The 2008 conference presentations will be featured on our website soon! While we finalize our 2008 details, please take a look at our 2007 conference program to get an idea of what will be offered:

• Beginners / New to Yoga -- even if you can't touch your toes, these sessions are a perfect introduction to yoga's potential to help aid the treatment of  physical and mental ailments.
• Practitioners/Teachers/Professionals: Intensive study with master yoga therapists presenting the latest research in the yoga and medical community.  Explore classes for cancer, back pain, grief, pregnancy, repetitive stress,  Alzheimer's and more.

              Mukunda Stiles                                Robin Monro                                           Sherri Baptiste

-- Schedule is subject to change

 

These are some of the presentations IYTC teachers and masters offered in 2007.

 

Pawanmuktasana - Unblocking the Vital Life Force - ANTONIO SAUSYS

Allowing the Pawan (Divine Wind, the breath and the vital force associated with it) to freely flow throughout the system is essential in accomplishing a sense of well-being, and most importantly, to gain and maintain good health. It is known that all energy blockages lead to illness and all illness implies a certain level of energy blockage.

This practice offers a set of very simple yet powerful exercises intended to unblock the energy reestablishing the natural flow. At the same time this practice provides an opportunity to reach a deeper contact with your body improving your knowledge of yourself.

 

Somatic Yoga - KARIN SCHOLZ-GRACE

  Power of Yoga for Balance and Equanimity - SHERRI BAPTISTE

Yoga postures and techniques in this session will help you challenge and develop balance and coordination.  This session will also focus on contacting your core strength, reaching into the center of your body utilizing and exercising the core muscles that really matter when it comes to balance.  Balancing in yoga fires the neurons of the brain.  It helps clear the nerve highways and pathways so you can focus better.  Recent studies in brain elasticity indicate that exercises that develop coordination and balance stimulate the brain to create new maps and communication pathways.

Yin Yoga: The Essential Practice - ERIN FLEMING

Asanas are the gateway to opening and preparing the body for meditation. In this class we will explore passive, long-held, mindful stretches in the Yin Yoga tradition. In addition, various tools will be offered to enhance breath awareness and an overall meditative experience.  Together we will explore breath, mind and the inner landscape of the body. Attendees will be able to take away with them a deeper understanding of how to:
* distinguish the energetic differences between an active practice and passive practice,
 * mobilize Chi through easy breath awareness exercises,
* identify connective tissue and how to successfully address it

 

  Diagnosis through the Balancing and Alignment of the Chakra Systems - ANODEA JUDITH

The chakra system is the yoke of yoga, connecting mind, body, and spirit in a comprehensive whole. This workshop takes a look at an elegant system of diagnosing and treating energetic imbalances through a deep understanding of the chakra system, its dynamic energy patterns, and its influence on health and behavior. Through the use of proper alignment, and bioenergetic exercises of charging and discharging, the chakras can be brought into deeper balance for the purpose of a more profound contact with the divine Shakti that constitutes our basic aliveness. 

 

  Yoga Therapy for Neck Pain: A Multidimensional Approach - ARDEN SUNDARI PIERCE

The focus of this workshop is to teach participants how to get out of pain. Pain is not always coming from the annamaya, so there will be an overview of the five maya koshas and their dysfunctions. This will include explanation of the maya koshas and practices in the form of contemplations, body movement and pratipaksha bhavana. A handout will be given on the maya koshas. Vairagya practices to follow, with explanations of the need to un-do. Then, through interactive learning I will introduce the main neck and shoulder anatomical components via anatomy pictures, models, palpation, observation, and movement. Everyone will experience for themselves any limited range of motion and weakness that may be contributing to their neck problem. I will also review problematic asanas and lifestyle habits and how to approach or explain why not to approach them.

Proper alignment of neck and shoulders will be taught along with guided visualization. This lays the foundation for approaching the therapeutic asanas and pranayama. The meaning and practice of Patanjali's "yoga asana is a steady and comfortable position" will be thoroughly discussed. A handout will be given of the therapeutic asanas taught. I first come to my expertise through my own experience of neck pain since I was a young girl. Today, my neck pain is significantly reduced.

I am a certified Structural Yoga Therapist and I have been working with people privately with neck pain (disc, arthritic, thoracic outlet syndrome, muscular) for over four years. I am a certified yoga instructor and I have been teaching for fifteen years and in the last four years I have been facilitating yoga therapy workshops for neck pain. As part of my certification with Structural Yoga Therapy, I wrote a specialty paper on neck pain, which included case studies.

