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INTERVIEWS

Accessible Yoga | Jivana Heyman
Acknowledgment of Country | Ella Noah Bancroft
Adverse Effects of Meditation | Dr Miguel Farias
Applying Polyvagal Theory to Yoga | Dr Arielle Schwartz
Beyond Labels | Anneke Sips
Bhagavad Gita + Mental Health | Sunita Baste Patil
Body Image + Yoga | Fiona Sutherland
Community + Mental Health | Shannon Crow
Connecting to Country | Eve White
Ecopsychology + Yoga | Chara Caruthers
Exercise Medicine for Mental Health | Jacinta Brinsley
Finding Ease in a world of Dis-ease | Sandra Palmer
Integrating Clinical Psychology + Yoga | Dr Kaitlin Harkess
Living Kindness | Neal Ghoshal
Mental Health + Ayurveda | Chara Caruthers
Mental Health for Business Owners | Brook McCarthy
Yoga for the Menstrual cycle | Ana Davis
Photography + The Visual Story of Yoga | Tara D'cruz-Noble
Simple Physical Tools for Resilience | Simon Borg-Olivier
Mental health, Pelvic health + Yoga | Lisa Fitzpatrick
Yoga + Mental Health in our Modern Lives | Ganesh Mohan
The Science of Yoga | Ann Swanson
Yoga + Diabetes | Rachel Zinman
Yoga + Eating Disorders | Nikola Ellis
Yoga + Psycho-oncology | Nikola Ellis
Yoga for Overwhelm | Stephanie Lopez
Yoga for Your Mood | Amy Weintraub
Yoga in Prisons | James Fox
Yoga in the Counselling Room | Annabel McLisky
Yoga in the Doctor's Office | Anneke Sips
Yoga in the Psychology Practice | Sandra Palmer
Yoga Sutras + Mental Health | Saraswathi Vasudevan
Yoga Sutras from the Perspective of Trauma | Saraswathi Vasudevan
Yoga's Exquisite View of Life's Meaning and Purpose | Stephen Cope
Yoga-Informed Psychotherapy + the Relational Space | Diane Liska

MENTAL HEALTH + YOGA

2022 SUMMIT RECORDINGS

We're delighted to share interviews with you from the Mental Health and Yoga Summits in 2022, you're in for a treat!

Scroll down to find all the available interviews below, or use the overview in the sidebar (or above if you're on a mobile device) to go straight to the recording you're looking for.

Accessible Yoga

Jivana Heyman (he/him)

Jivana Heyman is the author of Accessible Yoga: Poses & Practices for Every Body (Shambhala, 2019), and Yoga Revolution: Building a Practice of Courage & Compassion (Shambhala, 2021).

He is the founder and director of the Accessible Yoga Association, an international non-profit organization dedicated to increasing access to the yoga teachings.

He has specialized in teaching yoga to people with disabilities with an emphasis on community building and social engagement. Jivana is also the co-founder of the Accessible Yoga School, an online portal focusing on equity and accessibility.

Connect with Jivana on his website or on Instagram.

 

Acknowledgment of Country in Yoga

Ella Noah Bancroft (she/her)

Ella Noah Bancroft is a descendant of the peoples of the Bundjalung nation and peoples of Poland and Scotland.

An Australian born artist, storyteller, mentor & founder of The Returning and Yhi Collective, Ella is a pioneer for The Decolonisation movement.

Ella promotes re-wilding, the rise of female energy, as a way back to deep relationship with nature and decolonising one’s well-being.

She believes in local communities with local economies as a way to find hope for the health of our planet & people. As a certified yoga teacher, she is on the RAP working committee for Yoga Australia, working alongside many other Indigenous yoga teachers.

Connect with Ella on her website or on Instagram.

Adverse Effects of Meditation

Dr Miguel Farias (he/him)

Dr Miguel Farias is an experimental psychologist, author, and speaker.

He is the founding director of the Brain, Belief, and Behaviour Lab at Coventry University.

