Mental and Emotional Healing Through Yoga combines key research on the intersection of yoga and mental health with a client-centered, step-by-step framework that can be applied to a range of complex mental and emotional disorders. The book guides readers through the initial intake of the first client session and the development of subsequent sessions, providing case examples from the author’s practice to show how yoga’s mind-body connection facilitates recuperation and healing. While well-grounded in research and case studies, the book is also highly readable, making it accessible to professionals such as psychotherapists and yoga therapists, as well as individuals and families struggling with mental health issues.

Many of us have experienced a traumatic event in our lives, whether in childhood or adulthood. This trauma may be emotional, or it may cause intense physical pain. In some cases, it can cause both. Studies have shown that compassion and mindfulness based interventions can help people suffering from trauma to experience less physical and emotional pain in their daily lives. What’s more, many long-time yoga and meditation teachers have a history of teaching these practices to their clients with successful outcomes. In Yoga for Emotional Trauma, a psychotherapist and a meditation teacher present a yogic approach to emotional trauma by instructing you to apply mindful awareness, breathing, yoga postures, and mantras to their emotional and physical pain. In the book, you’ll learn why yoga is so effective for dealing with emotional trauma. Yoga and mindfulness can transform trauma into joy. It has done so for countless millions. The practices outlined in this book will teach you how to use and adapt the ancient practices and meditations of yoga for your own healing. Drawing upon practices and philosophy from eastern wisdom traditions, and texts such as the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the Bagavad Gita, and the Buddhist Sutras, this book will take you on a journey into wholeness, one that embraces body, mind and spirit. Inside, you will discover the lasting effect that trauma has on physiology and how yoga resets the nervous system. Combining yogic principles, gentle yoga postures, and mindfulness practices, this book filled with sustenance and practical support that will move you along your own healing path.

For anyone who has suffered loss, a collection of meditations and poses for working through grief. So often, we think that grief lives only in our hearts and minds. But what about the emotions that weigh us down and the grief that gets stuck in our body? Our emotions need motion, and Healing Through Yoga is a unique, simple, and powerful way of healing. Grief Yoga founder Paul Denniston takes you through the stages of Awareness, Expression, Connection, Surrender, and Evolution with clear and compassionate instruction, poses, exercises with easy-to-follow photos, and meditations specifically designed to move you through that particular step. Learn how to release pain and suffering without expectation or judgment and reconnect to life, love, and strength. Even if you have never done yoga before, with Healing Through Yoga you can process your grief and use it as fuel for transformative healing. FOR READERS OF: Healing After Loss, On Grief and Grieving, Chair Yoga,The Body Keeps the Score, and Grief Day by Day. EXPERT AUTHOR: Paul Denniston is the founder of Grief Yoga, a program he created with David Kessler (co-author of On Grief and Grieving) and tours worldwide, working with bereavement groups, cancer support centers, addiction and Alzheimer's groups, and people dealing with breakups, divorce, and betrayal. Denniston has a mailing list of 100,000 subscribers, and he teaches a weekly class to the 18,000 members in his public Grief Facebook group. NOT JUST FOR YOGIS: Paul's audience is mostly made up of people who had never thought of yoga as a way to work through grief. This practice is not as much about physical flexibility as it is about emotional liberation. GREAT RESOURCE FOR HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS: Paul has taught this practice to over 10,000 therapists, counselors, and healthcare professionals around the world. A NEW TOOL FOR ALL TYPES OF LOSS: Paul teaches this class to workshops dealing with all kinds of loss, including breakups, divorce and betrayal, bereavement groups, cancer support centers, addiction groups, death by suicide, Alzheimer's support groups, bereaved parents and many more. This book can help with new and old losses and traumatic experiences that often go unattended. Perfect for: 18+, Yoga enthusiasts. grief help, self-help

