left out of traditional psychotherapy?
• Regulating the brain’s trauma centre
• Tracking body sensation and breathing deeply
• A frame of reference from Somatic Psychotherapy
• Neuroplasticity and interpersonal neurobiology

Trauma-Informed Yoga postures in the Psychotherapy Session for PTSD, Anxiety and Depression

• The evidence in evidence-based yoga practice
• Yoga and polarities
• Guided script for chair yoga:
  • 5 trauma-informed chair yoga postures
  • Guiding and integrating the poses into your existing treatment modality (EMDR, Somatic Experiencing, etc.)
• Chair trauma-yoga
  • Tracking body sensation
  • Gaining self-mastery
  • Increasing self-regulation
  • Expanding present-moment awareness
• Experience a chair yoga warm-up and posture sequence*

Yoga and the Breath

• Respiration and the autonomic nervous system (ANS)
• Breathing techniques to regulate the ANS and calm symptoms of trauma, anxiety and depression
• Experience the three-part deep breath and script*

Structure of the Embodied Psychotherapy Session or Group

• Evaluating the client
• Opening the session
• Healing polarities:
  • Inner/outer
  • Sympathetic/parasympathetic activation
  • Sensing/action
  • Cognitive/somatic
• Healthy symptoms of trauma discharge
• Key points in making referrals to yoga classes

Therapeutic Value of Yoga Nidra (Yogic Sleep)

• The benefits of sleeping while awake
• Varieties of Yoga Nidra
• Guided experience of Satchidananda’s Yoga Nidra*
• Discussion of Yoga Nidra script

Using Meditation

• The relaxation response
• Mindfulness meditation: open-focused meditation
• A guided experience of both styles of meditation*
• The benefits of meditation in the trauma psychotherapy session

Case Study

*Social workers: Please note that ACE credit is not available for yoga instruction/guided experience activities.

Target Audience

• Counselors
• Psychotherapists
• Social Workers
• Case Managers
• Psychologists
• Marriage & Family Therapists
• Addiction Counselors
• Nurses
• Nurse Practitioners
• Clinical Nurse Specialists
• Occupational Therapists
• Occupational Therapy Assistants
• Other Mental Health Professionals

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