Professional Overview
HeatherĀ Mason MA, MA, MSc, 500-YT, C-IAYT is an educator, innovator, policy advocate, and thought leader in yoga therapy, renowned for her work in integrative mindābody mental health. She is the founder and course director of The Minded Institute, founding trustee of theĀ Yoga in Healthcare Alliance, played a central role in establishing of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Yoga in Society where she served as the Secretariat, has been entrusted as the steward of theĀ Yoga Biomedical TrustĀ (founded by the late Dr Robin Monro), and co-hosts theĀ Yoga for Health podcast.
Heatherās intention to contribute to the evolution of mental healthcare through the biopsychosocialāspiritual lens of yoga therapy arose directly from her long-term experiences of depression, anxiety, and PTSD. These challenges led her to intensive contemplative practice in monasteries and ashrams across South and Southeast Asia, where she began teaching yoga and meditation, and subsequently pursued postgraduate education in multiple disciplines. She undertook MAs in Buddhist Studies and Psychotherapy, an MSc in Medical Physiology, postgraduate neuroscience study at masterās level, and completed her yoga therapy training in 2007. In 2008, she became the first person in the UK to train in trauma-sensitive yoga with the Boston Trauma Center.
Heatherās combination of lived experience, contemplative discipline, and wide-ranging academic study shaped the multidimensional perspective that has underpinned her clinical and educational work. In 2009, she founded The Minded Institute to bring this integrated approach into structured professional training.Ā The Minded Institute offers diplomas, professional development courses, and seminars. Its flagship yoga therapy diploma has become one of the worldās most comprehensive and scientifically grounded yoga therapy trainings, uniting yoga, Buddhist contemplative psychology, neuroscience, physiology, psychotherapeutic principles, and trauma-informed practices within a rigorous, coherent curriculum. As of January 2026, the Institute has graduated over 400 yoga therapists and trained thousands more yoga and health professionals through its extensive range of shorter, specialised professional development courses. Heather has ensured the curriculum is updated annually to remain aligned with emerging research and the evolving needs of healthcare, a process of continual refinement that ultimately enabled one of her most significant innovations: the co-creation of Integrative Yoga Psychotherapy.
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Developed with Elaine Collins, Integrative Yoga Psychotherapy is the first psychotherapy training designed specifically for yoga therapists. It reflects the key dimensions of personhood explored in yoga therapy, an unparalleled framework for mental healthcare that considers the body, breath and energy, mind, insight, and the capacity for joy and connection. In this context, Integrative Yoga Psychotherapy supports a distinctive therapeutic approach capable of addressing complex mental health needs.
In addition to her work at The Minded Institute,Ā HeatherĀ contributes to yoga research, lectures widely on the clinical applications of yoga therapy at medical, integrative medicine, and mental health conferences, and has presented at institutions including Harvard Medical School, University College London, and the Royal College of Psychiatrists. From 2011 to 2014 she developed and taught an elective on mindābody health at theĀ Boston University School of Medicine, and she also created and delivered the mindābody science curriculum for the inaugural Master of Science in Yoga Therapy programme atĀ Maryland University of Integrative Health.
Alongside this work,Ā HeatherĀ is a leading figure in the integration of yoga into healthcare systems. She is a founding trustee of the Yoga in Healthcare Alliance, the primary organisation advancing the inclusion of yoga within UK healthcare, and has helped shape its strategic direction and national presence.
This systems-level contribution is mirrored inĀ Heatherās wider professional work. She is known for generating new ways of understanding yoga therapy, drawing on emerging research in neuroscience, respiratory science, physiology, and molecular biology to illuminate the mechanisms that underlie practice. She develops clinically grounded frameworks and creates evidence-informed methods of practice, shaping how yoga therapy is understood and delivered, while also exploring ways it can be effectively combined with psychological and medical interventions.Ā This scientific and conceptual orientation is evident in her published articles and in her collaborations with experts from other disciplines on chapters for academic volumes. Her work further includes co-editingĀ Yoga for Mental HealthĀ and co-authoringĀ Yoga on PrescriptionĀ with Paul Fox.
Outside of her formal work,Ā HeatherĀ remains devoted to contemplative practice and maintains a long-standing creative life, writing music and short stories about her dog Minnie Monkey, The Minded Instituteās beloved mascot.
Research Papers
- Yoga and Healthcare in the United Kingdom
- Embodied health: the effects of a mind-body course for medical students
- Cardiovascular and respiratory effect of yogic slow breathing in the yoga beginner: what is the best approach?
- Yoga practice in the UK: a cross-sectional survey of motivation, health benefits and behaviours
- Associations of yoga practice, health status, and health behavior among yoga practitioners in Germany-Results of a national cross-sectional survey
- Yoga Therapy for the Mind Eight-Week Course: Participants׳ Experiences
āYoga therapy is an emerging healthcare profession grounded in yogic techniques and philosophy, offering a client-centred and evidence-informed approach to health and well-being. It recognises the intrinsic interconnectedness of all aspects of being, understanding that restoring balance in one area fosters harmony in the whole. Drawing on medical knowledge, psychotherapeutic skills, psychophysiology, behavioural change science, and yogaās subtle energetic principles, yoga therapy unites the wisdom of tradition with the rigour of evidence-based practice while empowering individuals to take an active role in their healing.ā