  Aging Body, Aging Mind: Yoga for Alzheimer's and Dementia - NINA PRIYA DAVID

This workshop is specifically designed for Yoga teachers, clinical staff and caretakers who want to begin to learn how to share adapted Yoga practices with mild to severe cognitively and physically impaired Elderly - especially those living with Alzheimer\'s and/or Dementia. This workshop is open to everyone who wants to attend - that would include health care professionals, yoga teachers, family, friends - anyone who is living with the Elderly and anyone who is living with the Alzheimer's & Dementia population. Workshop philospohy and material is based on the Eight Limbs of Yoga (Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dayana and Samadhi) and Leela (Cosmic Play). Workshop participants will engage in: Special sensitivity exercises which facilitate awareness and the process of integrating Yoga with those whose minds and bodies are aging. Adapting key aspects of a typical Yoga class for both residential and day-treatment Elderly, including A & D populations. 

 

Breathe Into LIfe: Yoga For Energy Management - JANICE GATES

More than any other discipline, yoga works directly with our most precious resource as human beings - our vital life energy. While we can't see or touch this energy directly, we can access and influence it through one of its most obvious physical manifestation and significant vehicles - our breath. Our breath is intimately connected with our minds: to our feelings and our thoughts. By becoming aware of and adjusting the quality of our breathing, we can influence the state of our mind, how we experience and respond to the events of our lives, and connect to something deeper within ourselves.
In this workshop, we will examine the interconnectedness of body, breath and mind and how these effect and reflect each other. We will uncover unconscious breathing patterns and experience directly how the power of the breath, when combined in specific ways with asana, meditation and self-reflection, can help us move from lethargy to lightness, agitation to relaxation and from fragmentation to integration. In a culture that often survives on caffeine and sleeping pills, understanding how the tools of yoga can empower us in cultivating balance is invaluable for both our practice and teaching. Will include practice, lecture and discussion.

 

Understanding Pain and Managing Chronic Pain - NEIL PEARSON

Understanding Pain and Managing Chronic Pain in Yoga The focus of this workshop is to explore pain beliefs and attitudes in relation to yoga. Participants will gain an understanding of current pain science, and awareness of how their western beliefs might be interfering with yoga. The workshop includes experiences with pain, pranayama, asana, yama and niyama. These experiences will consolidate understanding, and assist with making changes in participant's yoga practice, teaching and yoga therapy.

 

Introduction to Yoga Therapy Rx - LARRY PAYNE

In this workshop students will be introduced to the 8 step wellness and lifestyle program offered in a one year or two year format at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. The 8 steps include Mindset, Biomechanical reeducation, Personalized Asana Program, Journal, Food Choices, Water Intake, Breathing Breaks, Rest and Relaxation. Highlighted in the workshop will be the principle that Yoga off the mat is just as important as on the mat in the healing process. Also included will be case studies and a practice for common low back problems. Larry Payne is the founding president of the International Association has been focusing on Yoga Therapy, Musculo skeletal problems and the low back for over 20 years.

A Creative Path to the Classical Asanas - DEBORAH QUILTER

Would you like to flow through your Yoga practice with the ease of water flowing downstream? Would you like to express your creativity while effortlessly increasing strength and flexibility? Would you like to discover a method of practice that is endlessly fascinating? In this class, where using simple, accessible movements, you will learn to achieve Yoga poses with grace and ease. You do not need to be fit or flexible for this workshop, and you need not worry about being pushed too far - do only what's comfortable and blissful. This is an excellent class for beginning Yoga students, people who may have injuries or health conditions that may limit their practice, teachers, artists, or people who want to explore and expand their personal practice and be inspired by others in a non-competitive environment.

  Pawanmuktasana - MUKUNDA STILES

Pavanmuktasana series was created by Sivananda lineage teachers and presented as a way to free not only the joints from restricted motion and prana but also prana for deeper meditation. Mukunda adapted the series based on his graduate training in kinesiology and make it complete for all the joints and all their movements. It is essential for assessment and recommendations based on his Structural Yoga Therapy book.

  Chakra Sun Salutations - ANODEA JUDITH

Say your seven prayers for each chakra from the flowing practice of sun salutations. Taught with variations for different levels, this is a practice that will stimulate each chakra in turn, massaging your energy up the spine.