Previously he was a lecturer in Experimental Psychology at Oxford University. His book with C. Wikholm, The Buddha Pill: Can Meditation Change You? (2015), has been translated into various languages. His latest book is the Oxford Handbook of Meditation.

Connect with Dr Miguel on his website.

Applying Polyvagal Theory to Yoga

Dr Arielle Schwartz (she/her)

Dr Arielle Schwartz is a licensed clinical psychologist, certified complex trauma professional, and Kripalu yoga teacher.

A leading voice in the healing of PTSD and complex trauma, she is the author of six books, including The Complex PTSD Workbook, Therapeutic Yoga for Trauma, and The Post-Traumatic Growth Guidebook.

She believes that the journey of trauma recovery is an awakening of the spiritual heart.

Connect with Dr Arielle on her website or on Instagram.

Beyond Labels

Anneke Sips

Anneke Sips is a Registered Nurse (RN) and has worked in psychiatry since 1998. She is one of the first accredited yoga therapists (C-IAYT) in The Netherlands and founder of Network Yoga Therapy, The Bridge online membership and The Yoga Therapy Conference in Amsterdam. She builds bridges in the field of yoga as well in the area of mental health. Her expertise can be found in applied philosophy and yoga for mental health, especially trauma and psychosis. Besides seeing many people in therapy sessions, she designs and offers Integrative Yoga Therapy programs and trains doctors and other healthcare professionals to create an ecosystem of sustainable solutions for health and wellbeing using yoga.

Connect with Anneke on her website or on Instagram.

Bhagavad Gita + Mental Health

Sunita Baste Patil (she/her)

Sunita Baste Patil is a coach, mentor, speaker, teacher, writer and podcast host.

She offers the most comprehensive teachings and practices on yoga, meditation, Ayurveda, and the healing science of India, helping people realise the wisdom within.

Sunita has decades of experience and has taught thousands worldwide. Renowned for her depth of understanding in yoga philosophy, the human mind, and Sanskrit, she has taught yoga philosophy & Sanskrit to yoga teachers, teachers in training, yoga therapists in training, and Ayurveda certification trainings, translating sophisticated aspects of yoga philosophy.

Connect with Sunita on her website or Instagram.

Body Image + Yoga

Fiona Sutherland (she/her)

Fiona Sutherland is an accredited practising Dietitian, Director of The Mindful Dietitian, Podcast host of The Mindful Dietitian, mindfulness practitioner and Yoga Teacher.

With 20+ years working in the areas of eating disorders, body image and sports nutrition, she is committed to weight inclusive and trauma-informed approaches to disrupt dominant body narratives, integrating these into clinical work, supervision and training with Dietitians and health professionals. Fiona emphasises safety, embodiment, mindfulness and self compassion in her work, training and life.

Connect with Fiona on her website and Instagram.

Community + Mental Health

Shannon Crow (she/her)

Shannon Crow is a trainer and consultant working for yoga teachers who are ready to specialize, stand out and run a profitable yoga business. She hosts The Connected Yoga Teacher podcast and Facebook group; offering support to yoga teachers around the globe. She gets how isolating it can be to leave a yoga teacher training or to teach way too many group classes in a week with little income.

As a yoga teacher, Shannon specializes in teaching Yoga for Pelvic Health. She didn’t always have a niche though. Shannon tried many paths first; working as a yoga studio manager, YTT director, yoga school founder, Thai yoga massage therapist and all while raising three children.

She knows what it is like to just keep signing up for yoga teacher training, thinking this is the ticket to expertise, knowledge and confidence in running a successful yoga business. She understands yoga teacher burnout firsthand and how niche work, a supportive community and business education can make all the difference.

Shannon is the founder of Pelvic Health Professionals, an online membership for anyone working with individuals who have a pelvis. She leads a 20-hour Yoga for Pelvic Health training both online and in person.

