The Minded Institute is a world-leader in providing yoga therapy education to yoga and health professionals to work with mental and physical health conditions. The Institute is known for working at the interface between yoga therapy, mindfulness, neurophysiology, psychotherapy principles, and evidence based practice.
Based in the UK, Minded provides:
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World-leading professional yoga therapy training
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Evidence-based training and professional development for yoga teachers, therapists, and healthcare professionals
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Workshops and lectures on yoga and mental health
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High-level research informing our training programs
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Lobbying for the inclusion of yoga and yoga therapy in the NHS
CPD Training Scholarships
We are partnered with The Minded Institute to challenge inequities and expand access to health promoting practices, especially in communities that have faced systemic oppression.
Fierce Calm and The Minded Institute are committed to cultivating a diversity of voices and life experiences in our trainings, while making them accessible to people of all income levels, identities and backgrounds through a range of scholarship opportunities.
We are committed to cultivating diversity in our community, trainings teaching community and to diversify representation amongst the yoga and yoga therapy teaching community.
If you are from, or belong to, a community that is often under-represented in the yoga community at-large and or have genuine financial need then please email lee@fierce-calm.com for details and latest scholarship opportunities
Online CPD: Yoga Therapy for PTSD & C-PTSD
Part 1: 13th - 16th March 2025
Part 2: 28th - 30th March (7 days total)
10am - 5pm (UK time)
SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE FOR UKRAINIAN THERAPISTS, YOGA TEACHERS & HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS AND ANYONE OF A MARGINALISED IDENTITY
In this unique training—the first of its kind in the world to explore how the distinction between PTSD & Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) should inform the application of yoga therapy—participants will learn from two leading experts in the field of trauma and yoga therapy. Heather Mason, founder of The Minded Institute is joined by Rachel Bilski, manager of PTSD UK charity, both sharing their expertise as yoga therapists and educators specialising in the use of therapeutic yoga therapy for trauma recovery. For the first time, they will bring together their comprehensive knowledge and lived experience of both PTSD and Complex PTSD (C-PTSD), providing skills and understanding distinct to each condition.
Participants will develop foundational yoga therapy techniques for one-on-one sessions, and delve deeply into the neuroscience behind how different forms of movement and breathwork can profoundly impact PTSD & C-PTSD recovery across various stages of acuity and complexity.
In this training, you will learn how to use yoga to work with PTSD & C-PTSD in an evidence-based, compassionate, and innovative way, useful to your clients and also to yourself.
Over the years, graduates of our yoga therapy for PTSD programme have used the knowledge gained to become pioneers in the field of yoga for PTSD, work in hospitals, clinics, private practice, and have brought their work into the medical and psychological spheres.
What the training will cover:
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An overview of PTSD from a psychological, medical and neuroscientific perspective
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An overview of C-PTSD, including history and context, common misdiagnoses, and how the condition affects mind, body and relationships
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The key differences between PTSD & C-PTSD in terms of both causes and presentation, including an overview of how emotional flashbacks
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Research delineating yoga and yoga therapy’s value in PTSD
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Foundational yoga therapy skills
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How to conduct a kosha assessment and specifically how to conduct one to assess the needs of someone with PTSD and c-PTSD through a yoga therapeutic, biopsychosocial lens.
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How to create safety when in all stages of working with those with PTSD & C-PTSD
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The difference between yoga and yoga therapy when working with PTSD and how to ensure sessions are therapeutic in nature
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Why yoga/yoga therapy is an important intervention in both PTSD & C-PTSD from a psychological, medical and neuroscientific perspective
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How yoga can alter psychological and neurological functioning in individuals with PTSD & C-PTSD, and specific practices that can target particular presentations, like freezing, hyper-arousal, dissociation and distorted sense of self
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Unique ways that yoga can be tailored to help those with PTSD & C-PTSD in a gradual and gentle fashion
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Sensitivities and necessary precautions when using yoga to work with PTSD & C-PTSD
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Guidance on signposting, duty of care and when to refer onward
To apply for Ukrainian or marginalised identity scholarship email Lee@Fierce-Calm.com
To Book Training and Further Info visit Minded Institute Here
CPD: Neuroscience for Yoga Teachers
Date: Wednesday 4th May - Friday 6th May 2022
Time: 10am - 5pm
FULL SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE for this training
CPD Training Scholarships for BIPOC /Marginalised / Minority Community
If you are from, or belong to, a community that is often under-represented in the yoga community at-large and or have genuine financial need then please email me lee@fierce-calm.com for details and latest scholarship opportunities
Yogis have long understood that yoga transforms the mind. With advances in research, we now have clear findings that verify this ancient wisdom, highlighting that yoga practice leads to positive psychological changes and also impacts the overall nervous system including shifts in brain structure and function. This evidence base is coupled with a growing insight into the discrete mechanisms through which yoga engenders neuroplasticity.