  Yoga for Insomnia - SAT BIR SINGH KHALSA, PhD

Disorders of sleep can affect not only the nocturnal sleep episode but also the integrity of daytime wake fullness.  The societal cost, impairment for quality of life and potential medical comorbidity associated with insomnia is substantital.  In this class, we will briefly discuss the basics aof sleep and sleep disorders from both yogic and Western medical perspectives with a focus on the presentation and psychophysiology of insomnia.  We will then survey the known effective behavioral treatments for insomnia including relaxation, yoga and meditation.  Finally, we will devote ethe majority of the class reviewing recommended yoga techniques for insomnia and practice a season with exercises that are believed to be beneficial for sleep, some if which are currently being used i a clinical trial of a yoga treatment for insomnia.

 

The Therapeutic Application of Yoga Nidra Integrative Restoration: iRest - RICHARD MILLER

Yoga Nidra is a transformative practice that leads to lasting psychological, physical and spiritual healing. It accomplishes this through two parallel approaches: the release of negative beliefs that underlie self-destructive patterns, and the direct realization of our true nature as non-dual Awareness. True freedom arrives when our conditioned patterns give way to our living and relating from non-dual Awareness. Yoga Nidra, found in the tantric non-dual wisdom tradition, is a highly refined process we use to welcome, explore, and heal dysfunctional states of body and mind, and directly realize our underlying spiritual nature as unconditioned Awareness. Our lives and those of our clients are deeply impacted when we consciously live as non-dual Presence. We then function as sacred mirrors, reflecting back changing states of body and mind, as well as the non-dual Awareness in which all conditioned movements arise. Through Yoga Nidra, we directly embody the ground of unconditioned Awareness that is the container, agent and agency in which healing naturally arises.

Yoga Nidra is a transformative personal practice as well as a tool we use with individuals and groups in yoga therapy and psychotherapy. Expect an in-depth, dynamic learning environment that includes interactive dialogue and experiential practice. This workshop is designed to inspire you to approach yourself and your clients through the direct experience of unconditioned Awareness.

Yoga Nidra as a tool for healing for healing post-traumatic stress, anxiety, depression, insomnia, chronic pain and increase our natural state of well-being is currently being studied at Walter Reed Army Hospital with in active duty war veterans, with the homeless, with college students, and with people experiencing chronic pain and asthma. Richard Miller is the acting research consultant who has developed the protocol used in these studies, which is described in his book, Yoga Nidra: The Meditative Heart of Yoga.

 

Ayurveda Yoga Therapy: Pranayama, Mantra and Healing - DR. MARC HALPERN

Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy (AYT) is the integration of the principles of Ayurveda and Yoga as they apply to improving health and well being. In addition to working with diet and lifestyle, Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy provides and individualized approach to the practices of asana, pranayama, mantra, pratyahara and meditation. This class will focus on the use of pranayama and mantra as healing tools and will include an extensive discussion of the nadis and chakras along with hands-on practice utilizing breathing practices and mantra for healing.

Pranayama is the practice of controlling prana (the subtle life energy of the body and mind) through controlling the breath. Prana is the fabric of the mind. When prana is controlled, the mind is controlled. Most people's minds run out of control leading and individual into the uncomfortable territories of troubling emotions and dramas. When practiced appropriately for the individual, breathing practices stabilize the mind, reduce its agitation and activate different portions of the brain. Fear, anxiety, anger, judgementalness, criticalness, attachment and many other deep seated psychological tendencies are understood to be disturbances in the flow of prana. This class is designed to teach the tools that help you regain control of your mind.

Mantra is the use of sound to affect the flow of energy through the subtle channels of the body called nadi and chakras. The chakras are the home of the elemental energies of the body. Proper use of the bija mantras can help an individual normalize the flow of prana through the chakras and re-establish the elemental and doshic harmony and health. This program is a slice of our 10-day Ayurvedic Yoga Therapist certification course which we teach throughout the United States, Canada and in the Bahamas each year. This program is designed to improve your own practice as well as your personal health while providing you with a deeper understanding of the theory surrounding the practices.

Yoga Therapy Research: A Review of its History and Importance - Past, Present and Future - SAT BIR S. KHALSA, PhD

Yoga has become popular for treating a wide variety of medical conditions as part of an international attraction to alternative medicine. However, before yoga therapy can meaningfully become utilized and integrated into our health care system, it will need to undergo validation through scientific research. A comprehensive review of the biomedical journal literature involving research on the clinical application of yoga has revealed that yoga therapy research is just 3 decades old, but has been increasing substantially during this time.