Survivors of trauma—whether abuse, accidents, or war—can end up profoundly wounded, betrayed by their bodies that failed to get them to safety and that are a source of pain. In order to fully heal from trauma, a connection must be made with oneself, including one’s body. The trauma-sensitive yoga described in this book moves beyond traditional talk therapies that focus on the mind, by bringing the body actively into the healing process. This allows trauma survivors to cultivate a more positive relationship to their body through gentle breath, mindfulness, and movement practices. Overcoming Trauma through Yoga is a book for survivors, clinicians, and yoga instructors who are interested in mind/body healing. It introduces trauma-sensitive yoga, a modified approach to yoga developed in collaboration between yoga teachers and clinicians at the Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute, led by yoga teacher David Emerson, along with medical doctor Bessel van der Kolk. The book begins with an in-depth description of trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including a description of how trauma is held in the body and the need for body-based treatment. It offers a brief history of yoga, describes various styles of yoga commonly found in Western practice, and identifies four key themes of trauma-sensitive yoga. Chair-based exercises are described that can be incorporated into individual or group therapy, targeting specific treatment goals, and modifications are offered for mat-based yoga classes. Each exercise includes trauma-sensitive language to introduce the practice, as well as photographs to illustrate the poses. The practices have been offered to a wide range of individuals and groups, including men and women, teens, returning veterans, and others. Rounded out by valuable quotes and case stories, the book presents mindfulness, breathing, and yoga exercises that can be used by home practitioners, yoga teachers, and therapists as a way to cultivate awareness, tolerance, and an increased acceptance of the self.

“A brilliant illumination of how the ancient wisdom of the yogic tradition can penetrate the often-intractable challenges of depression.”—Phil Catalfo, Yoga Journal Take the natural path to mental wellness. More than twenty-five million Americans are treated with antidepressants each year, at a cost in excess of $50 billion. But the side effects of popular prescription drugs may seem nearly as depressing as the symptoms they’re meant to treat. Veteran yoga instructor Amy Weintraub offers a better solution—one that taps the scientifically proven link between yoga and emotional well-being as well as the beauty of ancient approaches to inner peace. Addressing a range of diagnoses, including dysthymia, anxiety-based depression, and bipolar disorder, Yoga for Depression reveals why specific postures, breathing practices, and meditation techniques can ease suffering and release life’s traumas and losses. Weintraub also reflects on her own experience with severe depression, from which she recovered through immersing herself in a daily yoga routine. Yoga for Depression is the first yoga book devoted exclusively to the treatment of these debilitating conditions. Amy Weintraub will help readers see their suffering and themselves in a vibrant new light.

An integrative approach to healing anxiety, depression, and chronic stress through yoga and breathing exercises Emotional balance is within your reach—when you cultivate the intelligence of both your body and mind. Bo Forbes, a psychologist and yoga teacher, offers some of her most important teachings and practices, including: • Restorative yoga sequences designed to balance anxiety and lift depression • Breath and body-centered exercises to calm your mind and energize your body • Simple ways to understand your emotional patterns • 3 main obstacles to emotional well-being • 5 tools for building emotional balance Rooted in classical yoga yet supported by psychology and science, the techniques in this book will help you create progressive and lasting change.

Trauma Healing in the Yoga Zone describes an original model of "Nervous System Informed, Trauma-Sensitive Yoga," (NITYA), a synthesis of classical yoga, somatic psychotherapy, and neuroscience research. It is organized around the eight branches of Raja Yoga, and includes scripts for administering NITYA chair yoga postures, breathing practices, and yoga nidra (the yogic sleep). These can be used by helping professionals with all levels of familiarity with yoga. The book is needed for several reasons: for mental health professionals, it offers a comprehensive overview of yoga philosophy and practices, as well as yoga-based options for working with the client's embodied experience, a major element in trauma healing. For yoga professionals and practitioners, it provides insight into the natural integration of yoga with polyvagal theory and other current approaches in the field of somatic psychology. Both professions are currently being enriched by data from the field of neuropsychology that describes brain function, in real time, in various mental and emotional states. This data supports yoga's effectiveness in regulating the autonomic nervous system, a key to trauma recovery.

