YOGA THERAPY

It is said that the longest journey is from the head to the heart. We believe that when we support our clients to journey inward, they find their own natural ways to heal and empower themselves back to good health, happiness and a better quality of life. The answers are already within us and through the support and ancient wisdoms of Yoga Therapy, we can help people access this natural inner gift of health and healing.

Yoga Focus was established in 1998, to provide therapeutic yoga for NHS physical and mental health departments as well as community health services. The founder, Nikki Jackson, worked within the NHS as both a senior occupational therapist and yoga therapist between 1992-2014 enhancing health and independent living skills for people suffering from a variety of chronic physical and mental health conditions.

In 2014 Yoga Focus created the BWY Foundation Module in Yoga Therapy for Chronic Health Conditions. This module continues to run each year and now forms the first stage of the full 550hr Yoga Therapy Professional Training, accredited by The British Council of Yoga Therapy. The training uses up-to-date scientific medical research, neuroscience and traditional yoga practice and philosophy to gain insights into health conditions.

About the courses

• Stage One: 50 hours Foundations in Yoga Therapy, level 3 National Qualifications Framework (NQF), leading to:
• Stage Two: 500 hours Professional Training in Yoga Therapy, level 3 and 4 NQF

How the training works

The training course relates closely to nature’s healing capacity and the natural life process. All trainings are held in venues with natural surroundings and beautiful countryside, with plenty of opportunities to walk and reflect for personal growth and healing, an essential part of an effective Yoga Therapist.

The course emphasises ‘no one cure fits all’ with a person-centred approach. We encourage learning through creativity, sometimes playfulness but above all, deep compassion. Student yoga therapists will gain further knowledge, skills and confidence in assessing clients thoroughly, implementing therapy and evaluating outcomes. Yoga therapists are taught to move away from instructing, achieving, fixing or trying to cure individuals but instead to emphasise the mind and body’s natural capacity to heal themselves. The body is wise and if respected and nurtured, will use its memory to find its way back to its core roots of health.

Student yoga therapists are taught how to support and guide individuals in their journey to unravel the underlying causes behind their pain, their suffering and their ill health through the process of inquiry. The kosha, chakra, vayu, klesha and guna models are taught to assess and support individuals to let go of their angers, fears, delusions and attachments around their suffering. This enables individuals to see clearly to make the changes in their lives that will enable them to return to their natural inner Self, their Shabhava. This leads to a happier, healthier, and more natural life.

The venues include:

• The Cotswolds
• The Mandala Ashram, South Wales

About the trainers:

• Nikki Jackson, course director – therapist core skills, mindfulness (MBSR), trauma, mental health, cancer
• Vicky Arundel, senior trainer – musculoskeletal conditions, anatomy and physiology, chronic pain, elderly and neurological conditions
• Swami Krishnapremananda and Swami SatyaDaya – ancient text and philosophy
• Joanna Bogacz – professional studies
• Tarik Dervish – ayurveda
• Megan McCarthy – somatic movements in yoga therapy
• Margaret Landale – psychosomatics
• Kate Binnie – palliative care
• Lizzie Cummings – creative arts therapy

To get in touch email: [email protected] or visit: Introduction – Yoga Focus

Yoga United Education was founded by Judy Hirsh Sampath, developed through her own journey into embodied wisdom with safe and sound teachers, and inner and outer guides. She says:

the truth is that you already hold the wisdom and the insight; in fact, you may have already chosen this path because you have found yourself here on this page. As you tune into the language of your body, you start to tend to your relationship with Self and remember who you are. In turn, you can support others doing the same. From that deep well of understanding and acceptance through yoga therapy, we can spread yoga and yoga therapy out into our communities like a virus and infect the world with a renewed shift towards healing.

Judy’s passion and mission is to pass forward what she has learned, to model a way of being that inspires yoga professionals and practitioners to access the deep well of yoga, their own learning, awareness and life journey.

Through student-centred learning, our courses are designed to include science, art, soul and direct experience to explore the ongoing transformative power of yoga, to become powerful agents for change in the world and to connect with a like-minded and supportive community.

Our courses are practical as well as soulful. Enquiry, play and exploration are key to re-discover the unique needs of the individual and dive deep into the shadows and the light that welcome wholeness. Celebration of the body overrides a need to fix and correct our students, clients and ourselves.

If you wish to grow into your power as a facilitator, the Yoga United Yoga Therapy Diploma training is 600 hours over 18-24 months. Our Diploma is fully accredited by the British Council for Yoga Therapy (BCYT).

Our sensitive and intuitive approach encourages our trainees to develop their own unique style of yoga therapy with confidence and authenticity.  So you will learn and practice to become sensitive to the individual health seekers, truth seekers and wisdom holders who are looking for guidance through yoga therapy. You will learn to witness and support them as they reclaim their power to heal, and become pro-active in their own process. You will be trained in offering both individual yoga therapy 1-2-1 and yoga therapy in small groups, writing course plans ready for action.

The 10 modules include scientific understanding of the body’s systems and related common conditions, experiential anatomy, yoga philosophy in action and therapeutic application, psychology of behaviour, cognition and consciousness.

Our tutors:

• Judy Hirsh Sampath, Course Director – Embodied Mindfulness, YU Yoga Therapy practicum, Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, marketing, group yoga therapy course plan
• Mary Mackie – Anatomy & Physiology, Scaravelli inspired yoga therapy
• Judy Mace – Supervision, Mental Health
• Uma Dinsmore-Tuli – Yoga Therapy for Women’s health
• Beverley Nolan – Somatic Movement Therapy, gender spectrum, neurodiversity
• Sylviane Gianina – Philosophy & The Yoga Sutras
• Tarik Dervish – Ayurveda & Hathayogapradipika
• Antonia Boyle/tbc – Therapeutic Neuro Linguistic Programming
• Debra Wheeler – Chronic Pain

Course structure

With marketing skills to guide trainees to success, we have constructed a full and enriching educational experience – with ongoing practice sessions, assessment, mentoring, supervision and case studies.

Comprises 10 modules – Module 1 is a foundational 50 hours course, quality-assured as a BWY module. Dip your toe in, meet and greet your Self in readiness to inspire others on their healing journey.

We will explore multiple perspectives through which we can understand health, dis-ease and wholeness – ayurvedic perspectives on anxiety, anger & depression, back pain to explore physical/mind/emotional connections, vulnerability and protection, releasing lower back tension, embodied anatomy and communication skills.

Modules 2 – 10 comprising the remaining diploma hours, in person, on zoom and through non-contact assignments.

We aim to create a safe and inclusive space in which to share knowledge, experiences, insights, and practices that support the learning process. By keeping our student groups small, we ensure that everyone is included in deep learning with their tutors and peers. As you commit to the training, we are fully committed to you.

Guidance comes from inside you as well as from experts in their fields, and that’s education!  So, let’s celebrate the power of yoga therapy together.