Furthermore, the quality of this research has also been improving with a growing use of randomized controlled trials. The types of medical disorders studied with yoga have included psychiatric, cardiovascular, and respiratory conditions, diabetes and a variety of others. Although a majority of this research has been conducted by Indian investigators, recent trends indicate increasing contributions from investigators in the U.S. and England. This presentation will describe the importance of research to the growth and widespread application of yoga therapy and will also review the history of yoga therapy research from the past to the present and will provide a glimpse into its future and potential.

 

  LifeForce Yoga for Depression and Anxiety - AMY WEINTRAUB

For thousands of years, yogis have understood what current research in neurobiology and clinical observations are demonstrating that emotion, particularly traumatizing emotion is stored in the physical body. LifeForce Yoga interweaves the power of an ancient discipline with current scientific findings. Participants will learn strategies from the Classical Yoga and Tantric traditions for both depression and anxiety that can safely release chronically held tension and repressed emotion in the physical and emotional body.

 

  Introduction to Psychoacoustics: The Therapeutic Benefits of Sound for Yoga and Healing - ALEX THEORY, PhD

This lecture explores PsychoAcoustics and the relationship between Yoga and sound from a therapeutic and educational vantage point. We will examine the history of how sound has been used for therapy and discuss current techniques for sound as frequency medicine in clinics, including brainwave and heart rate modification, sound stimulation, facilitation of neurodevelopment, and creating changes in physiology.

 

Yoga for Lower Back Pain - ROBIN MONRO, PhD 

 

While general yoga often resolves mild back pain caused by stress and tense muscles, it can exacerbate conditions involving joint problems, such as prolapsed disc, facet and sacroiliac strains, and severe spondylosis. The skilled yoga therapist can work safely with such conditions by assessing the condition and tailoring the yoga accordingly.  Lifestyle advice complements asanas, pranayama, relaxation and meditation.  This workshop will explain the methods developed by the Yoga Biomedical Trust for working with low back pain.

 

Structural Yoga Therapy - Restoring Balance in Muscles and Joints - MUKUNDA STILES

Structural Yoga Therapy provides specific tools to assess for changes in range of motion and muscle strength common to any change in health. The findings from this assessment are specifically beneficial for clients experiencing musculo-skeletal pain and yet are appropriate to creating a personalized SYT program even for the most challenged yoga students.

Yoga for Cancer Rehab: The IMPACT Model - DR. GARRETT SMITH AND ANTONIO SAUSYS

This workshop explains the inclusion of Yoga Therapy into the IMPACT model, a community service-based program which provides temporary memberships and personal training for individuals undergoing cancer treatment, along with group classes for graduates of the one-on-one-training. The unique feature of this program is the integration of medical professionals, certified trainers, and other professionals offering complementary therapies.  This program is one of the first integrated models of this type in the country and is gaining recognition as a pioneering model in this innovative approach. 

Dr Garret Smith will present an overview of the program and its history from a medical standpoint and Program Director Regan Fredric will guide participants through a sample of an adapted routine.  Antonio Sausys will then guide participants through some of the Yoga Therapy techniques frequently used in class to improve range of motion and functionality while helping participants address psychological and emotional issues related to cancer and its treatment.  These techniques are drawn from different types of Yoga and are tailored to participants needs and abilities.

 

 

Breath as Yoga Therapy - RAMA JYOTI VERNON

Students will develop a deeper understanding of the back body, a new appreciation for the relationship of the spine to every posture, and an expanded awareness of how the breath  powers  our inner and outer life.  Using the breath in ths way, we find that yoga is not so much a method as a means for the "divine will to flow."

 

Dynamic Stillness: Using Meditation to Find the Healer Within - NISCHALA JOY DEVI

As many of our modern maladies are created by forgetting our true divine nature, this class will allow us to explore the theory and practice of accessing the power of our own healing through Dharana (contemplation) and Dhyana (Meditation) as put forth in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. The simple yet profound practice of directing the eternal light, unleashes the healing potential encased within our hearts, creating healing for our bodies, our relationships and the entire world.

 

  Yoga Spiritual Mentoring - MUKUNDA STILES

Classical Yoga is a  process for unfolding the individual's spiritual nature and developing communion with the True Self.  These teachings are  given as satsang from Spirit's timeless yoga teachings - Patanajli's Sutras, Vijnana Bhairava Tantra, and the Yoga Vasistha.  The process develops personal practice  so that blossoming of sadhana's fragrance permeates all aspects of your lifestyle.  A Yoga spiritual mentor gives individual guidance.  However, in this workshop Mukunda will  share ways in which Spirit seeks to commune with you, regardless of whether you have an outer mentor to help manifest Spirit's Presence.