Yoga is a comprehensive mind-body practice that is particularly effective for self-regulation, mood management, fostering resilience, and promotion of wellbeing. Inherently, yoga is a system for improving mental health and alleviating suffering at the deepest levels. Consequently, yoga's potential as a key component of integrative and complementary mental health is now being recognized internationally. This book serves as a reference, but also as a bridge between yoga therapy and healthcare, helping to add to the process of growing integration. It provides a professional resource for mental health professionals interested in the potential for yoga interventions that facilitate the therapeutic process, and who want to learn ways in which yoga can catalyze and deepen this process across a broad spectrum of mental health approaches. Similarly for yoga professionals with a focus on mental health and wellbeing who want to expand their understanding of how yoga relates to mental health approaches and their knowledge of best practices. The format is designed for consistency and ease of reading. Chapter 1 introduces the reader to the yogic viewpoint of mental health and wellbeing, and the psychological and neurological rationale for yoga's usage in mental health conditions. Each subsequent chapter is organized into a clinical overview of mental health conditions, followed by sections on current research and the rationale for incorporating yoga into the treatment of the condition, recommended yoga practices, and future directions.

All you need to know about herbs, nutrients, and yoga for enhancing mental health. Many physicians and therapists agree that herbs and mind-body practices enhance health, but many more are reluctant to integrate them into their clinical work because of a lack of training or, given how long it takes to master the use of hundreds of different herbs, a lack of time. But the trend is clear: clients and consumers alike want control over their health care choices, making the time ripe for a practical resource that guides both the clinician and the consumer on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). This book answers that call. Three noted experts in integrative medicine, Drs. Brown, Gerbarg, and Muskin, demystify the complexities of alternative mental health care, giving readers a comprehensive yet accessible guidebook to the best treatment options out there. From mood, memory, and anxiety disorders to ADD, sexual enhancement issues, psychotic disorders, and substance abuse, every chapter covers a major diagnostic category. The authors then present a range of complementary and alternative treatments-including the use of herbs, nutrients, vitamins, nootropics, hormones, and mind-body practices- that they have found to be beneficial for various conditions within each category. For example, B complex vitamins and folate have been shown to help with depression; omega-3 fatty acids can offer relief for bipolar sufferers; coherent and resonant breathing techniques-used by Buddhist monks-induce healthy alpha rhythms in the brain to relieve anxiety; the elderly can boost their memory by taking the ancient medicinal herb Rhodiola rosea; and those with chronic fatigue syndrome can find comfort in acupuncture and yoga. Focusing on evidence-based approaches, the research, the authors' clinical experience, and the potential risks and benefits of each treatment are carefully examined. Brown, Gerbarg, and Muskin have distilled an otherwise daunting field of treatment down to its basics: their overriding approach is to present the CAM methods that are most practical in a clinical setting, easy to administer, and low in side effects. With helpful summary tables at the end of each chapter, clinical pearls, and case vignettes interspersed throughout, this is a must-have resource for all clinicians and consumers who want the best that alternative medicine has to offer.

"If you have an interest in optimum mental health, this book belongs on your shelf!" —AMY WEINTRAUB, author of Yoga for Depression "A must-read for anyone interested in overcoming depression and healing themselves naturally. A very important book that will elevate you in many ways. Everyone must seek it out." —DHARMA SINGH KHALSA, M.D., author of Meditation as Medicine and Dead Brain Cells Don't Lie ACTIVATE THE INHERENT WISDOM OF YOUR MIND-BODY Healing Depression the Mind-Body Way shines a new light on the darkness of depression by presenting specific antidepression strategies designed to help you unleash your innate healing potential. The time-tested advice presented in this book is based on the latest theories of modern science and the practical wisdom of Ayurveda, an ancient system of natural medicine. This unique book offers a comprehensive step-by-step program for eradicating the root of depression from the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of your being. Through detailed questionnaires about your psycho-physiological profile and elemental imbalances, you will identify an archetype that most represents your experience with depression. Then, you will design a tailor-made health program to regain balance in your mind-body. You will learn to undo depression by: Identifying your unique manifestation of depression based on elemental imbalances Using yoga, exercise, and breathing techniques that are in sync with your specific physical, mental, and emotional needs Using food and meditation as medicine Whether you are battling a depressive episode or need support coping with the problems of daily living, this book will help you awaken the "physician within" and embark on a pathway to a life of balance and renewal.