In her spare time Shannon can be found hiking, gardening, swimming and skiing on the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario, Canada with her partner Shawn. Her three kids are growing into young adults now and have been her best teachers.

Connect with Shannon on her website or on Instagram.

Connecting to Country

Eve White (she/her)

Eve White is a proud Wirridjuri woman, Yoga Instructor, Professional Dancer, Indigenous Cultural Educator, MermaidFit creator, Storyteller and Mother of 3.

She has choreographed, directed & produced performances as a creative mover of 20 years. Eve reconnected to her ancestral Aboriginal Roots after studying yoga & chi-gong and has been supporting aboriginal women through yoga, health & healing.

Connect with Eve on her website or on Instagram.

Eco-psychology + Yoga

Chara Caruthers (she/her)

Chara Caruthers is a passionate and outspoken voice for the power of living your truth.  An international teacher, speaker, advocate and mentor for women’s wellness, she has inspired and motivated a global community of women of all ages to live juicier and more connected lives by embracing the principles of yoga and Ayurveda. She is a certified Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT) and professional Ayurvedic practitioner who has taught yoga around the globe for more than a decade.  She’s also a writer, presenter, and creator of outreach and  educational programs aimed at “getting real” about what’s keeping you stuck.  Chara’s most recent book is called “Eat Like You Love Yourself: A modern guide to Ayurvedic cooking and living”.  Her unique voice and soulful approach have been celebrated as a galvanizing force for the future of authentic wellness.

Connect with Chara on her website or on Instagram.

Exercise Medicine for Mental Health: What do we know about Yoga?

Jacinta Brinsley (she/her)

Jacinta Brinsley has dedicated the past 9 years to studying the human body, how it moves, yoga as a movement practice, and how movement and mental health are intricately connected.

Having always been fascinated with how the body can be used as a tool to achieve all kinds of wellness (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual), she naturally fell in love with yoga as a movement modality and a way to provide holistic health care.

Jacinta utilises her clinical background in exercise physiology to prescribe yoga-based practices informed by pain science, neuroscience and biomechanical principles to target changes in people’s mood, mental health, quality of life and functional capacity. Jacinta has worked with hundreds of people, with a range of health conditions from cardiovascular disease to multiple sclerosis, using movement as medicine.

Connect with Jacinta on her website or on Instagram.

Finding Ease in a world of Dis-ease: Lockdowns, Trauma and Yoga

Sandra Palmer (she/her)

Sandra Palmer is a Registered Psychologist and experienced Yoga teacher and iRest meditation teacher in New Zealand. In her work, Sandra integrates yoga and psychology for optimal wellbeing and increased mind-body resilience, and loves sharing practices that focus on embodiment and regulation of the nervous system, so life feels less stressful and overwhelming. Sandra’s own journey with arthritis has highlighted the importance of making yoga accessible for all.

Sandra teaches yoga and meditation online and in-person in New Zealand, offers individual somatic based therapy, as well as training, mentoring and supervision in trauma informed and somatic based approaches. She also teaches on a couple of teacher training courses, including Contemporary Yoga Studies and Inspire Teacher Training, and more recently offers a 60 hour Trauma Informed & Community yoga with Rise yoga. Sandra is also a guest teacher and mentor on the Mental Health Aware Yoga training program.

Connect with Sandra on her website or on Instagram.

Integrating Clinical Psychology + Yoga

Dr Kaitlin Harkess (she/her)

Dr Kaitlin Harkess is an award-winning Clinical Psychologist & Senior Yoga Instructor, the founder of Wisdom for Wellbeing and podcast host.

Her research on the psychoneuroimmunological impact of yoga for chronic stress has been featured in Time, while her expertise on the therapeutic use of mindfulness & meditation has been featured in The Holistic Approach.

Kaitlin maximizes the benefits of integrating mindful wisdom practices with modern psychological interventions and offers online resources.

Connect with Dr Kaitlin on her website or on Instagram and check out the article she mentions here.