  The Healing Power of Chanting - NICOLE DeAVILLA

Experience the uplifting and healing power of chanting.  In this class you will learn how to chant effectively, how to use chants for specific needs, and how to use chanting to take you into deep joyful meditations. Chanting is devotional in nature.  It is often said that developing the heart quality is one of the most important aspects of spiritual development.  For many developing the heart qualities of compassion, love, and courage, has opened the door way for physical and mental healing. 

Parmahansa Yogananda said "Chanting is half the battle."  Learn why chanting is so powerful in uplifting consciousness.  Learn the difference between singing sweet sentiments that may take us deeper into the emotions and singing chants that take us out of the ups and downs of emotions and into the realm of ever new joy. 

Chanting can be a wonderful aide to a restless mind that finds meditation elusive.  The activity of the chant can become the easier to achieve single minded focus of the meditation.  Eventually this focus, which will be described and taught in the workshop, will naturally lead one into fruitful meditation.  Practical questions such as how to sit comfortably, does one need to play an instrument or be able to correctly pronounce the words in a Sanskrit chant will be answered.  Teachers will learn valuable tips on how to share chanting with their students.  Besides learning the hows and whys of chanting, there will be time to put it all into practical use as Nicole plays the guitar and guides the participants in chanting both Sanskrit and English chants.

 

Yoga for Conflict Resolution: Embodied Yoga Philosophy  - RAMA JYOTI VERNON

Students will explore yoga philosophy applied to daily life. Drawing from the seminal Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, we will focus on key philosophical principles and how they are expreienced and cultivated through our yoga practice. 

Power Yoga with Weights: The Therapeutic Applications for Bone Density - SHERRI BAPTISTE

Explore this breakthrough mind-body exercise that honors the core ideals of yoga integrated with the science of bodybuilding.  Based on her book, Yoga with Weights for Dummies, this program will teach you how to work safely and effectively with weights in your yoga practice.  Yoga with weights offers a harmonious relationship that will help you relax, breathe well, renew energy and keep you feeling and looking your best.

 

  Yoga for People with Breast Cancer - JNANI CHAPMAN

This talk will cover a range of topics of primary interest to people who are in treatment or recovery from breast cancer: surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, plus the side effects of cancer and treatment including fatigue, pain, nausea, lymphedema, osteoporosis, and menopause. The talk will explore related muscle and breath physiology, yoga philosophy and how yoga techniques can impact the cancer experience with time for Q&A.

  Common Pregnancy Complaints and Remedies - NICOLE DeAVILLA

Learn the physiological, psychological and bio-mechanical changes that occur during pregnancy, how to deal with posture, back pain, sciatica, unstable sacroiliac joints, carpal tunnel syndrome, ankle swelling, groin stitch, difficulty breathing, rib discomfort, incontinence and more. Students will practice asanas, pranayamas and other techniques that can relieve these conditions.

 

  RSI 101: Everything you need to know about Yoga and Repetitive Strain Injuries - DEBORAH QUILTER

Yoga, if expertly modified for the person's injury, can be enormously helpful for people with Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI); however, the wrong asana practice can make matters significantly worse. Learn what every practitioner and Yoga teacher needs to know about RSI, contraindicated poses and how to design a safe practice.

Healthy Aging with Yoga - FRANK ISZAK & SERPIL GOLE-ISZAK

Silver Age Yoga, a geriatric science based senior yoga will present a new approach to aging: yoga. The award winning yoga practices are now part of a yoga teacher training curriculum available via Internet as an online certification program. Silver Age Yoga received recognitions at many levels (state , national) for its charitable contribution to health improvement of our senior population

Benefits of the Practice of Manoyoga among Children - BHOGARAJU VENKATA SUBRAHMANYAM

This workshop emphasize on the effectiveness of Manoyoga practice on children in helping their physical,mental,intellectual, emotional and spiritual growth. To initiate and bring about the authenticity of the Manoyoga practice to children to make them emotionally strong, mentally fit and overcome depression, anger, and negative tendencies.Practical sessions with power point presentations. To make available an exhaustive document of research done on school children in economically backward area of Andhra Pradesh State in India to demonstrate the eradication of many psychosomatic diseases and improvement in the performance

Healing Yoga for Cancer - BIDYUT BOSE, PhD; Executive Director, Niroga Institute (www.niroga.org)

Updated information regarding the 2008 presentations will be available soon.