Description

Integrative Yoga Psychotherapy: A Live Conversation with Trainees and Graduates

This recorded conversation, chaired by Heather Mason, brings together graduates and current trainees of the Integrative Yoga Psychotherapy (IYP) training. For those curious about the programme, the discussion offers an opportunity to hear directly from people who are currently undertaking the training and those who have already completed it.

Speakers discuss what drew them to Integrative Yoga Psychotherapy, their experience of undertaking the training, and how it has influenced the way they now work with clients. Central to the conversation is whether the training has broadened the scope of professional practice and in what ways, specifically exploring the addition of talking therapy to their professional practice and the distinct way IYP engages the body, breath, and mind within the therapeutic relationship.

What the Conversation Explores

Integrative Yoga Psychotherapy is the first psychotherapy training designed specifically for yoga therapists, building on the foundations of yoga therapy whilst integrating both classical and innovative psychotherapy skills. It approaches mental health through the multidimensional lens of the koshas, and this layered perspective also informs the therapeutic relationship itself — as the therapist attunes to the client’s body, breath, and mental processes, using both dialogue and yoga practices within the therapeutic work.

Within this recorded discussion, speakers explore:

• What it is like to undertake and graduate from the training
• The experience of pioneering a new mode of therapy, including its challenges and rewards
• How IYP operates in practice
• What it means to take yoga therapy further into qualified psychotherapeutic practice within mental health

Different Routes into the Training

Speakers come from different professional backgrounds and arrived at the programme through different routes.

Some began their journey through The Minded Institute’s yoga therapy trainings before continuing into IYP.

Others trained elsewhere, later completed The Minded Institute’s Bridging Course, and then joined the IYP programme, bringing their existing yoga therapy training into the IYP framework.

Hearing from speakers with these different starting points offers a fuller picture of what the training involves and what it looks like from different points of entry.