Living Kindness

Neal Ghoshal (he/him)

Neal Ghoshal has been practicing Yoga for over twenty years and teaching since 2003. He sees Yoga as a guide to restoring our place and understanding of who we are and how we can live peacefully, happily and fulfilled.

Neal’s teaching focuses on exploring and refining natural movement and alignment principles – learning to embody these principles in a way that takes our spiritual practice into our everyday lives.

He has taught on teacher training programs in Australia and New Zealand, has been senior faculty on Donna Farhi’s Advanced Teacher Training Program, and is a founder member of the Contemporary Yoga Teacher Training program, based in Auckland. Neal is also an experienced Holistic and Thai massage therapist, loves music and occasionally is a kirtan chant leader.

Connect with Neal on her website or on Instagram.

Mental Health + Ayurveda

Chara Caruthers (she/her)

Chara Caruthers is a passionate and outspoken voice for the power of living your truth.  An international teacher, speaker, advocate and mentor for women’s wellness, she has inspired and motivated a global community of women of all ages to live juicier and more connected lives by embracing the principles of yoga and Ayurveda. She is a certified Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT) and professional Ayurvedic practitioner who has taught yoga around the globe for more than a decade.  She’s also a writer, presenter, and creator of outreach and  educational programs aimed at “getting real” about what’s keeping you stuck.  Chara’s most recent book is called “Eat Like You Love Yourself: A modern guide to Ayurvedic cooking and living”.  Her unique voice and soulful approach have been celebrated as a galvanizing force for the future of authentic wellness.

Connect with Chara on her website or on Instagram.

Mental Health for Business Owners

Brook McCarthy (she/her)

Brook McCarthy is a business coach and trainer with a background in Public Relations, who's also a yoga teacher of 20+ years experience. Brook specialises in values-based business and works with owners who would far rather just do the work than talk about it.

Over the last 10 years, Brook has taught thousands of owners, including innumerable yoga, meditation teachers, therapists and alternative health practitioners, to work for love AND money, combining technical marketing and sales skills with the mindset psychology to thrive in business (and in life!).

Connect with Brook on her website or on Instagram and check out her Minimum Viable Marketing Plan.

Moving with your Moon: Yoga for the Menstrual cycle

Ana Davis (she/her)

Ana Davis (E-RYT 500, RPYT, YACEP, Yoga Australia Registered Level 3 Senior teacher, qualified Doula, Dip. Remedial Massage, B.A. Honours) has long been passionate about exploring the benefits of yoga and meditation for women’s monthly and life cycles.
Ana has been a keen yoga practitioner since 1990, teaching yoga since 1996, and in 2005 founded Bliss Baby Yoga – offering specialised yoga teacher training courses in the areas of Prenatal, Postnatal, Restorative and Women’s Yoga. In 2013, Ana also founded Moving with the Moon which offers workshops and classes on yoga for the menstrual cycle, menopause and fertility.

Ana’s first book “Moving with the Moon: Nurturing Yoga, Movement and Meditation for Every Phase of your Menstrual Cycle and Beyond” was released in late-2018, and is now available in print-book and E-book formats.

Ana, a mother-of-one, is passionate about sharing the benefits and joys of yoga for every stage of one’s life journey.

Ana is the lead presenter for the Bliss Baby Yoga Online Prenatal & Postnatal Yoga Teacher Training course and Online L1 Restorative Yoga Teacher Training course, and co-facilitator of our Online Yoga for Fertility Teacher Training course. She also offers Online 1:1 Mentoring for yoga teachers and personalised yoga classes.

Connect with Ana on her website or on Instagram.

Photography + The Visual Story of Yoga

Tara D'cruz-Noble (she/her)

Tara D’cruz-Noble is a photographer and yoga teacher based in Sydney. Her family lines are from the UK and India. Tara weaves the philosophical teachings of yoga into both her photographic work and yoga offerings, and a creative inquiry informs her approach. Tara photographs yoga through the lens of documenting what it means to be well. Her photography supports teachers sharing many modalities within the wellness world.

