On Demand Panel: Careers in Yoga Therapy – Professional Pathways and Practice

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A recorded panel discussion bringing together yoga therapists working across healthcare, community, and clinical settings, offering an honest and grounded exploration of how careers in yoga therapy are being developed in practice. Facilitated by Heather Mason and Robin Rothenberg in collaboration with Essential Yoga Therapy, panellists share their professional journeys, current clinical work, challenges within the field, and reflections on the evolving role of yoga therapy across healthcare and wider wellbeing contexts.

The discussion includes audience questions from the original live event and offers valuable insight for those interested in the future of yoga therapy as an emerging healthcare profession.

This recording is hosted on an online learning platform, which you will be redirected to upon clicking the registration button.

Description

Providing a whole-person approach to health and disease, the profession of yoga therapy is increasingly being integrated across healthcare environments, rehabilitation settings, prisons, community services, schools, and social care systems.

As this work expands, there is a growing need to understand how yoga therapy is being applied in practice, how careers in yoga therapy are being built, and where the field is heading.

This recorded panel discussion marks the beginning of a collaborative series from The Minded Institute and Essential Yoga Therapy, bringing these questions into a shared, ongoing conversation.

What to Expect from the Careers in Yoga Therapy Series

This panel brings together six yoga therapists working across a range of sectors, each engaged in impactful and established work.

Participants will hear:

how practitioners have navigated their personal and professional pathways into yoga therapy
the realities of integrating yoga therapy into different systems and settings
key moments, challenges, and benchmarks in their work
what they are currently developing and focusing on
how they see the profession evolving

The panel is facilitated by Heather Mason and Robin Rothenberg, who guide discussion through curated questions and reflections from across the profession.

You will find more information about the panel facilitators and speakers in the drop-down menu below the recording description.

The Importance of this Series

Heather Mason and Robin Rothenberg have come together to establish this series in response to a number of shared observations:

the need for clearer insight into how yoga therapy is being applied in real-world contexts
the importance of understanding what is working, what is not, and where the field is developing
the value of creating continuity and dialogue beyond one-off events and conferences
the importance of supporting those entering the field with a realistic sense of career pathways
the need to highlight the breadth and impact of current work across settings

This series is intended to grow over time, offering an ongoing platform for dialogue, visibility, and professional development.

Origin of the Panel

The idea for this panel emerged from within The Minded Institute’s 2024 cohort. Claire Page, in collaboration with Vikki Passe and Lisa Chapman, proposed a panel of Minded yoga therapists to explore these themes in practice.

The original discussion generated meaningful reflection and offered a clearer sense of the current landscape and future direction of the field. This collaboration between The Minded Institute and Essential Yoga Therapy builds on that foundation, with the intention of expanding the initiative more broadly as it develops.

Format

Recorded panel discussion with facilitated conversation exploring professional pathways, real-world applications of yoga therapy, and audience questions submitted during the original live event.

Speakers

Adhana McCarthy, MPAS, PA-C, C-IAYT

Adhana McCarthy is an Integrative Wellness Practitioner, Certified Yoga Therapist, Certified Life Coach, and Army Physician Assistant who has served in the military for over 20 years.

She works with leaders and high-risk professionals to support nervous-system regulation, clarity, and resilience within high-stakes environments while helping reduce the risk of burnout. Drawing from yoga, mindfulness, and cognitive reframing, she develops personalised strategies to quiet self-criticism, ease anxiety, and strengthen leadership capacity. Her work spans military, medical, entrepreneurial, and international settings.

Julie Rowland, C-IAYT

Julie Rowland is a certified yoga therapist working across multiple integrative healthcare programmes at UCLA Health. She provides non-pharmacological bedside interventions through the Integrative Medicine Collaborative at Ronald Reagan Medical Center, leads virtual heart-safe yoga therapy sessions as Director of Yoga Therapy, and offers one-to-one stress management support through the Women’s Cardiovascular Center.

Julie previously served as a Stress Management Specialist within Dr Dean Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease and continues this work through Ornish Lifestyle Medicine. Alongside mentoring future yoga therapists at Loyola Marymount University, she has supported cancer, rehabilitation, domestic violence, and sexual assault survivor communities. She also serves on the board of the Heartstringz Foundation.

Chanda Williams, PhD, C-IAYT, E-RYT 500

Chanda Williams is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of California, San Francisco Osher Center for Integrative Health, where her work explores integrative health and health disparities. Her academic background spans mechanical engineering, integrative health, and somatic depth psychology.

A longstanding yoga practitioner, yoga teacher trainer, and yoga therapist, Chanda has taught trauma-informed and mindfulness-based yoga practices within incarcerated populations in California for more than a decade.