By understanding how yoga may lead to specific and comprehensive brain changes, we can fine tune yoga classes and private sessions to support the specific psychological and physical needs of our students and clients.
In this comprehensive and embodied training, Heather Mason will:
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Provide an overview of the central and peripheral nervous systems
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Explain the components of the nervous system such as: neurons, glial cells, and neurotransmitters.
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Share well-accepted and current ground-breaking research on how yoga influences the brain.
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Discuss how different practices can influence the nervous system in different ways
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Describe the varying effects of different types of movement, breath, and meditation on the nervous system.
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Elucidate how specific yoga practices can be used to generate discrete effects including:
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Anxiety reduction
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Improved coordination
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Improved mood
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Innovative thinking
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Cognitive flexibility
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Body Awareness
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Emotion Regulation
An embodied understanding of the neuroscientific underpinnings of yoga is vital for anyone wishing to empower their students with this knowledge. The development of an intimate connection with our own neurophysiology can incite a powerful motivation to practice, not only for ourselves but for others with whom we share this understanding.
This CPD will be delivered via a hybrid model with options to join in person or online. Please note, it will not be recorded so attendance is required throughout the three days.
Online:
Fierce Calm Minded Institute Scholarship
Yoga Therapy for PTSD
14th March - 18th March 2022
Yoga and yoga therapy for trauma has become popular as there is a growing basis of clinical evidence and case reports that its application significantly supports those with PTSD in with the gentle reconnecting to their bodies, improving self-regulation, better socialisation, and increasing positive health behaviours.
This unique training, run by Heather Mason, the first person in the UK to train with the Boston Trauma Center, not only provides participants with trauma-informed yoga skills, but does a deep dive into neuroscience expounding on how different modes of moving and breathing can positively influence trauma at various stages of acuity and complexity. Insights from neuroscientific research inform us that people who have PTSD need body based interventions to help process traumatic experiences and enhance the resiliency of the nervous system.
Over the years graduates of this programme have used the knowledge gained to work in hospitals, clinics, private practice, and brought their work into the medical and psychological spheres.
In this training you will learn how to use yoga to work with trauma in an evidence based, compassionate, and innovative ways useful to your clients and also to yourself.
What the training will cover:
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An overview of PTSD from a psychological, medical and neuroscientific perspective
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Research delineating yoga’s value in PTSD
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How to create safety when working with those with PTSD
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The difference between yoga and yoga therapy when working with PTSD and how to assure sessions are yoga therapeutic
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Why yoga is an important intervention in PTSD from a psychological, medical and neuroscientific perspective
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How yoga is able to alter psychological and neurological functioning in individuals with PTSD and specific practices that can target particular presentations like freezing, hyperarousal, and dissociation.
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Unique ways that yoga can be tailored to help those with PTSD in graduated and gentle fashion
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Sensitivities and necessary precautions when using yoga to work with PTSD
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Visit The Minded Institute for further info or email lee@fierce-calm.com for Scholarship details and application
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Minded Institute Online CPD
Fierce Calm Scholarship:
The Science & Application of Breath Practices
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Part 1: 11th -13th February - Part 2: 12th - 13th March
Time: 10am - 5pm
Join Heather Mason for a 2 part CPD course, exploring the Science and Applications of Breath Practice. It will cover Ujjayi breath, Alternate Nostril Breathing, Coherent Breathing, Dirga breath and more. You will also learn how to apply breath with the use of scent for developing safety, how to use rapid breathing for expedient transformation and how to safely engage in breath holding techniques.
In this 5-day, two-part professional training you will learn about:
– Respiratory physiology
– How breathing influences different systems of the body
– Breath and neuroplasticity
– The relationship between breath and mood
– How to conduct a breath assessment
– How to use a breath assessment to determine appropriate practices for clients
– The psychophysiological and spiritual effects of different breath practices including those that lift the nervous system and those that calm it down.
– How to apply breath practices to different client populations
– Precautions and contra-indications
The course is geared towards yoga and health professionals that want to use evidence based and spiritually informed practice practices in their work.
Between the two parts of the course participants are required to practice different breathing techniques and conduct breath assessments with others. Participants are also invited to 4 evenings of additional breath practice time at no extra charge.
Visit The Minded Institute for further info or email lee@fierce-calm.com for Scholarship details