Connect with Tara on her website or on Instagram.

Simple Physical Tools for Resilience

Simon Borg-Olivier (he/him)

Simon Borg-Olivier, MSc BAppSc (Physiotherapy) APAM c-IAYT, has been practicing traditional forms of posture, movement, breathing, and mental control for 50 years. He has been teaching for 38 years and has been a registered physiotherapist for 23 years. Simon works as a research scientist and a University lecturer. He has been regularly invited to teach about lifestyle, posture, movement, breathing, and meditation at conferences, festivals, and intensive teacher training courses internationally since 1990.

He is also co-director of YogaSynergy, one of Australia’s oldest and most respected yoga schools, which has a style based on a deep understanding of modern medical science and traditional forms of exercise and therapy from all over the world.

Simon has studied with great traditional masters from Tibet, Japan, India, and China. Along with his business partner and fellow physiotherapist, Bianca Machliss, Simon has co-authored many books and scientific articles including ‘Applied Anatomy and Physiology of Yoga’, which is the textbook for two courses they teach at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia.

Currently, Simon conducts intensive training courses in India, Bali, Europe, and Australia. He also teaches many online courses on the applications of posture, movement, and breathing for fitness, internal health, wellbeing, and longevity.

Connect with Simon on his website or on Instagram.

The Intersection Between Mental health, Pelvic Health + Yoga for Wellbeing

Lisa Fitzpatrick (she/her)

Holistic pelvic wellness, yoga, mindfulness meditation, women’s empowerment and women’s health have underpinned much of Lisa Fitzpatrick's personal and professional life. She has studied and practiced many different yoga styles and meditation techniques to explore ways of facilitating well-being, particularly for the nervous system. Lisa is a trained and experienced coach specialising in women's empowerment. She has been a registered physiotherapist for almost 30 years and has a special interest in pelvic floor rehabilitation. Lisa has been studying, teaching, presenting and lecturing in women’s physiology and pelvic health at conferences and yoga schools, Australia-wide and internationally since 2007. Lisa is committed to providing a caring, safe, gentle, kind, non--judgemental and thorough approach to pelvic care through her clinic at Bangalow Health and Wellbeing and as part of Dr Sapna Dilgir's clinic at Fred McKay House. She is also passionate about her Womankind Pelvic Floor and Hormone Balancing Yoga Teacher Training.

Connect with Lisa on her website or on Instagram.

The Intersection of Yoga + Mental Health in our Modern Lives

Ganesh Mohan (he/him)

Dr Ganesh Mohan learned yoga from childhood in the tradition of Sri Krishnamacharya through his parents, A. G. Mohan and Indra Mohan. He trained in ancient studies including Sanskrit, Vedic chanting, and Ayurveda and then went on to become a modern medical doctor. He integrates a full spectrum of holistic well-being methods in his work: movement, breathing, meditation and mindfulness, lifestyle, diet, relationships, life guidance and more. He has had extensive experience with thousands of students and patients. He also directs the Svastha Yoga & Ayurveda trainings, including the Svastha Yoga Therapy Program across the globe. He is the co-author of numerous books published internationally, such as Yoga Therapy, Krishnamacharya, and Yoga Reminder. With his father, he is the translator of the important Sanskrit yoga texts, Yoga Yajnavalkya and Hatha Yoga Pradipika.

Connect with Dr Ganesh on his website or Instagram.

The Science of Yoga

Ann Swanson (she/her)

Ann is a certified yoga therapist and author of the best-selling book, SCIENCE OF YOGA.

Ann specializes in helping people safely and effectively manage stress and relieve chronic pain. She makes the tools of mindful movement and meditation non-intimidating and accessible worldwide, especially to people who feel like they can’t do yoga or their mind is too busy to meditate.

Connect with Ann on her website or on Instagram.

