Yoga Therapy for ALL podcast

As yoga therapists, we are often called upon to offer therapeutic yoga for mood disorders in health care, or residential settings like detention centers, disordered eating clinics, and halfway houses, where yoga may be prescribed but not chosen by those we serve. In these environments yoga may seem inaccessible or weird or just plain boring. We know that yoga is effective for mood regulation. In this scientific review of yoga and depression, The Efficacy of Yoga as a Form of Treatment for Depression, the abstract states:  “…it can be concluded that the yoga interventions were effective in reducing depression.” Still, for some, yoga sounds too difficult, or even elitist. How do we make yoga accessible and acceptable and fun?

Thursday, August 19, Amy Wheeler, PhD, and I take on discussions about yoga therapy and making it enjoyable for those who haven’t chosen yoga, but have been prescribed it for mental health support⁠. It’s not always pretzel-poses that provide real relief, and anyone can take part, no matter who or where you are. We’ll discuss my new card deck, just released from Sounds True, “Yoga for Your Mood: 52 Ways to Shift Depression and Anxiety“, and the importance of meeting the mood.⁠ ✨We’ll talk about how to make yoga inclusive, how to give clients a stronger sense of agency in their lives, and much more!⁠ 🎧 Join us next Thursday HERE, or wherever you stream your podcasts!⁠

The new podcast, “Yoga Therapy Hour with Amy Wheeler” is a joint production with Give Back Yoga Foundation. Our goal is to educate and promote the field of yoga therapy and nourish our listeners at the same time. We hope that yoga teachers, yoga therapists, physicians, psychologists, health educators and people interested in the mind-body connection will enjoy the content. We share topics on specific health ailments, talk about how yoga therapy can complement allopathic care or stand-alone, discuss research and education, and more. We look at social justice in the field of yoga therapy and the emerging trends in healthcare and beyond. We have a guest list from all over the world so that we can work together to bring yoga therapy to the world and reduce suffering.

Give Back Yoga University is our partner in creating social change and they help us to produce and promote this podcast. They are a charitable organization that helps bring yoga to those in need. If you would like to see the video version of this recording, you can donate to GBYU HERE.

Amy Wheeler, Ph.D., E-RYT-1200, C-IAYT

For over 25 years Amy Wheeler has been a consultant to elite level athletes, peak performers and healthcare organizations that require living in their Optimal State® to achieve their desired goals.

Amy’s life purpose has been to change the way people view mental and physical health by educating them about the inter-relationship between Yoga, Psychology and Public Health. Amy has studied Yoga and Yoga Therapy in India, Europe and the United States. During the past 25 years, Amy studied extensively in the T. Krishnamacharya Tradition. On numerous extended trips, she studied at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM) in Chennai, India.

2018-2020 Amy served as the President of the Board of Directors to the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT). Prior to this, Amy had served on the Board of Directors as Secretary for IAYT for 4 years. Additionally, she helped to develop and define standards for Ayurvedic Yoga Therapists in the National Ayurvedic Medical Association (NAMA).

Amy has authored 14 training manuals, 7 children’s books, 3 books of poetry and also 865-hours of curriculum for the Optimal State of Living programs. She and her husband, George Mantoan, have created hundreds of hours of audio and video courses for health and healing, and they hope their NEW mobile App will change the future of mental health on a worldwide scale.

Find more about Amy Wheeler PhD, here: amyweheeler.com,  @theoptimalstate