Her 2026 Yoga in Prisons examines the long-term effects of trauma-informed yoga for incarcerated populations.

Rachel Bilski

Rachel Bilski is an experienced yoga therapist specialising in complex trauma and chronic health conditions, with a particular research focus on yoga therapy for Motor Neurone Disease (MND). Blending evidence-based practice with ancient wisdom traditions, she supports clients in developing greater self-awareness, resilience, and access to their own innate capacity for healing.

Dr Sharon Cox

Dr Sharon Cox works within an NHS service specialising in Functional Neurological Disorders (FND) and Non-Epileptic Attack Disorder (NEAD). Her work supports patients in re-establishing an effective connection with the body while developing emotional and nervous-system regulation skills to help manage symptoms. Yoga philosophy is interwoven throughout her clinical approach to support a more adaptive and compassionate relationship to life.

Elle Cochrane

Elle Cochrane delivers yoga therapy within multidisciplinary clinical settings, supporting individuals and small groups presenting with mobility limitations, persistent pain, and complex mental health challenges. She has also worked extensively with neurodivergent children in educational environments, offering regulation-focused interventions that support grounding, emotional stability, and functional wellbeing.

Facilitators

Heather Mason, MA, MA, MSc, C-IAYT
Founder, The Minded Institute

Heather Mason has trained yoga therapists and health professionals for over fifteen years. She holds master’s degrees in Buddhist Studies, Psychotherapy, and Medical Physiology, with extensive training in neuroscience. She has taught at Harvard Medical School, Boston University School of Medicine, and the Maryland University of Integrative Health, and is a founding trustee of the Yoga in Healthcare Alliance.

Read more about Heather

Robin Rothenberg, C-IAYT, is the Program Director of Essential Yoga Therapy, was the President of the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT) and continues to serve on its Board. Her text Restoring Prana: A Guide to Pranayama and Healing Through the Breath, presciently released in early 2020, has been hailed as one of the most thorough and well-researched books on the topic of pranayama.

Read more about Robin

More about the Origins of the Panel

Claire Page

Yoga Teacher, Yoga Therapist in Training and CEO of Yoga for Healthy Lower Backs, training experienced yoga teachers to teach an evidence-based 12-week yoga therapy course for people with lower back pain (www.yogaforbacks.co.uk)

A yoga teacher of many years, Claire is currently finishing the Minded Yoga Therapy Diploma. As a yoga therapy student, she has understood the important and unique contribution that yoga therapy has to offer the world of health and healing. She has also experienced through her cohort that yoga therapists are experienced, committed, and intelligent people who are very motivated to make an impact. Claire strongly believes that, as yoga therapy jobs are thin on the ground, yoga therapy role models are needed to help to build a sense of community and joint endeavour, as well as a sense of being a part of an emerging and credible profession. This was where the idea of a panel was born: to motivate and inspire yoga therapists to find their place in the field and to apply their knowledge and experience in the best way that they can.

Learn More: https://clairepageyoga.com/

Lisa Chapman

Lisa has worked within healthcare for over two decades, with an experience spanning the NHS and private sector across clinical, creative, and commercial roles , bringing both a wide perspective and genuine grounding to her practice.

She began teaching yoga in 2016 and, after training with the Centre for Trauma and Embodiment, has since 2021 been working collaboratively within one of the first trauma-informed mental health pathways in the UK, supporting women with complex mental health needs.

In 2024, Lisa began her yoga therapy training with Minded, drawn by the opportunity to deepen her understanding of the interconnected nature of body, mind, and spirit and to bring those learnings back into the clinical setting.

Her deep relationship with the natural world and lived experience informs her teachings, and she is committed to advocating for the wellbeing of others within healthcare systems through an appreciation and understanding of the multidimensional nature of what it means to be human.

Alongside her therapeutic work, Lisa continues to work as a Creative Director with healthcare clients, threading these same values through a different medium.

Contact Lisa: lisa@primalwellbeing.com

Vikkee Passee

Vikki has a long-standing commitment to supporting people in complex circumstances. After completing a degree in the social sciences with a focus on the sociology of medicine and the doctor–patient relationship, she worked across education, community development and inclusion for over a decade. Her roles have included English language teaching in the UK, supporting refugees and families facing significant barriers, working with SEND populations, managing an education charity in Hampshire, and consulting on government‑funded careers programmes in alternative provision and SEND settings.

She has also taught yoga and wellbeing courses for adults through Hampshire County Council, collaborated with Winchester City Council on funded projects for older people, and coordinated and supervised community learning initiatives.

Her pathway into yoga therapy is shaped by both her professional background and her lived experiences of grief, trauma and major life transitions. She is currently completing her Yoga Therapy training with The Minded Institute.

Learn More: Bodymind Therapeutics

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