Yoga + Diabetes

Rachel Zinman (she/her)

Rachel Zinman has been practising since 1983, teaching since 1992 and teaching teachers since 2000. She’s studied with some of the most influential teachers in the west including Alan Finger and Mark Whitwell as well as immersing herself in the study of Vedanta.
She is the Author of Yoga for Diabetes, How to Manage your Health with Yoga and Ayurveda. She writes for many online and in print magazines including Australian Yoga Journal and Australian Yoga Life.

Connect with Rachel on her website or on Instagram.

Yoga + Eating Disorders

Nikola Ellis (she/her)

Nikola Ellis is a certified yoga therapist, psychotherapist and online educator who has been immersed in yoga for 30 years. Trained in the tradition of Sri Krishnamacharya, Nikola founded Adore Yoga in Sydney in 2002. Focusing on evidence based yoga for special needs populations, Nikola is passionate about developing yoga and meditation programs in clinical environments. As a leading provider of advanced yoga training, Nikola has trained thousands of yoga teachers, therapists and health professionals. With post-graduate training in public health, Nikola consults for organisations including Cancer Council NSW and has conducted research at the eating disorders day program at Westmead Children’s Hospital in Sydney.

Connect with Nikola on her website or on Instagram.

Yoga + Psycho-oncology

Nikola Ellis (she/her)

Nikola Ellis is a certified yoga therapist, psychotherapist and online educator who has been immersed in yoga for 30 years. Trained in the tradition of Sri Krishnamacharya, Nikola founded Adore Yoga in Sydney in 2002. Focusing on evidence based yoga for special needs populations, Nikola is passionate about developing yoga and meditation programs in clinical environments. As a leading provider of advanced yoga training, Nikola has trained thousands of yoga teachers, therapists and health professionals. With post-graduate training in public health, Nikola consults for organisations including Cancer Council NSW and has conducted research at the eating disorders day program at Westmead Children’s Hospital in Sydney.

Connect with Nikola on her website or on Instagram.

Yoga for Overwhelm

Stephanie Lopez (she/her)

Stephanie Lopez, LISW-S, C-IAYT, is the Senior Director of Teachings & Programs, and Senior iRest Trainer for iRest Institute. With a deeply embodied understanding of meditation informed by over 25 years of immersion in the nondual teachings of yoga, she leads retreats and trainings internationally with a focus on living an authentic and awakened life. As a psychotherapist, meditation teacher, and certified yoga therapist she bridges eastern wisdom with western psychology and neuroscience to support healing and transformation. Stephanie also serves on the Certification Committee for IAYT helping to promote standards and credentialing for the yoga therapy field. 

Connect with Stephanie on her website or on Instagram.

Yoga for Your Mood

Amy Weintraub (she/her)

Amy Weintraub, C-IAYT, MFA, E-RYT 500, YACEP, is the founder of the LifeForce Yoga® Healing Institute, an acclaimed yoga therapist, and a pioneer in the field of yoga and mental health. In 1999 Amy wrote “The Natural Prozac”, Yoga Journal’s first article addressing yoga and depression. She is the author of Yoga for Depression, Yoga Skills for Therapists, the new card deck, Yoga for Your Mood: 52 Ways to Shift Depression and Anxiety, and numerous articles and book chapters. She guides thousands of practitioners and yoga and mental health professionals around the world. Her Silver Nautilus Award winning novel Temple Dancer was released in 2020. She thrives in Tucson, Arizona, where she mountain bikes, dances, writes, and creates.

Find more about Amy and her workshops, books, and practices on her website or Instagram

Yoga in Prisons

James Fox (he/him)

James Fox MA is the founder of the Prison Yoga Project. He is a certified yoga instructor who has dedicated himself to developing a trauma informed approach to teaching yoga in correctional facilities that has resulted in the establishment of yoga programs in prisons throughout the U.S., Mexico, Europe, and Australia. A practitioner of yoga and mindfulness meditation for more than 30 years, upon receiving his teaching credentials in 2000, James began his mission of sharing the benefits of yoga with incarcerated people.

James has taught yoga classes at San Quentin Prison since 2002. He is also trained in restorative justice principles and practices, and has experience facilitating victim/offender education, emotional literacy, and violence prevention courses with prisoners. He is the author of Yoga A Path for Healing and Recovery, and co-author of Freedom from The Inside – A Woman’s Yoga Practice Guide. He is also a contributor to the book, Best Yoga Practices for Military Veterans.

Connect with James on his website or on Instagram.

Yoga in the Counselling Room

Annabel McLisky (she/her)

Annabel McLisky is a Yoga Teacher and Trainer, and a very recently retired Psychologist in the Byron Shire in Australia.

Annabel began teaching yoga in 1978 after completing the International Yoga Teacher Training course in Sydney, Australia. In 1999 she graduated as a Dru Yoga teacher. In 2012 she trained in Trauma Sensitive Yoga at Kripalu in the US and trained in iRest Meditation in Australia. As a co-founder of Trauma Sensitive Yoga Australia with psychotherapist Shirley Hicks, she has taught workshops on Trauma Sensitive Yoga for yoga teachers and mental health clinicians in Australia and New Zealand, and has taught Dru Yoga in London and Copenhagen.

While she is now moving into retirement with her Psychology practice and Trauma Sensitive Yoga trainings, Annabel continues to teach a regular Dru Yoga class in Byron Bay, Australia, is currently teaching on an online Dru Meditation Teacher Training, and continues as a mentor on the Mental Health Aware Yoga training.

Connect with Annabel on her website.

Yoga in the Doctor's Office

Please note: We experienced some internet issues during this session and so some of this interview was recorded asynchronously.  Our video editor did a brilliant job of editing it together, but you might notice the speakers aren't as attuned to each other as they would usually be.

Anneke Sips

Anneke Sips is a psychiatric nurse, yoga teacher, yoga therapist and the founder of Network Yoga Therapy and The Yoga Therapy Conference in Amsterdam.

As one of the first accredited yoga therapists in The Netherlands with expertise in applied philosophy and yoga for trauma and psychosis, she designs and offers Integrative Yoga Therapy programs and trains doctors and other healthcare professionals.

Connect with Anneke on her website or on Instagram.

Yoga in the Psychology Practice

Sandra Palmer (she/her)

Sandra Palmer is a Registered Psychologist and experienced Yoga teacher and iRest meditation teacher in New Zealand. In her work, Sandra integrates yoga and psychology for optimal wellbeing and increased mind-body resilience, and loves sharing practices that focus on embodiment and regulation of the nervous system, so life feels less stressful and overwhelming. Sandra’s own journey with arthritis has highlighted the importance of making yoga accessible for all.

Sandra teaches yoga and meditation online and in-person in New Zealand, offers individual somatic based therapy, as well as training, mentoring and supervision in trauma informed and somatic based approaches. She also teaches on a couple of teacher training courses, including Contemporary Yoga Studies and Inspire Teacher Training, and more recently offers a 60 hour Trauma Informed & Community yoga with Rise yoga. Sandra is also a guest teacher and mentor on the Mental Health Aware Yoga training program.

Connect with Sandra on her website or on Instagram.

Yoga Sutras + Mental Health: Bridging Philosophy & Practice

Saraswathi Vasudevan (she/her)

Saraswathi Vasudevan is yoga teacher, trainer and therapist in the tradition of Sri T Krishnamacharya. She has close to three decades of study, practice and teaching experience in this tradition, having studied directly with Sri TKV Desikachar for over 17 years. She has two Masters Degrees in Nutrition and Psychology from the University of Madras, Chennai, and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Yoga Studies from Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM), Chennai. In 2010, she founded YogaVahini, a Specialised Yoga Training, Therapy and Research Centre along with her husband Sundar, with the aim of making the transformative and healing wisdom of yoga and personalised yoga therapy more accessible to everyone. YogaVahini has centres in Chennai & Hyderabad and presence in other cities in India and around the world. YogaVahini is the first school in India to receive accreditation for its Yoga Therapy training program with IAYT.

In 2016 she co-founded Yoga Vahini Foundation, a Public Charitable Trust that aims to bring yoga and yoga therapy to rural and underserved populations through yoga camps, training and awareness programs.

Saraswathi currently serves on the Voluntary Board of Directors of Yoga Alliance, the largest international yoga certifying and credentialing body which provides strategic direction that advances the development and livelihood of yoga professionals across the world.

Connect with Saraswathi on her website or on Instagram.

Yoga Sutras from the Perspective of Trauma

Saraswathi Vasudevan (she/her)

Saraswathi Vasudevan is yoga teacher, trainer and therapist in the tradition of Sri T Krishnamacharya. She has close to three decades of study, practice and teaching experience in this tradition, having studied directly with Sri TKV Desikachar for over 17 years. She has two Masters Degrees in Nutrition and Psychology from the University of Madras, Chennai, and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Yoga Studies from Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM), Chennai. In 2010, she founded YogaVahini, a Specialised Yoga Training, Therapy and Research Centre along with her husband Sundar, with the aim of making the transformative and healing wisdom of yoga and personalised yoga therapy more accessible to everyone. YogaVahini has centres in Chennai & Hyderabad and presence in other cities in India and around the world. YogaVahini is the first school in India to receive accreditation for its Yoga Therapy training program with IAYT.

In 2016 she co-founded Yoga Vahini Foundation, a Public Charitable Trust that aims to bring yoga and yoga therapy to rural and underserved populations through yoga camps, training and awareness programs.

Saraswathi currently serves on the Voluntary Board of Directors of Yoga Alliance, the largest international yoga certifying and credentialing body which provides strategic direction that advances the development and livelihood of yoga professionals across the world.

Connect with Saraswathi on her website or on Instagram.

Yoga's Exquisite View of Life's Meaning + Purpose: Finding + Living Out Your Dharma

Stephen Cope (he/him)

Stephen Cope is a best-selling author and scholar who specializes in the relationship between the Eastern contemplative traditions and Western depth psychology. Among his seminal works in this area are: Yoga and the Quest for the True Self, The Wisdom of Yoga, and The Great Work of Your Life. His most recent work, Deep Human Connection, is an examination of the psychology, neurobiology, and spirituality of deep human connection, and the imperatives of human attachment—an issue of great importance to both the Eastern and Western traditions.

For almost thirty years, Stephen has been Scholar-in-Residence at the renowned Kripalu Center—the largest center for the study and practice of yoga in the Western world. Kripalu hosts almost 50,000 guests a year in its many yoga, meditation, and personal growth programs. It is located on a sprawling 200 acre estate in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. In addition to his role as Scholar-in-Residence, Stephen is the founder and former director of the Kripalu Institute for Extraordinary Living—one of the world’s most influential research institutes examining the effects and mechanisms of yoga and meditation, with a team of researchers from Harvard Medical School, University of Connecticut, University of Pennsylvania, and many more.

Stephen is the recipient of both a Telly and an Apple award for his work. In its twenty-fifth anniversary edition, “Yoga Journal” named him one of the most influential thinkers, writers, and teachers on the current American yoga scene.

Connect with Stephen on his website or on Instagram.

Yoga-informed Psychotherapy + the Relational Space

Diane Liska (she/her)

Diane Liska is a Registered Psychotherapist and Yoga Teacher blending expertise in neuroscience, yoga, somatics and the therapeutic relationship to offer her Yoga-Informed Psychotherapy.

She specializes in serving individuals healing from complex, developmental and sexual trauma from an attachment-focused lens. Authentic connection is her guiding principle.

Yoga teachers and other health professionals regularly seek consultation with Diane for practitioner self-inquiry to support highly effective therapeutic relationships and to expand their trauma-informed scope of practice.

Connect with Diane on her website or on Instagram.